Lright Little Cebide. 307 
Jack. Indeed, it was a remarkable feat for Jack, and he had 
a right to feel vain over its accomplishment. All the while 
he was eating he would chatter in his uncouth guttural 
tongue, as though he had learned, like his human brethren, 
that conversation gave relish to a meal and was a powerful 
aid to digestion. 
While Jack was a very useful fellow to have about, espec- 
ially where cats without owners abounded, for he was a 
terror upon these feline nuisances, yet he had a few faults 
which detracted very much from his otherwise good charac- 
ter. Like some boys, he was addicted to the habit of throw- 
ing stones, but Iam more than half disposed to believe that 
this was an acquired propensity, which he had learned by 
seeing his master engaged in a similar diversion, or perhaps, 
which is not at all unlikely, he had been trained to such 
exercise and pastime by his master. Well, he could throw 
stones with considerable force, and with as much precision 
as any well-trained lad of fourteen summers could do. Let 
the master but give hima stone, and say, “ Now, Jack, hit 
that fellow,” and Jack needed no second telling. Throwing 
his right arm back, just as a boy would do, in order to give 
the necessary impetus to the missile, he would send the 
stone flying in the right direction. It required no little skill 
and cele1ity of movement to dodge the projectile, as the 
writer had more than once learned by painful experience, 
for Jack’s wonderful and well-directed aim seldom went 
astray of its purpose. 
Towards his master Jack showed great deference and 
attention, and was ever ready to obey his slightest wish. 
No one’s society he enjoyed better. It was always a pleas- 
ure to be near him, but strangers he seemed to despise and 
treat as enemies. He would always eye them with a suspic- 
ious look, and could never tolerate their presence for any 
considerable length of time without giving vent to his annoy- 
ance by the most angry vociferations and hideous grimaces. 
Should this not have the effect of causing them to retire, he 
