r house, but he was told
that she had gone on a visit to some friends at a distance, but that the
letter should be given to her on her return. I had not, therefore, been
able to inform her of what we had been compelled to do, as I would have
wished; but thus, without preparation, quite unexpectedly, I had been met
by her in the public street, acting the poor dogs' butcher, with the
implements of my business before me, and a dirty cur growling and gnawing
his dinner at my feet. What made the matter more serious, for serious it
seemed to me, though I can but smile _now_ to think why such a thing
should have made me uncomfortable, was, that the whole scene had taken
place in so open a part, with so many grand and gay dogs all round, to be
witnesses of my confusion. I did not reflect that, of all the puppies who
were strutting past, there was probably not one who could have remembered
so common an event as the passing of a butcher's barrow; and if they
looked at me at all, it was, doubtless, for no other reason than to avoid
running against my greasy coat and spoiling their fine clothes. These
confessions will prove to you that I was very far from being a wise dog
or even a sensible one; all the books I had read had, as yet, served no
other purpose than that of feeding my vanity and making me believe I was
a very superior animal; and you may learn from this incident, that those
who wish to make a proper figure in the world, and play the part they are
called on to perform in a decent manner, must study their lesson in the
world itself, by mingling with their fellows, for books alone can no more
teach such knowledge than it can teach a dog to swim without his going
into the water.

Nip and I had our dinner; and when it was over, my old friend went out to
procure a supply of meat for the next day's business. I sat at the window
with my nose resting on the ledge, at times watching some heavy clouds
which were rolling up the sky, as if to attend a great meeting overhead;
at another moment, looking at the curs in the streets, who were playing
all sorts of games, which generally turned into a fight, and often
staring at the house opposite without seeing a single stone in the wall,
but in their place, Fidas, and puppies with stiff collars, and barrows
with piles of meat, ready cut and skewered. I was awoke from this
day-dream by the voice of an old, but very clean doggess, inquiring if my
name was Mr. Job? I answered that I was so c