A CANINE CRIME. 



A. A. FIELD. 



"The wild creatures are human, with a 

 wide difference. They have the keenest 

 powers of perception, but they have little 

 or no powers of reflection," says John 

 Burroughs, who is one of the closest ob- 

 servers of animals. There are, however, 

 too many illustrations to the contrary to 

 justify affirming that animals' or birds are 

 devoid of the faculty of reflection. Pos- 

 sibly some animals have absorbed reflective 

 reason through domestic association with 

 the human kind, but that would be diffi- 

 cult to determine. The following incident, 

 the truth of which is vouched, indicates 

 that reflective reason was a strong agent in 

 at least one dog's mind : 



A short time ago a cat and a dog were 

 happily domesticated in the same family, 

 though, as was evident to a keen ob- 

 server, they led a dual life in their relations 

 with each other. Though constantly cour- 

 teous in their associations when before the 

 public eye, their mutual feelings of hate 

 and aversion were manifest when sup- 

 posedly alone or when they met 

 around the corner. One day the 

 whole family left the house for a 

 short absence, leaving the cat and 

 dog entirely alone on the premises. The 



ilog met the family with effusive welcome 

 on their return, but Mrs. Pussy was not 

 in evidence. Her absence was unnoticed 

 for a day or 2, as she sometimes took a 

 furlough on urgent private affairs, until 

 through accident her torn and mutilated 

 body was found buried in a shallow grave 

 which was unmistakably of doggish make. 

 The body was completely covered with 

 soft earth, which was carefully piled up 

 over her. It seems that in the absence of 

 restraining human tendencies the dog's 

 hate had overcome his discretion. Meet- 

 ing his enemy under favorable conditions 

 he had made away with her and thought 

 to hide his crime beneath the mound of 

 sand. He must have determined that in 

 case of the discovery of the mangled re- 

 mains of the cat he would be mistrusted 

 as the guilty party. Reflection told him 

 that to hide the body was to hide his 

 crime. His guilty confusion on being con- 

 fronted with the dead cat was strong evi- 

 dence against him as the party who com- 

 mitted the murder. His apparent shame 

 or regret was perhaps more due to fear 

 of punishment than to sincere repentance, 

 as seems often to be the case with the 

 human kind. 



THE SPRUCE FIRE. 



THEODORE ROBERTS.. 



When the traps have all been tended, 'Tis the silence of the forest 

 And the long, long round is done, Crowding in upon our door ; 



And the forest ways are filling Tis the comfort of the bearskins 

 With the shadows, one by one, Lying wide upon the floor ; 



Then we wake the somber cabin 'Tis the languor, after tramping 

 With the lancing of the flame, All day long the twisting trail, 



And our hearts know that contentment Through the alders and the spruces 

 Which our tongues can never name. And the naked maple swale , 



'Tis the thought of work accom- 

 plished 

 Far from strife and vain desire — 

 'Tis the crisping of the bacon, 

 And the dancing of the fire, 

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