powers

whose observation, however, the human arts and must be more familiar. A short time since, I was riding over a common, at some distance from any house, when a pig, which, in the course of feeding, had so twisted the triangular yoke upon his neck, that the narrow portion of it pinched his throat, and threatened him with suffocation, no sooner saw me, than he came as near as to the fore feet of my horse, foaming at the mouth, and struggling to overcome his difficulty. That he believed in the power of a man to assist him was evident; but he had also his fears of that human power, as possibly more dangerous to his throat than all the pressure of his inverted yoke; so, that whenever I alighted from my horse, with the design of helping him, he ran away, and yet, as soon as I was again seated, he returned, continuing to travel with me, close to the horse's fore feet, or as near to my own person as he was able; his mouth still foaming, and his efforts to escape suffocation still prolonged. In the end, seeing a farm-house a little upon one side of my road, I pulled my bridle that way, the pig still accompanying me; till, reaching the yard gate, I called to some of the people, and apprized them of the pig's presence and misfortune, as my best means of promoting his relief."

"You had doubtless a fair example, here, of the disposition of animals to apply for human aid," said Mr. Paulett; "a disposition which is checked only by their opposing fears."

"I had another example," resumed the schoolmaster, "only a few evenings since. In the brook which runs before my dwelling, four ducks and a drake, the property of my neighbour, are accustomed to swim. Heavy rains had swelled the brook, which

was still rising; and across it, near to my door, is a low arching of brick, which causes it to pass, for some dozen feet, or so, as through a tunnel. Upon the evening to which I allude, just as the light was departing, I heard the drake squall in a most vehement manner, and in tones so far perfectly intelligible, that I made this profound observation, in reference to them, to myself, while they were uttering: There is this, and this only difference between the drake and I. He is perplexed, but he knows what it is about; and I know, from his voice, that he is perplexed, but am perplexed as to the cause.' For the little else that I thought about it, it seemed to me probable, that be and his ducks wanted to get home to bed, and that the yard door had not been opened so early as usual, to let them in; for, that he was addressing himself, and that vehemently, to human creatures, and not to ducks, was plainly to be understood. But the noise ceased, and, for an hour or two, I forgot it; after which, upon inquiry, I received this full confirmation of the main notion I had formed. The drake had really been calling for human aid, but upon an affair more urgent than I had imagined. From the rapid rising of the brook, one of the ducks had been surprised under the archway that I have mentioned, in such a manner that she could by no means get out, and that neither the drake nor the other ducks had any power to help her; and it was in this extremity, and as the next natural resource, that the drake had called so violently for human help; which help had been given, and the duck saved!"

66

All these stories," said Mr. Paulett, "have the advantage of showing us, more and more, how nearly

animals, according to their means and situations, ob

serve, and act, and reason like ourselves; and, as to their looking for aid, either to man, or to their fellows, when the occasion surpasses their own powers, I remember a recent instance of the latter kind, which we may as well add to our present store of examples. A ewe and her lamb were browsing, last autumn, among some bramble bushes; into the long and prickly and interlacing branches of one of which the lamb at length penetrated so far, that, his wool being caught, and his legs more and more fettered at every motion, he was wholly unable to get back again. Making, then, his complaints to his mother, she, upon her part, tried, in vain, for a considerable portion of time, to deliver from the pertinacious branches her poor bleating lamb. But, wearied at last, and wholly despairing of her means, she suddenly ceased to make any effort; and, almost as suddenly, ran away across the common, and went completely out of sight; leaving, as I was ignorant enough to think, the lambkin to his hapless fate. While I was musing upon so extraordinary, and as it seemed to me, so unnatural a proceeding, the ewe re-appeared, and with herself the ram, both hastening over the common at a rapid pace. She had been to fetch him; and she had employed some means or other, in her possession, to make him acquainted with the nature of the misfortune of herself and lamb. Both came galloping to the bramble-bush, which they had no sooner reached, than the ram, applying the vigour of his legs and horns, tore away the branches, one after the other, till the lamb became free, and was able to leave the spot with his father and mother, bounding and bleating gaily as he went!"

Mr. Paulett and his visitor had yielded thus far to their mutual taste for the observation of the habits

and capabilities of the lower ranks of animated nature; but the real occasion of Mr. Gubbins's visit and reception was of more immediate and pressing interest and importance. He had been joined, both by Mr. Paulett and Farmer Mowbray, in consultation upon the means of restoring the latter to his former ease and welfare upon his farm, and of removing the serious alternative of an emigration to Van Diemen's Land; and Mr. Paulett had sent for him this morning, to hear the conclusion of his own exertions to that end, and to convey the news, whatever it might be, to the anxious family at the farm. In reality, the news was the most agreeable. Mr. Paulett's neighbourly endeavours had been entirely successful. Every thing was arranged. Farmer Mowbray was placed wholly out of difficulty, and was left free to bring up his children under the dews of their native skies. Mr. Gubbins learned the particulars with transport, and had no sooner made himself able, clearly and confidently, to communicate them; than, after warmly and affectionately thanking Mr. Paulett, in the name of his friend, and as to the more immediate object of the service rendered, he hastened from the cottage to the farmhouse, to reveal the tidings.

CHAP. XIV.

And vex with curious toil my infant eye,

To count the gems that stud the midnight sky;
Or think, as playful fancy wandered far,
How sweet it were to dance from star to star!

LEYDEN.

As it was now near to Farmer Mowbray's dinner-hour, and as I was willing to share the pleasure of seeing so many happy human faces, and of listening to so many cries of human joy, as Mr. Gubbins's news would be sure to occasion in and about the large and ancient chimney at the farm-house, I flew from post to paling, and from eave to eave, and from hedge to hedge, outtravelling the worthy schoolmaster; so, that I was in time to see his almost dancing feet arrive upon the stone floor, and hear his blithe and rapid story of all that he learned from Mr. Paulett; to the lightening of the bosoms, but to the springing of fresh, but gladsome tears, from the eyes of those whom he addressed. He had stopped at his own gate, where, after uttering one word of assurance that all was well, he bade his wife and daughter follow him to the farmer's; a summons which Mrs. Gubbins obeyed to the letter, but at which Mary, without her bonnet, came at a leap into the street, and ran like a mad-girl before her father, whose coming and good news she proclaimed while he had yet a hundred yards to traverse. A syllable, or two or three syllables at most, were sufficient to tell her