40 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



AIG. 8. 1843. 



MISCELLANEOUS 



THE FAITHFUL DOG. 



BY MRS. ,\. s. 



Tlie attachment manifested by the canine race 

 for their otvners, tlieir ssgncity and faithCiilness. 

 have been the theme of niiniberless stories, and 

 many have been led to belipvi- thorn endowed with 

 the fame reasoninij powers as ourselves. It is 

 neither to assent to this opinion, nor yet to attempt 

 confuting- it, tliiit tlie following; incidents are 

 penned, but to record an instance which transpired 

 under uiy immediate observation, of their devotion 

 and fidelity. 



It will be remembered that Alabama was ori^i- 

 nally a part of Mississippi Territory. lis conti- 

 guity to Georgia and the Carolinas, induced num- 

 b 'riess families from those States to remove there. 

 The route pursued by them leil through the Chero- 

 kee nation, and like the Israelites of old, the eini- 

 jjrants experienced ditSculties in reaching safely 

 the land of promise. 



In some seasons of the year, the rivers and 

 creeks are so swollen by the frequent rains as to 

 render them troublesome. It was during one of 

 these periods that a family, consisting of a man, 

 his wife and four children left North Carolina to 

 settle themselves at Cahawba, the original seat of 

 government, and in crossing some stream, they 

 were upset, and precipitated with all their earthly 

 goods into the water. With the greatest difficulty, 

 the head of the family succeeded in rescuing his 

 wife, and three of the children, together with the 

 wagon and horses, from their perilous situation : 

 but the baby, with the principal part of the bag- 

 gage, had gone to the bottom. 



Half distracted, the mother, bethought her of 

 endeavoring to rescue the child, and h.ilding up 

 one of its little frocks, she directed their dog, of 

 the Newfoundland breed, to seek for it at the spot 

 in which it was believed to have perished. Divin-r 

 under the water, the dog disappeared. The mosl 

 intense distress was ot course experienced, with 

 faint hopes of his ultimate success; but in a few 

 seconds the agitation of the water announced his 

 coming, and the doir arose to the surface with the 

 child, holding his clothes firmly gripped between 

 hi.s teeth, and swimming witli it to the land, de- 

 posited it safely at the feet of its mother. 



By the untiring exertions of the parents, the 

 child was restored to life again, and without farther 

 detention they arrived safe at their destination. 



Until the accident, the dng had never manifest- 

 ed any particular attachment for the child, but 

 from the time of rescuing it from a watery grave, 

 the animal acted as if he considered it under his 

 own superinlendinj charge. It would never leave 

 it. Sleeping or waking, it sat crouched beside the 

 child, who soon discovered for the dog a propor- 

 tioiable de^Tee of affection. 



The mother soon died from the effects of the 

 baneful fever of the country— then followed one 

 of the children, then another, and yet another, and 

 the only remaining survivors of the once happy 

 family were the father, the child, and the faithlully 

 ottacbed do?. 



And now the storms of fate gathered around this 

 poor offspring of misfortune The father sunk un- 

 der the weight of his accumulated misfortunes, and 

 fell into intemperate habits. The child was neg- 

 lected, left f..r hours to the companionship of his 

 dog, and the loneline.^s of its own melancholy lot. 



Young as it was, for it was then only three years 

 of age, it was suffered to wander where it listed, 

 and it would stroll in the woods far away from its 

 home, with no one to guide its course but its own 

 childish fancies, secure in the protection of its 

 mute attendant. I have seen it sleeping beneath 

 a hedge, its innocent head pillowed upon the faith- 

 ful creature, its little arms twined around its neck. 



For more than a year they led this kind of itine- 

 rant life — and as they always returned ere night- 

 fall, and the boy grew in strength, the father took 

 little heed of either. 



There was something remarkable about the dog 

 and child — both seemed to shun coniiiiunion with 

 their kind — attaching themselves solely to each 

 other — when weary, it occasionally sought its deso- 

 late home, and if pressed by hunger, stopped on 

 the way to solicit from some charitable neighbor a 

 slice of bread — and food was never relused it, eith- 

 er for itself or the friend accompanying it. 



.At length the child sickened and died also, ow- 

 ing, probably, to exposure and neglect. When 

 the neinhbors went in to administer to its necessi- 

 ties, during its illness, it was always found lying 

 with its head resting upon the dog's shaggy neck 

 with one of its arms twined around it, and thus 

 drew its latest breath. 



The child was buried, and from this time the 

 dog drooped and pined away. No efforts were 

 found successful to lure him from the grave. The 

 food with which he was daily supplied, remained 

 untasted until the morning the miserable father 

 who had lived to see his household destroyed, his 

 hearth desolated, found the little mound which 

 covered his child, scratched up to a considerable 

 depth, with the lifeless remains of the faithful dog 

 lying in the cavity.— Pldlndetphia Forum. 



Dreaming to Some Purpose On the trial of 



Clifford, at St. Albans, Vt., a Mrs Marvin testified 

 that after the drowning she dreamed of travellino- 

 "in a particular direction in search of the shawls 

 which were upon the body of the deceased persons. 

 She came to a log and passed it; and at a short 

 distance beyond, discovered both shawls doubled 

 up, covered somewhat in the sand, lying amono- 

 bushes and tall grass." On the following morning 

 she told her dream, and in company with another 

 witness, went to the place indicated by the dream, 

 and there were the shawls in the very condition 

 she had dreamed Ihein to be. 



Those who have read the very interesting life of 

 Tcnnant, will remember that he was saved from 

 conviction for an awful crime, by the dream of a 

 man and his wife in Virginia, both of whom trav- 

 elled on foot to New Jersey for the purpose of 

 saving him, and arrived just in time, while the 

 court was sitting. 



It is also a fact — a fact which we have investi- 

 gated— that Mrs Adams, the wife of Colt's victim, 

 on the night before her husband's murder, dreamed 

 that she saw him knled, cut up, and packed in a 

 box. So vivid was the dream, and so deep the 

 impression made upon her mind, that she opposed 

 his going out on the fatal day. Nor, when he 

 failed to come home at night, had she any doubt of 

 his nwful fate — M Y. Com. Mv. 



HOWARD'S IMPROVED EASY DRAUGHT PLOUGH. 



Great imprnvements hare heen made the past year in I 

 orm aiul workmanship of these Ploughs; the mould h( i 

 has l-een so formed as [o Imj the furrow romplctehi or 

 turning m ererij particle of grass or stiMIe, ondiearin-r ] 

 frronmi m the best possible manner. The len=th of i 

 mould board has hf n very much increased, sS thai i 

 Plough works with Iho greatest ease, both with respect 

 the holding and the learn. The Cominitiee at the late Ir 

 ot Ploughs at Worcester, say, 



" Should our opinion he asked as to which of the Ploy- 

 we should prefer for use on a farm, we might perhaps saj 

 rv p!"'","'i' 'I '"">^l""'l 's mostly light and easy to w,., 

 try Prouty & Mears, but if your land is heavy, hard orrod 

 BEGIN WITH .Mr. Howard's.'' 



At Ihe above me-.tioned irial the Howard Pl->ugh a 



ZTT ■u'u!'".''' '."'"' P^<'^ ofleamjhan any oth 

 plough exh,h,led. I\„ other turned more than twenfyse.'. 

 and one half inches, to the 112 Ihs. draught, while i 

 Howard Plough turned twentynine and one'half inches 

 the same power of team ! All acknowledge Iha't Howar,' 

 Flonglis are much the strongest and most subslaniijj 



There has been qnile an improvement made on the shi 

 or land side o( this Plough, which can be renewed witho 

 having lo lurnish a new landside this shoe likewise secui 

 the mould hoard and landside together, and strengthens ll 

 I'lough very much. 



The price of the Ploughs is from S6 to Si5. A Plono 

 sufficieni for breaking up with four caule. will cost abo 

 ».u 50, and with cutler «i, with wheel and cutter, Sa ( 



,k''^v '*''2.",^'T?''^'"'?'"'"'^'«'«''"''«^3'« and fetail, 

 the New England Agricultural Warehouse and Seed St. r 

 Nos. 51 & 52 North Market Sireel by 



JOSEPH BRECK & CO. 



GRINDSTONES ON FRICTION ROLLERS. 



Grindstones of different sizes, hung on friction rollers ano 

 moved with a fool treader, is found to be a great improve- 

 ment on the old mode of banging grindstones. Stones hung 

 in ihis manner are becoming daily more in use. and wherever 

 used, give universal satisfaction. The rollers can lie attach 

 ed to stones huug in the common way. For sale by i 

 BRECK & Co., No. 51 North Maikel street. 



LACTOMETERS — a simple instrument for testini' 

 the quality of milk. For sale by J CRECK & CO. ° 



The human body consists of 240 bones, 100 car- 

 tilages or ligaments, 400 muscles or tendons, and 

 100 nerves, besides blood, arteries, veins, &c. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



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