Parker's Second Reader Part 10

14. My son had a dog, whose name was Guido. He was very fond of playing in the street with the boys, early in the morning, before they went to school.

15. Guido was always very impatient to get out into the street in the morning, to join the boys in their sports; and all the boys in the street were very fond of him.

16. He used to wake very early, and go into the parlor, and seat himself in a chair by the window, to look out for the boys; and as soon as he saw a boy in the street, he would cry and whine until the servant opened the door for him to go out.

17. One very cold morning, when the frost was on the gla.s.s, so that he could not see out into the street, he applied his warm tongue to the gla.s.s, and licking from it the frost, attempted to look out.

18. But the spot which he had made clear being only large enough to admit one of his eyes, he immediately made another, just like it, in the same manner, for the other eye, by which he was enabled to enjoy the sight as usual. In the next lesson, I will tell you some other little stories of Guido, and another dog, whose name was Don, that belonged to my daughter.

LESSON XXI.

_The same subject, concluded._

1. One day I went to take a walk, with a friend of mine, in the country; and Don, the dog I mentioned in the last lesson, followed us.

2. We walked to a little grove about a mile from my house, to see the grave of a beautiful little child, that was buried on the summit of a little hill, covered with pines, spruce and other evergreens.

3. While we were admiring the beauty of the spot, Don was running about the grove; and I completely lost sight of him, and supposed that he had returned home.

4. But presently I saw him at a distance, barking up a tree at a squirrel that had escaped from him.

5. As I turned to go home, I said to my friend, You see Don is away, and does not see me. I am going to drop my handkerchief here, and send him after it.

6. We had got half way home, when presently Don came bounding along, and very shortly came up to us.

7. As soon as he came up to me, I stopped, and feeling in my coat-pocket, said to him,--Don, I have lost my pocket-handkerchief,--go find it.

8. I had scarcely uttered the words before he was off. He was gone only two or three minutes, and then, returning with my handkerchief in his mouth, he dropped it at my feet.

9. Guido, the other dog, was very fond of going into the water himself; but he never would allow any one else to go in.

10. The reason was this. My little son George was one day looking over into the water, to watch the eels that were gliding through the water below, and losing his balance, he fell into the water.

11. No one was near except Guido, and he immediately jumped in after George, and, with great labor, brought him on sh.o.r.e, and saved him from drowning.

12. Ever since that time, Guido has been very unwilling to let any one go near the water. It seemed as if he had reasoned about it, and said to himself, It is hard work to drag a boy out of the water, but it is much easier to keep him from going in.

13. Guido was not a very large dog. He was of the breed, or kind, named Spaniel; so called because that kind of dog originally came from Hispaniola. He had long ears, curling hair, a long bushy tail, and webbed feet, like all dogs that are fond of the water.

14. Webbed feet are those in which the toes are not separated, but seem to be joined together by a thin substance, like thick skin, which enables them to swim more easily.

15. Don was a very large dog, of the Newfoundland species, a kind which is remarkable for its beauty and intelligence.

LESSON XXII.

_Frogs and Toads._--BIGLAND.

1. Frogs and toads resemble one another in figure, but custom and prejudice have taught us to make a very different estimate of their properties: the first is considered as perfectly harmless, while the latter is supposed to be poisonous.

2. In this respect, the toad has been treated with great injustice: it is a torpid, harmless animal, that pa.s.ses the greatest part of the winter in sleep.

3. Astonis.h.i.+ng stories have been told of toads found in the center of solid blocks of stone, and other similar situations, without the least trace of the way by which they entered, and without any possibility of their finding any kind of nutriment.

4. Toads, as well as frogs, are of a variety of species; and in the tropical climates they grow to an enormous size. It is very probable that they contribute to clear both the land and the water of many noxious reptiles of a diminutive size, which might prove exceedingly hurtful to man.

5. The toad, however, is one of the most inoffensive of all animals. We have even heard that it has sometimes been successfully applied for the cure of the cancer, the most dreadful, and one of the most fatal, of human evils.

6. Mr. Pennant has related some interesting particulars respecting a toad which was perfectly domesticated, and continued in the same spot for upwards of thirty-six years.

7. It frequented the steps before the hall-door of a gentleman's house in Devons.h.i.+re; and, from receiving a regular supply of food, it became so tame as always to crawl out of its hole in an evening, when a candle was brought, and look up, as if expecting to be carried into the house.

8. A reptile so generally detested being taken into favor, excited the curiosity of every visitant; and even ladies so far conquered their natural horror and disgust as to request to see it fed. It seemed particularly fond of flesh maggots, which were kept for it in bran.

9. When these were laid upon a table, it would follow them, and, at a certain distance, would fix its eyes and remain motionless for a little while, as if preparing for the stroke, which was always instantaneous.

10. It threw out its tongue to a great distance, when the insect stuck by the glutinous matter to its lip, and was swallowed with inconceivable quickness.

11. After living under the protection of its benefactor upwards of thirty-six years, it was one day attacked by a tame raven, which wounded it so severely that it died shortly afterward.

12. The erroneous opinion of toads containing and ejecting poison has caused many cruelties to be exercised upon this harmless, and undoubtedly useful tribe. Toads have been inhumanly treated, merely because they are ugly; and frogs have been abused, because they are like them.

13. But, we are to observe, that our ideas of beauty and deformity, of which some arise from natural antipathies implanted in us for wise and good purposes, and others from custom and caprice, are of a relative nature, and peculiar to ourselves.

14. None of these relative distinctions, of great and small, beautiful or ugly, exist in the all-comprising view of the Creator of the universe: in his eyes, the toad is as pleasing an object as the canary-bird, or the bulfinch.

LESSON XXIII.

_Maida, the Scotch Greyhound._--Altered from BINGLEY.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

1. A hound is a dog with long, smooth, hanging ears, and long limbs, that enable him to run very swiftly. The greyhound is not so called on account of his color, but from a word which denotes his Grecian origin.

2. The Scotch greyhound is a larger and more powerful animal than the common greyhound; and its hair, instead of being sleek and smooth, is long, stiff and bristly. It can endure great fatigue.

3. It was this dog that the Highland chieftains, in Scotland, used in former times, in their grand hunting-parties.