sis 
AND 
24, -tgoi 
Rebuild the Earth.— III. 
The Result. 
. It was a fearful drop, but I had the plan. I would pro- 
claim it and save a thousand years of the busy world's 
time. If there was to be irrigation, there must be water. 
The only source of supply is what is brought inland by 
the wind. It has been demonstrated that the freight of 
the winds is not regular enough unless it can be longer 
held. The only possible place to hold it is in the hollows 
between' the hills. If floods are to be prevented, water 
must be held from rushing pellmell down the slope to 
the ocean at least until the streams can carry it off with- 
out overflow. To hold it would surely supplement all 
known plans of flood prevention. Every reservoir Com- 
pleted would advance both causes just so much, and help 
build up a road system beside. 
As_ I sit here I notice that travel on the road in this 
farming community is represented by three carriages to 
one lumber wagon; three of leisure and pleasure to one 
of business. Could the horses that draw the carriages 
back and forth be put to work on the road for six months 
the grade, oyer which they travel would be completed. 
Concentrate the effort, township, county, State and . 
nation, and it is soon done. 
The material is nearly all on the ground. A few 
thousand reservoirs in the Kaw River country would 
have saved Kansas City and other towns along" that 
stream. A thousand along the upper Cottonwood,, and 
that stream would not have gone out of its banks during 
the freshet of 1903. But it is not for me to figure. There 
are thousands of engineers and other officials who are 
paid large sums to figure out just such problems and 
act on them. . I will simply call attention to the fact. 
Picking up a paper, I note that Senator Blank has seen 
and comprehended the plan advanced- by the Stubville 
Daily Yell, and proposes to act upon it. All. that is needed 
to make the plan complete is to tack on road grading. 
On the spur of the moment I wrote thus : 
'Senator Blahk, Capitol. Dear Sir— I take the liberty 
of addressing you on a subject I deem of great import- 
ance— 1. e., irrigation and flood prevention, and wish to 
call your attention to a plan to reach that end by a Sys- 
tem of road grading. Grade all the roads to a level 
across all dry ravines, and the water that falls on each 
section of land will be impounded there. Such a system 
throughout the Mississippi Valley would control the flow 
of that stream as well as all its tributaries. In most 
hill countries the ravines have sufficient Capacity to hold 
all the water that falls there until evaporation redis- 
tributes it. Such a system would make the half desert 
lands of western Kansas , Texas, Nebraska, and the 
Dakotas the most productive lands on the face of the 
globe. It would make possible the rearing of splendid 
forest there, and the withered plain could be turned into 
the most productive farms. All countries would be bene- 
fited greatly, whether subjected to extreme drouth or 
not, by the operation of such a system. 
"The building of levees to control the floods after they 
haye gathered is vain, without supplemental work, and 
only makes disaster worse by its suddenness when they 
do give way. In detail the floods may be safely con- 
trolled. Each reservoir should have its drain to switch 
the water from sections where it is not needed to other 
sections where it is ; and also for letting the water off 
gradually where a reservoir proves unequal to its task. 
'Irrigation can be accomplished by running the water 
to the hill top lower down by means of ditches as of 
old or by the pump system of the Louisiana rice farms. 
I he cost would not be so stupendous as it might seem, 
and the improved road system would be worth all it cost| 
while the millions of acres of overflow lands redeemed' 
the saving from floods and consequent irrigation would 
be clear gams. When the battle of the Mississippi is 
successfully fought, it will be fought not in the valleys, 
but in the hills. I remain, 
"Respectfully yours, — -—" 
DuRrtAM, Kas , Nov. 13; j9o8. 
When an answer came, it was so irrelevant that I 
could only conclude that the heading and signature only 
had been read, and the letter answered at random to ful- 
fill the demands of courtesy. 
In the meantime, irrigation and good roads conventions 
were of daily occurrence. To each of these I sent a 
similar letter. I kept this up for a month, and watched' 
for the upheaval. But no upheaval came. Everything 
went on as calmly as if no bomb had been exploded 
among them. One after another they adjourned with a 
plan to get an appropriation to raise money to make plans 
for another appropriation. Then I tried the magazines- 
and newspapers, but time after time the cat came back, 
with a note of thanks, and evidence of not having been 
even opened. 
The Mail and Breeze answered on a postal card that 
it could not use our article on '•Immigration." It might 
also have added "There are no good articles on immigra- 
tion unless we write them." 
I am in despair. The plan is a good one. In fact, for 
the purpose in hand, there is no other possible way. Yet 
I am convinced that there are obstacles in the way which 
nothing less than the erosion of a thousand years can 
wear away. The trouble with the ship of progress is in 
the pilot house. The powerful engines are all in shape 
and work smoothly; they were made by practical 
mechanics. The coal bunkers are full. The engineer has 
steam escaping from the safety-valve. The roustabouts 
are idle and demanding employment. Where are the 
P lIots? E. P. Jaques. 
Some Animals I Have Studied. 
VIII —More At out Canine Character. 
I believe I have heretofore declared that,, according to 
my experience, dogs possess, a more striking individuality 
than is observable in any other species of animal lower 
than man; and that this' is one of the most convincing 
evidences of superiority, of the possession of mind, think- 
ing power— almost reason, even. Dogs can, and do, 
adapt themselves to a greater variety of conditions than 
any other beast-^than any two others. For instance, take 
horses and cats— probably the dog's greatest rivals, as to 
intelligence, in man's estimation* — the world Over. Are 
they found occupying as many positions of their own will, 
not compelled save by affection for some human being, 
living under as diverse conditions, as dogs? To make 
my meaning plainer, horses dislike to be anywhere but on 
solid ground, and cats are usually afraid of water; yet 
any even ordinary dog is perfectly happy with the man 
he loves anywhere, not excepting positions of peril' and 
very evident discomfort. Of course his entire confidence 
must be won ere he will willingly accompany you in a 
balloon, or remain in any entirely new and startling posi- 
tion (and this is also true of your human friend), but 
he can be won to it by love alone, and no horse or cat 
could be. 
Now, I lay down this general r-uk concerning instinct 
and reason : The more nearly the- individuals of a species 
are like each other in character, the more they are 
governed by instinct instead of reason, and vice-versa. 
Whenever any animal performs an ac-t unnatural to 
its species — contrary, say, to its supposed instincts — is it 
not fair to allow that the act resulted from thinking? If 
animals think at all, can they not be encouraged to think 
more than they naturally do? Yes, I say; and guided 
by this opinion of their powers I need only to be assured 
of an animal's strong affection for me to undertake cheer- 
fully and confidently to teach it to develop extraordinary 
and unsuspected powers ; and often they astonish me by 
going beyond my utmost hopes. Understand, I am not 
a professional animal trainer ; only a lover of nature 
keenly alive to latent possibilities, and always ready to 
take advantage of every opportunity that comes into a 
very busy life to< drink new inspiration from her inex- 
haustible fountain. 
In writing of "Coallie the Snake Dog," I mentioned 
her queer self-taught habit of bringing rocks out of the 
water, and stated that she had been known to carry out 
some that were quite heavy, but did not say how heavy. 
Since that writing I weighed one of her larger trophies 
obtained in water not quite deep enough to swim her, 
but requiring her to put her head, under and keep it 
there half a minute or more while trying to get a firm 
hold on it. The rock was not put there at that time, 
either-, nor- pointed out to her, but was discovered by 
herself while she was wading about, and while I was 
preparing, with' the; boy Chester, to take a bath. Of 
course, though, after she had taken it from its mossy bed 
and was carrying it shoreward, struggling with a zeal 
worthy of a better cause, we encouraged her by calling 
her a good dog, and shouting and laughing boisterously. 
The rock was white and yellow quartz in black granite, 
very hard and slippery, and weighed eight pounds strong. 
She weighs twenty-three. Since then she has brought 
out a slightly larger looking rock which I have not yet 
weighed. 
Later: The last mentioned rock is still Unweighed, but 
last night (August 1) she found another near the place 
♦Certain unenlightened tribes of men place the monkey in the 
front rank, and say that it could talk human language, but is too 
cunning. But it, in its free state, occupies too small a part of the 
globe to be considered here. 
whence she brings the greater number of them, and I 
promptly weighed it after we came back to the house, 
finding its weight to be a Little more than nine pounds. 
Why she took a fancy to this particular stone would be 
impossible to tell, but I guess it's because she prefers to 
do something difficult. It is not only hard and slippery, 
but it is thick and without any part small enough for 
her to take squarely between her jaws. She can get but 
one hold on it, and that is at a very slight steeply sloping 
projection, and to take hold of it there requires a pres- 
sure many times greater than the mere weight. The stone 
is. 4 inches, thick at thinnest part (Coallie could, perhaps, 
open her mouth that wide at the extremity, but when a 
dog's mouth is opened its widest, there is no power to 
grip even the lightest object), 4%. inches at thickest, and 
4V2 by 6 inches wide. It is quartz, stained yellow in every 
cavity or seam by the action of iron in the water; there 
is iron in everything here. 
I am sorry there was no camera near to take Coallie 
in her struggling with that very elusive stone. I should 
like a picture of her in at least two positions— with her 
head under the water trundling the stone, now this way, 
now that way, while trying to find a gripable spot; and 
again, triumphantly wading out with it. 
Chester and I rendered s-uch an encore that she 
trundled it back into the water, using her nose on it as 
effectively as the scarab uses its hindlegs on the ball of 
manure, only even more energetically, several times, 
never stopping until it found some place deep enough to 
completely cover it, and each time carrying it out with 
greater ease and skill; although the last time she came 
out where the bank was steep, so that she had to stand 
on her hindlegs in order to lift it above the first step. 
Talk about grit, tireless energy, etc. ! 
Some day I mean to find how large a stone she can 
swim with without allowing her head to be submerged. 
In the Ouachita I once tested her ability and willingness 
to swim out with quite small ones from a place too deep 
for her to get to the bottom. Swimming slowly outward, 
I would call her from the shore, then dive and bring up 
any stone I could get hold of, and hand it to her. At 
one time she had gotten directly over me before I came 
up. I saw her (the water was delightfully clear) and 
held the stone above my head as far as I could reach as 
I rose. She was whirling round and round, all alertness, 
and snatched the stone from my fingers just under the 
surface! I consider this a valuable experiment. It sug- 
gests a number of useful things a brave, gritty dog, so 
trained, might do in emergencies. 
She carried every rock to . shore, without hesitation. . 
But none of them were large enough to strain her 
powers, the largest being scarcely as big as a goose's egg. 
We have a much smaller dog than Coallie — a terrier 
named Gipsy — who was mothered by two cats, Tommy 
and Lucy, having been weaned prematurely. The 
weather was chilly at nights, and they slept with her in 
her little nest, keeping her warm. They adapted them- 
selves to this task of their own accord, and probably not 
without selfish motives, for the bed was snug and com- 
fortable and in a safe place. Tommy, who was "a mighty 
hunter," soon began to bring in game and give to her. 
Sometimes, when he came in very late, and, perhaps like 
other Tommies, with a reprehensible smell to his breath, 
she would growl at him and refuse to let him come to 
bed. But he took the rebuke very meekly, and calmly 
waited for her to change her mind. If Lucy happened to 
rise and look out at that time, Gipsy would violently 
throw her out to keep Tommy company. She could 
easily conquer either or both of the cats at the first, 
owing to their good nature and her own willfulness and 
masterful impetuosity, although less than half the size of 
the smaller one (Lucy), and with undeveloped teeth. 
Perhaps Mrs. M. was correct when she opined that 
"Maybe they know she will grow to be powerful here- 
after, and are wise enough to try to win her friendship 
new !" 
However that may have been, they did win her. Never, 
under any circumstances, did they resent any of her 
rough treatment or erratic ways, or fail in their kindness 
to her, and she was too proud and honorable to greatly 
injure any intelligent creature that did not resist. 
Tommy would implore her in the humblest manner to 
let him in. He would reach over the top of the box and 
rub his cheek against her, even while she was growling^ 
then prostrate himself on the floor, as if to say, in the 
exaggerated Oriental fashion, "Behold, my queen! I 
gladly lick the dust that is honored by being near thee," 
and go through all the well-known ingratiating tactics 
of felines; and finally she would relent, sigh, and say: 
'Well, get in, confound you !" and Tommy always under- 
stood. My own bed was near, and I suppose I heard the 
row every time, for I am a very light sleeper whenever 
there's trouble about. 
The three became very affectionate, especially as Coal- 
lie, who was at first jealous, carefully avoided the new 
dog, or threatened her if the latter came near, her, and 
Tommy..: was always at her service. As Gipsy merged 
from puppyhood to doghood, Coallie made friends with 
her, finding that she was not to be treated coldly on the 
newcomer's account, and the whole menagerie would 
stand on their hindfeet under the sassafras in the front 
yard to be fed, bite by bite; no, not Lucy, by the way; 
she was always bashful, and would not, and still will not, 
' perform." 
Last summer we added a pet pig to the attractions, and 
he also quickly learned to stand on his hind feet and beg 
for even a very small bite of bread. The unscientific fact 
is, too, that he learned the trick merely from watching 
the dogs, and not with human help. Of course he stood 
up very awkwardly, but that was all the more amusing. 
Coallie has had two litters of pups, and I will now • 
mention another instance of the difference in the disposi- 
tion of dogs. We went down to the brook with the two 
grown dogs and took one of the pups along to initiate it 
into the "Amphibian Club"— composed of certain domes- 
tic animals and ourselves. We crossed over and the 
dogs went with us. After some hesitation, the pup leaped 
in and attempted to follow us. Unfortunately, in his 
effort to avoid deep water and select a place that seemed 
shallow enough for wading (surely a case of thinking 
although erroneous thinking), he fell into very swift 
water and was washed helplessly down stream. Then 
what happened? Why, while his mother sat unperturbed 
watching him, as if sure he would make it all right and 
smiling encouragingly, little Gipsy walked swiftly out on 
a willow that almost touched the water, said willow very 
slender and trembling, directly in his course, and when 
he was hurled against it she reached out and caught him 
by the "scruff o' the neck" and jerked him ashore' An- 
other case of thoughtfulness or I don't know what think- 
ing is. It certainly required presence of mind, quick judg- 
ment, and no little skill, though the pup was in no real 
danger, for there was a calm pool a little further down 
At some other time I would like to describe Gipsy's 
power over almost all other animals hereabouts— a power' 
which I attribute chiefly to a human-like mind, which' 
gives her an imperious, confident, overawing manner to- 
ward brutes, while in man's society she is humility 
itself. J 
One other tiny dog— also a terrier— I have known 
who possessed the same mysterious power. I called fvini 
Terry, the Dog King, for all dogs everywhere seemed to 
fear or admire him; even big, surly dogs never know**' 
to show respect for small or weak creatures. I saw him ■ 
catch "old Jumbo" (probably a 70-pounder) by his tail- 
as he was trying to jump over the fence at his own home'-' 
and jerk him back into the yard, and the shaggy giant" 
didn't even growl about it, although we expected to see 
