ssing some fields by a
footpath, when his dog gave a peculiar whine in front of him. He was
about to climb a stile, when another whine was heard. This startled him,
so he crossed the stile as carefully as he could, feeling every step.
Just as he got over the stile, the dog gave a louder whine of alarm,
placed its fore feet upon his breast, and held him fast against the
stile. He tried to push the dog aside, but it would not let him proceed.
The strap was therefore put around its neck, and the wise creature at
once led its master by a roundabout way quite out of the ordinary path.
It appeared that part of the footpath which led past a stream had been
entirely washed away by a flood, so that, had the gentleman continued
upon the old path, he must have met with a most serious accident. What
made the sagacity of the dog more conspicuous on this occasion was the
fact that it had not been with its master for eighteen months--he having
been laid up for the whole of that period, and the dog living with a
friend during the illness.

Abraham Men.

This was the name bestowed upon a class of vagabonds who wandered over
the country dressed in grotesque fashion, pretending to be mad and
working upon the fears or the charity of people for alms. They were
common in the time of Shakespeare, and were found even as late as the
Restoration. The slang phrase "to sham Abraham," is a survival of the
practice. There was a ward in Bethlehem (or Bedlam) Hospital, called the
Abraham Ward, and hence probably arose the name of these beggars.
Harmless lunatics who had been discharged were often to be seen roaming
about the country and were allowed a great deal of licence in
consequence of their weak-mindedness. Accordingly, the impostors above
mentioned, who used generally to eke out the gifts of the charitable by
stealing, when detected in their theft, would plead, as a rule, lunacy
as an excuse of their crime.

Famous Abdicators.

When a sovereign abdicates the throne, he does so either of his own free
will, or from compulsion. These acts have been sufficiently numerous as
to form quite an interesting history. Take a few of them by way of
example. Amadeus of Savoy abdicated in 1439, in order to become a
priest. The collapse of his great schemes induced the Emperor Charles V.
to give up his office in 1556. Wishing to retire into private life
Christina of Sweden laid down the crown in 1654, though she still
desired to exercise the rights of