. Men have had pet lions
and tigers. When I see a fine, gentle horse, or an intelligent,
loving dog, I find myself repeating Miss Barrett's beautiful words,--

"Be my benediction said
With my hand upon thy head,
Gentle fellow-creature."

Now I have a funny story for you of a dog and a hen which a friend
told me that she knew to be true.

A small dog had a litter of puppies in a barn close by a hen who was
sitting on her eggs, waiting patiently, as hens do, for the time
when her chickens should pop their pretty heads out of their shells
into this pleasant world.

The puppies, however, came first, and, as soon as they were born,
she left her nest, and insisted upon brooding them.

The little dog, no doubt, thought her very impertinent, and barked
at her, and tried to drive her away; but she would not go. They had
always been good friends, and the dog was unwilling to hurt her; and
so Mrs. Dog, after showing, in every way, her desire to get rid of
her troublesome acquaintance, and finding that Madame Hen would not
budge one inch, let her alone.

From that time, the hen brooded the puppies. She let their mother
suckle them, but the rest of the time took charge of them. The poor
dog mother felt cheated, but she went off and amused herself as well
as she could.

The poor chickens never showed their heads outside of their little
oval prison, for they missed the gentle warmth of their unnatural
mother's wings."

"She was a real funny hen," said Frank; "but she could not have had
much brains, not even so much as common hens, and that's little
enough; but, as for the dog, she must be as lazy as Dick Doolittle,
to be willing to have such a stupid nursery woman as a hen take care
of her own puppies. Dick lets Tom Jones do all his sums for him, but
then he never hides it, so we only laugh at him. He says, What's the
use of being named Doolittle and yet have to do much?

But, Mother, it is not bed time yet. Have you not some more stories
of animals?"

"Yes, Frank; but Harry wants his story now. It is his turn to
choose."

"I can wait till to-morrow evening," said Harry; "and I like the dog
and hen stories very much."

"Harry shall have his turn, then, to-morrow," said Mrs. Chilton;
"and I will tell you some more stories of dogs, for I now remember
some more that are perfectly true.

You never know how intelligent an animal is till you treat it with
kindness. All animals are easily frightened by human