Cat and Dog | Page 3

once I never could understand. I
have often peeped in at the dining-room window to see if my master
and mistress ate their food in the same manner; but though I have
sometimes seen them perform my first feat of sitting quietly before
their plates, I never once saw them put their meat on their noses and
catch it. However, it was Lily's pleasure, and that was enough for me.
She also taught me to shut the door at her command. This was rather a
noisy performance, as I could only succeed by running against the door
with my whole weight; but it gave Lily so much satisfaction, that she
used to open the door a dozen times a day, on purpose for me to bang
it.
Another favourite amusement of hers was making me look at myself in
the glass. I grew used to this before long; but the first time that she set a
mirror before me on the ground, I confess that I was a good deal
astonished and puzzled. At the first glance, I took the dog in the glass

for an enemy and rival, intruding upon my dominions, so I naturally
prepared for a furious attack upon him. He appeared equally ready, and
I perceived that he was quite my match. But when, after a great deal of
barking and violence, nobody was hurt, I fancied that the looking-glass
was the barrier which prevented our coming to close quarters, and that
my adversary had entrenched himself behind it in the most cowardly
manner. Determined that he should not profit by his baseness, I
cleverly walked round behind the glass, intending to seize him and give
him a thorough shaking; but there I found nothing! I dashed to the front
once more; there he stood as fierce as ever. Again behind his
battlements--nobody! till after repeated trials, I began to have a
glimmering of the state of the case; and feeling rather ashamed of
having been so taken in, I declined further contest, and lay down
quietly before the mirror to contemplate my own image, and reflect
upon my own reflection.
Lily took great pains with me; but after all, hers were but minor
accomplishments, and I was not allowed to devote my whole attention
to mere tricks or amusements. I was not born to be a lap-dog, and it
was necessary that I should be educated for the more important
business of life. Under my master's careful training, my natural talents
were developed, and my defects subdued, till I was pronounced by the
best judges to be the cleverest setter in the country. My master himself
was a capital sportsman, and I was as proud of him as he was of me.
When I had become sufficiently perfect to be his companion, we used
to range together untired "over hill, over dale, through bush, through
brier," he doing his part and I mine, and bringing home between us
such quantities of game as no one else could boast. This was my real
business, but it was no less my pleasure. I entered into it thoroughly. To
point at a bird immovably till my master's never-failing shot gave the
signal for my running to fetch the foolish thing and lay it at his feet,
was to my mind the greatest enjoyment and the first object in life. And
if anybody should be inclined to despise me on that account, I would
beg them to recollect that it was the work given me to do, and I did it
well. Can everybody say as much? The causes or the consequences of it,
I was not capable of understanding. As to how the birds liked it, that
never entered my head. I thought birds were meant to be shot, and I

never supposed there was any other use in them.
The only thing that distressed me in our shooting excursions was, that
my master would sometimes allow very indifferent sportsmen to
accompany us. I whined, grumbled, and remonstrated with him to the
best of my power when I heard him give an invitation to some
awkward booby who scarcely knew how to hold his gun, but it was all
in vain; my master's only fault was his not consulting my judgment
sufficiently in the choice of his acquaintances, and many a bad day's
sport we had in consequence.
Once my patience was tired beyond what any clever dog could be
expected to bear. A young gentleman had arrived at our house whom
my master and mistress treated much better than I thought he deserved.
At the first glance I penetrated into his state of mind, and should have
liked to hear my master growl, and my mistress bark at him; instead of
which they said they were glad to see