CHAPTER X. 



The Speech and Reason of Domestic Animals. — Dash and 

 the Baby. — Two Collies Talk. — Eunice Understands her 

 Mistress. — Two Dogs and the Phonograph. — A Canine 

 Family. — Cats and Dogs. — Insects. 



When I was only a few weeks old my father 

 had given to him a little white poodle, which he 

 called Dash. He was about my own age and 

 we grew up together. In those days children 

 were rocked in the old-time cradle, and I, like 

 other babies, had a cradle. When I was a few 

 months old, on one occasion I was left asleep in 

 my cradle, and no one was in the room but Dash 

 and myself. Having been disturbed in my sleep 

 I woke up and cried, and Dash, seeing the con- 

 dition of things, came to the cradle and, rearing 

 on his hind feet, rocked the cradle with his paws 

 and whined and barked until I had gone to sleep 

 again. My mother has often told me of this, and 

 assured me that Dash had never been taught to 

 do it, but always after practised it, not only with 

 myself, but with my younger brothers and sis- 

 ters, until at the age of thirteen, when he came 



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