THE DOG

Pit, pat, pit, pat, softly sounded the steps in the hall, and then there was a sharp bark at Miss Clare's door. She opened it and a large dog walked into the room. A card was tied to his collar with some writing on it that said:

"Good afternoon, little people! My name is Bruno, and I have come to visit you for fifteen minutes." The teacher read this to the children, and then to their delight Bruno began to walk slowly through the aisles, looking at each little friend out of his big brown eyes.

Meanwhile Miss Clare was writing this question on the blackboard: "In what ways is a dog like a cat?" and when Bruno had finished his survey of the room and had taken his stand by the teacher's desk, the children were ready to answer it.

They discovered some resemblances easily, as:

as:

Use and number of organs, and some differences,

Size.
Covering.

Sounds made.

Feet.

Eyes.

Teeth.
Ears.
Tongue.

As the time for the visit was now over, Miss Clare said, "I am sure that we can find out many other things and I will try and coax Bruno to visit us again to-morrow," and Tom - whose father owned a market — volunteered to bring a bone for him to

eat.

With nine o'clock came Miss Clare and Bruno. The bone was there, also; a good meaty one, that Tom hid on a low shelf in the cubpoard, leaving the door ajar.

Bruno found it very quickly, and began at once to eat it, leading the children to decide that he had a keen scent, large, strong teeth, and good eyesight.

"He fared much better than the dog in the story," laughed Miss Clare. "Don't you remember how

"Old Mother Hubbard went to the cupboard

To get her poor dog a bone,

And when she got there, the cupboard was bare,
And so the poor dog had none”?

With a ruler they measured Bruno, his length, height, tail, and ears, examined his eyes in the light and in the dark, felt of his coat, searched for whiskers, and studied his color. Miss Clare questioned if dogs were always larger than cats.

"Yes," was the decided answer from all but quiet little Johnnie, who said he had seen a dog smaller than an Angora cat.

This reminded the guessers that dogs varied in size, and they came to the conclusion "that some dogs were as small as cats, but that no cat was as big as a large dog."

They noticed that Bruno walked a little lame. "What makes him?" inquired John.

"When he was a small dog," said Miss Clare, "he was out playing with his little master in a field near a railroad. The boy was throwing sticks for

the dog to bring back to him. One stick fell on the track and as he ran to get it, the train came along. Bruno jumped, but the engine hit his leg and broke it. A doctor set it and it got well in time, but he has been afraid of the cars ever since. He will not cross a track if he can help it.

"One Sunday my brother and I were out walking and we came to a bridge across the river. Bruno was with us and when he saw there was a car track across it he would not go`over. We coaxed and scolded, but he would not stir. At last we left him, knowing he could find his way home well enough, but what do you think! when we reached the other side he was waiting for us. He had gone down the steep bank and had swam across the river!"

It was now time to tell the dog good-by, so after giving him many love pats, and a piece of cake, they saw him trot quietly home.

The next day Charlie brought his dog, a spaniel. He was a beauty, with curly hair so soft and silky, and the brightest eyes! He could do many tricks and was very willing to do them for his little master, who spoke so lovingly to him.

"Sit up and beg, Fritz," Charlie would say, and