A Faithful Dog

1895

A dear dog I once had the pleasure of knowing belonged to my daughter, then a child about 13 years old. It had been her constant companion and playmate for years. Unfortunately the poor creature fell ill, and my daughter attended to him with most assiduous care for 12 days, but there seemed no signs of improvement. One day I followed her on one of her visits and could not help noticing how his eyes brightened and his tail wagged with pleasure at seeing her, but he was apparently too weak to rise.

My little girl was very downcast at seeing him thus, and whistling and snapping her fingers to him — the usual signal for a game of romps — the faithful creature made an effort, got up and raced with her as far as the stables, a distance of about 300 yards, where he fell down dead at her feet. To please her he had done all he could and had died in the effort! — Animals' Friend.


Starfish

Starfishes commit suicide. When one is caught in a net, it dissolve its corporation into a dozen or so of fragments, and the pieces escape through the meshes. In time each becomes a perfect animal. To preserve the starfish whole it must be plunged into a bucket of fresh water before it has time to take the alarm. Fresh water is instant death to it, and thus only can some varieties of the starfish be preserved.