44 Sagacity of the Ass. 
SAGACITY OF THE ASS. 
Not a few pens, and some of great ability, have taken up the 
defence of this ill-used animal. " The ass," said the prophet of 
old, " knoweth his master's crib;" but the ass of our times is 
not so fortunate, for, as a pleasant writer observes, the poor 
beast is utterly unacquainted with the nature of a rack, and know- 
eth not even the existence of a manger. He is a houseless vagrant 
over commons and along lane sides; he is a beast among gip- 
sies, and a gipsy among beasts. He is unfed, untended, unpitied, 
he is hated, kicked, spurned, thumped, lashed, tormented, troubled, 
and thrashed in every possible and devisable fashion — and for 
why? Your " most exquisite reason," good public? Alas! he 
is — an ass. — Blackwood'' s Magazine. 
In Britain, the nature and disposition of the ass is quite de- 
stroyed through carelesness and cruelty — 
" The ass erows dull by stripes, the constant blow 
JBeats off his briskness, and he moves but slow." 
But among the peasantry of Spain the ass is a petted favour- 
ite, almost an inmate of the household. The children welcome 
him home, and the wife feeds him from her hands. Under this 
kind treatment his intellect expands, and what we denounce as 
the most stupid of animals actually becomes sagacious, following 
his master, and coming and going at his bidding. Mrs. Child re- 
lates, that a Spanish peasant and his ass had daily, for many 
years, carried milk round to several customers in Madrid, till at 
length the peasant became very ill, and had no one to send to 
market. At the suggestion of his wife, the panniers were filled 
with canisters of milk; an inscription, written by the priest, re- 
quested customers to measure their own milk, and return the ves- 
sels; and the ass went off with his load. He returned in due 
time with empty canisters, and thus he continued to go to and 
fro for several days. In Madrid, the house-bells usually pull 
downwards, and the ass stopped before the door of every custom- 
er, and, after waiting a reasonable time, pulled the bell with his 
mouth. — Blackwoodi's Mag. 
New Motive Power. — The Courier de Lyons mentions the fol- 
lowing discovery of a new motive force: — "It is now some time 
since the idea of employing ether as a propelling force was sug- 
gested. Our townsman, M. Trimblay, has reduced this theory to 
practice. A machine worked by the steam of ether, has been in 
full operation for the last six days, in a glass cutting manufactory 
in the Guillotire. Its power is equal to that of 20 horse power." 
