hide her thoughts or feelings like
a fine lady. Her bright eyes were moist and her red cheeks paler than
their wont, as she said, with her lips quivering, "Oh, Mr. Langdon, them
boys 'll be the death of ye, if ye don't take caar!"

"Why, what's the matter, my dear?" said Mr. Bernard.--Don't think there
was anything very odd in that "my dear," at the second interview with a
village belle;--some of these woman-tamers call a girl "My dear," after
five minutes' acquaintance, and it sounds all right as they say it. But
you had better not try it at a venture.

It sounded all right to Alminy, as Mr. Bernard said it.--"I 'll tell ye
what's the mahtterr," she said, in a frightened voice. "Ahbner 's go'n'
to car' his dog, 'n' he'll set him on ye'z sure 'z y' 'r' alive. 'T's
the same cretur that haaf eat up Eben Squires's little Jo, a year come
nex' Faast day."

Now this last statement was undoubtedly overcolored; as little Jo
Squires was running about the village,--with an ugly scar on his arm, it
is true, where the beast had caught him with his teeth, on the occasion
of the child's taking liberties with him, as he had been accustomed
to do with a good-tempered Newfoundland dog, who seemed to like being
pulled and hauled round by children. After this the creature was
commonly muzzled, and, as he was fed on raw meat chiefly, was always
ready for a fight, which he was occasionally indulged in, when anything
stout enough to match him could be found in any of the neighboring
villages.

Tiger, or, more briefly, Tige, the property of Abner Briggs, Junior,
belonged to a species not distinctly named in scientific books, but well
known to our country-folks under the name "Yallah dog." They do not
use this expression as they would say black dog or white dog, but
with almost as definite a meaning as when they speak of a terrier or a
spaniel. A "yallah dog" is a large canine brute, of a dingy old-flannel
color, of no particular breed except his own, who hangs round a tavern
or a butcher's shop, or trots alongside of a team, looking as if he were
disgusted with the world, and the world with him. Our inland population,
while they tolerate him, speak of him with contempt. Old ______, of
Meredith Bridge, used to twit the sun for not shining on cloudy days,
swearing, that, if he hung up his "yallah dog," he would make a better
show of daylight. A country fellow, abusing a horse of his neighbor's,
vowed, that, "if he had such a hoss, he'd swa