<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_108" id="Page_108"></SPAN></span></p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus035.png" width-obs="400" height-obs="293" alt="A Noble Dog" title="A Noble Dog" /></div>
<h2>A Noble Dog</h2>
<div class='cap'>ROVER would go into the water fast
enough for a bathe or a swim, but
he would not bring anything out. The
children used to throw in sticks, and Rover
and I used to bound in together; but I
would bring the stick back, while he swam
round and round, enjoying himself.</div>
<p>I am not vain, but I could not help
feeling how much superior I was to such<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_109" id="Page_109"></SPAN></span>
a dog as Rover. He is a prize Newfoundland,
and I am only a humble retriever
of obscure family.</p>
<p>So one day I said to him—</p>
<p>"Why don't you fetch the sticks out
when the children throw them in?"</p>
<p>"I don't care about sticks," he said.</p>
<p>"But it's so grand and clever to be
able to fetch them out."</p>
<p>"Is it?" he answered.</p>
<p>"I know it is, for the children tell me
so.</p>
<p>"Do they?" he said.</p>
<p>"I wonder you are not ashamed," I
went on, a little nettled by his meekness,
"never to do anything useful. I should
be, if I were you."</p>
<p>"Ah," he said, "but you see you are
not. Good night."</p>
<div class="figleft"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus036.png" width-obs="276" height-obs="400" alt=""He pulled her out some ten yards down the stream."" title=""He pulled her out some ten yards down the stream."" /> <span class="caption">"He pulled her out some ten yards down the stream."</span></div>
<p>We used to spend a great deal of time
by the river. The children loved to play<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_110" id="Page_110"></SPAN></span>
there, and we dogs were always expected
to go with them.</p>
<p>One day, as I was lying asleep on the
warm grass by the river bank, I heard
a splash. I jumped in, but there was
no stick, only one of the children floating
down on the stream, and screaming
whenever her head came from under the
water.</p>
<p>I thought it was a new kind of game,
not very interesting, so I swam out again;
and just as I was shaking the water out
of my ears, I heard another great flop,
and there was Rover in the water, holding
on to the child's dress. He pulled her
out some ten yards down the stream; and
oh! if you could have seen the fuss that
the master and mistress and the rest of
the children made of that black and white
spotted person!</p>
<p>"Why, Rover," I said afterwards, when<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_113" id="Page_113"></SPAN></span>
we had got home and were talking it
over, "whatever made you think that the
child wanted to be pulled out of the
water?"</p>
<p>"It's my business to pull people out of
the water," he said.</p>
<p>"But," I urged, "I always thought you
were too stupid to understand things."</p>
<p>"Did you?" he said, turning his mild
eyes on me.</p>
<p>"Why didn't you explain to me that
you——"</p>
<p>"My dear dog," he said, "I never think
it worth while to fetch sticks out of the
water, and I never think it worth while
to explain things to stupid people."</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus037.png" width-obs="300" height-obs="68" alt="Mushrooms" title="Mushrooms" /></div>
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />