8 



OUR DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



Sicilian Coix 



clog Provctie, belonging to 

 Jans van cler Pocl, was con- 

 demned by the aldermen of 

 the city of Leydcn to be 

 hanged b}' the public execu- 

 tioner in the market place, 

 where it was customary to 

 punish criminals. His pos- 

 sessions were confiscated with all the solemnit)" 



befitting such punishment. After this e\'ent the 



inhabitants oi Le_\'den were 



long nicknamed " hangers of 



dogs." Little did they think 



that in 1574, during the siege 



of their city, they would learn 



b)- sad experience that it 



was better to eat dogs than 



to hang them. 



The predilection that 



princes and celebrated ]5er- 



sons have shown for these 



animals proves the esteem in 



which they were held. Henri 



II now and then wore round 



his neck a basket in which 



were young puppies, so 



Sully relates in his memoirs. 



Frederick the Great allowed 



his greyhounds the utmost 



liberty, both indoors and out, 



at his chateau of Sans Souci. One of these 



famous hounds, named Biche, was taken 



prisoner at the battle of Soor (1745), and was 

 only restored to her master after long and 

 ceremonious negotiation. James II of England 

 cried out to his sailors, when the ship in which 

 he sailed was in sore peril, " Sa\-e my dogs and 

 Marlborough ! " In our day Queen Victoria 

 was the greatest lover of pure-blooded dogs, 

 a fondness for which she inherited from her 

 mother, the Duchess of Kent, who throughou*: 

 her life took the utmost care of her kennels. 



Ti'.F.rii oi' A I)o(i A Yi-:.\n Old 



Are thev speaking to Each Othek ? 



We should know better wdiat Richard Wag- 

 ner thought of these animals if he had lived to 

 finish his book. History of uiy Dogs. It is well 

 known that the master of Bayreuth loved dogs 

 and owned se\'eral highly bred species, among 

 them Newfoundlands and St. Bernards. A 

 friend of his relates that he one da)' compelled 

 a street urchin to sell him, for a thaler, an old 

 half-blind dog which the boy was about to drown. 

 The dog bit his rescuer, but Wagner, instead of 

 punishing him, found him an asvlum. Dickens, 

 in his account of My Father as I Recall Him, 

 describes with much sympath)- and affection the 

 dogs in the paternal home. Zola's pets, espe- 

 cially Pin, must often have consoled him in the 

 da}s of his painful struggle. Pin's full name was 

 The Chevalier Hector Pin-Pin de Coq-Hardi, 

 but Zola called him friend and comrade. 



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