205 THE COMMON D'OGf. 



At a convent in France, twenty paupers were 

 served witii a dinner at a certain hoar every day. A 

 D02." belono-iiip; to the convent did not fail to be 

 present at this regale, to receive the odds and ends 

 vvliich were now and then thrown down to him* 

 The guests, however, were poor and hungr}", and 

 of course not very wasteful, so that their pensioner 

 did little more than scent the feast of which he 

 would fain have partaken. The portions were served 

 by a person, at the ringing of a bell, and delivered 

 out by means of what in religious houses is called a 

 tour ; which is a machine like the section of a cask, 

 and, by turning round upon a pivot, exhibits whate-* 

 ver is placed on the concave side, without discovering 

 the person who moves it. One day this Dog, who 

 had only received a few scraps, waited till the pau- 

 pers were all gone, took the rope in his mouth, and 

 ranir the bell. His strata2;em succeeded. He re- 

 pcated it the next day with the same good-fortune. 

 At length the cook, hnding that twenty-one por- 

 tions were given out instead of twenty, was deter- 

 mined to discover the trick : in doing which he had 

 no great dithculty ; for Xsm.^ psrdu, and noticing the 

 paupers as they came in great regularity for their 

 different portions, and that there was no intruder 

 except the Dog, he began to suspect the real truth, 

 which he was confirmed in when he saw him wait 

 with great deliberation till the visitors were all gone 

 and then pull the bell. The matter was related to 

 the community ; and to reward him for his inge- 

 nuity, he was permitted to ring the bell every day 



