Speaker 1: Cats and dogs. Such a snowy day as it was.
Speaker 1: Rob stood at the window with a frown on his forehead,
Speaker 1: For was not this the day on which he and
Speaker 1: Will and Jack and Ned were to go after school
Speaker 1: to Long Lake skating. It was only the day before
Speaker 1: this that the ice had been pronounced strong enough to
Speaker 1: be safe, and here it was snowing as if it
Speaker 1: never meant to stop. It was too bad to be sure.
Speaker 1: Rob had been able to skate nearly every day for
Speaker 1: a fortnight, but that was only on the meadow Brook,
Speaker 1: a mere puddle, he said, in comparison with Long Lake,
Speaker 1: where one could go three miles without a curve, where
Speaker 1: they could find plenty of dead wood about the shores
Speaker 1: to build fires with. But there seemed to be no
Speaker 1: help for it. The snow came down thicker than ever.
Speaker 1: It must have commenced soon after dark the night before,
Speaker 1: for it was now more than a foot deep. Well
Speaker 1: there is one comfort, anyway, thought Master Rob, as he
Speaker 1: turned from the window. I can't go to school, and
Speaker 1: so I shall have a holiday. What shall I do?
Speaker 1: Shall I work with my tools, or shall I go
Speaker 1: out to the barn and see the dogs. I think
Speaker 1: I will go and see the dogs. Rob was a
Speaker 1: great dog lover, and there was not a dog anywhere
Speaker 1: about that did not love him. Every friendless cur came
Speaker 1: to him at once and found a place in his heart.
Speaker 1: His father used to say that if he could have
Speaker 1: had his way, he would have more dogs on the
Speaker 1: farm than all kinds of cattle put together. As it was,
Speaker 1: he had a good many. First and foremost was Fleet,
Speaker 1: a great shaggy Scotch deerhound, whom he had found sitting
Speaker 1: thin and unhappy outside the door when stormy winter's day.
Speaker 1: He was a very different looking dog. Now his bones
Speaker 1: were all covered, and his unhappy days were over. Whenever
Speaker 1: Rob mounted his pony for a gallop, Fleet was ready
Speaker 1: to go with him. And many and many was the
Speaker 1: mile that they had raced along together. But Fleet was
Speaker 1: the first of many, and they were all in the
Speaker 1: barn where the Rob was now going. I wonder where
Speaker 1: Grace is, he said, perhaps she'd like to go too.
Speaker 1: He found Grace down on the floor in front of
Speaker 1: the kitchen fire and extended to her the invitation to
Speaker 1: go with him. She was watching her cat drink a
Speaker 1: saucer of milk, and did not appear very enthusiastic at
Speaker 1: the idea. I've seen the dog so many times, Rob, dear,
Speaker 1: she said, and it is so very stormy that if
Speaker 1: you don't mind, I think I won't go. All right,
Speaker 1: said Rob. The snow is pretty deep and the paths
Speaker 1: are only partly made. Would you mind taking Pussy with you?
Speaker 1: Asked Grace. I think she would like to catch a
Speaker 1: mouse for her breakfast. Not a bit, said Rob. So
Speaker 1: Pussy was put on his shoulder and he set out.
Speaker 1: She seemed to be quite used to being carried in
Speaker 1: this way, and to find it much better than dragging
Speaker 1: through the snow, for she balanced herself very nicely as
Speaker 1: he plunged along through the drifts. He was yet some
Speaker 1: distance away from the barn when his friends within knew
Speaker 1: that he was coming, and a chorus of barks and
Speaker 1: wines arose, and when he opened the door he was
Speaker 1: the center of a jumping and whining pack. There were
Speaker 1: only two old dogs besides Fleet, but there were puppies
Speaker 1: without number. Gyp a Scotch Collie had six. They were
Speaker 1: not yet able to leap up and take care of
Speaker 1: themselves generally, so that in the hurly burly that took
Speaker 1: place when Rob came in. They were stepped on a
Speaker 1: good deal, and there were several loud squeals of pain
Speaker 1: from them. At this their mother suddenly stopped fawning upon
Speaker 1: her master, and, seizing them one at a time in
Speaker 1: her mouth, deposited them with a little shake in their box,
Speaker 1: as much as to say, stay at home, you small puppies,
Speaker 1: You are much too little to be out by yourselves.
Speaker 1: Then she settled herself in their midst beating her tail
Speaker 1: with great violence on the floor whenever Rob looked her way.
Speaker 1: When Jip went back to her box, the floor seemed
Speaker 1: quite clear. Two half grown pups, however, still tumbled over
Speaker 1: and over one another at his feet. Rob did not
Speaker 1: waste any time over them, but taking down a stone
Speaker 1: mug that hung on a nail, he walked around to
Speaker 1: where the cows stood and their stalls, went to one
Speaker 1: and commenced to milk his mug full. Pussy meantime, jumped
Speaker 1: off his shoulder onto the cow's back and stood there
Speaker 1: purring while he milked, apparently regarding the whole proceeding with
Speaker 1: great satisfaction. The cow did not seem to mind having
Speaker 1: such a strange rider. No doubt, Pussy had been there before.
Speaker 1: When Rob had filled the mug, he held it up
Speaker 1: and the cat took a dainty sip or two. But
Speaker 1: the milk she had drunk in the kitchen seemed to
Speaker 1: have been all that she wanted, so she soon stopped.
Speaker 1: Just at that moment she caught sight of a rat
Speaker 1: that was boldly smelling about in a a distant corner
Speaker 1: and giving a flying leap. Was after him like a dart,
Speaker 1: but master rat had seen his danger, and the last
Speaker 1: of his tail disappeared through a crack in the floor
Speaker 1: just as Puss arrived at the spot. That was a
Speaker 1: pretty close shave for you, old rat, said Rob, and
Speaker 1: he picked up the mug, which he had laid down
Speaker 1: to watch the performance, and, going around where he had
Speaker 1: left the two pups, poured some of the milk into
Speaker 1: a saucer for them. Then he went on to see
Speaker 1: the last litter of all. The mother was a little
Speaker 1: Scotch terrier, and her three little puppies were coiled up
Speaker 1: in a basket of straw beside her. She had not
Speaker 1: rushed with the others to greet Rob when he first
Speaker 1: came in, for she had never had puppies before and
Speaker 1: did not care to leave them for a single minute.
Speaker 1: She had whined and barked and wagged her little tail
Speaker 1: with all her might. Believe her puppies she could not.
Speaker 1: Rob went over to her and took up one of
Speaker 1: the little fellows in his arms. Saucy, for that was
Speaker 1: the terrier's name, looked on very anxiously. She did not
Speaker 1: know what might be going to befall one of her
Speaker 1: precious children by and bye. Rob grew tired of the dogs,
Speaker 1: so then he strolled over to where John the hard
Speaker 1: man was busy at the hay cutter. John was not
Speaker 1: in a pleasant mood this morning, and so Rob, finding
Speaker 1: the barn grow a little tedious, decided to go back
Speaker 1: to the house. The snow was still coming down as
Speaker 1: fast as ever, so he went to the kitchen door
Speaker 1: and stamped and shook himself clear. Then he opened the
Speaker 1: door and went in. A bright fire was filling the
Speaker 1: whole chimney place with its red glow. He stopped in
Speaker 1: front of it for a minute to get warm. Then,
Speaker 1: turning to the old housekeeper who sat on one side
Speaker 1: of it, he asked if she knew where Grace was.
Speaker 1: I think she's in the library, said the housekeeper. So
Speaker 1: Rob went on to the library, and there he found
Speaker 1: Grace reading Let's have some kind of a game, he suggested.
Speaker 1: Grace was in the midst of a most lieful fairy tale.
Speaker 1: Wait until I finish this, Rob dear, she said, it
Speaker 1: is only forty pages. Forty pages, said Rob, Why it
Speaker 1: will take you an hour. He went out of the room,
Speaker 1: and I'm afraid banged the door just a little behind him.
Speaker 1: I'll find mamma, he thought. Mamma was easily found. She
Speaker 1: was sitting in a great, high backed chair in front
Speaker 1: of the fire, with her lap full of stockings whose
Speaker 1: holes she was darning. Rob pushed them all out of
Speaker 1: her lap on to the floor and climbed up in
Speaker 1: their place. Do tell me a story or something, mamma,
Speaker 1: he said. What shall it be about, asked his mamma, Dogs,
Speaker 1: I think, said Rob, After considering a little, did you know,
Speaker 1: said his mamma that dogs were sometimes used instead of horses.
Speaker 1: Away to the north, where the snow lies deep nearly
Speaker 1: all year. Horses could never make their way. There are
Speaker 1: no roads, and even if there were, they would be
Speaker 1: so blocked with snow that no one could find them.
Speaker 1: So dogs are used They are a different breed from
Speaker 1: any hereabout. Their long thick coat, which keeps them so
Speaker 1: warm in the cold winter's nights, would be a dreadful
Speaker 1: burden in our hot summer. These dogs are taught to
Speaker 1: haul and harness, and they are very tough and strong,
Speaker 1: and could go far further and more quickly than any horse.
Speaker 1: They are hitched to a sled, of course, in single file.
Speaker 1: The sled is made of a long board turned up
Speaker 1: at one end for a sort of dashboard, then wrapped
Speaker 1: up in his thick fur rugs. The driver takes his
Speaker 1: seat on it, cracks his whip, and away they go. Sometimes,
Speaker 1: though they do not get away so easily, for some
Speaker 1: crossed dog refuses to have his harness put on, and
Speaker 1: he has to be beaten thoroughly before he will submit.
Speaker 1: At times, long trains of dogs sledges loaded with provisions
Speaker 1: set out for some far distant fort. At such times
Speaker 1: as these, the drivers do not ride, but run alongside
Speaker 1: on snow shoes. They go at great speed on these
Speaker 1: and easily keep up with the dogs. Before daylight they
Speaker 1: start out. At noon, a halt is made for an
Speaker 1: hour and the men take a scanty lunch. Then they
Speaker 1: set off again. The twilight comes early in those northern lands,
Speaker 1: and as soon as it is too dark to see clearly,
Speaker 1: they halt for the night. The dogs are loose from
Speaker 1: their harness and stand around, looking on with great interest.
Speaker 1: For now they are to have the only mill they
Speaker 1: are allowed in the whole day. Two pounds of dried
Speaker 1: fish are given to each. It takes them only an
Speaker 1: instant to swallow it down. Then they walk about a little,
Speaker 1: hoping perhaps that there may be an unnoticed piece somewhere,
Speaker 1: or growling at one another, and settling any little disputes
Speaker 1: that may have risen during the day. But soon they
Speaker 1: cail themselves up into a bunch and are fast asleep.
Speaker 1: The men, meanwhile, have been busily at work. One has
Speaker 1: cut down a tree for wood for a fire. Another,
Speaker 1: with his snow shoe, has scraped away the snow so
Speaker 1: as to leave a large round place in the center
Speaker 1: of which the fire is made. Then the supper is cooked.
Speaker 1: After this is over, the men smoke their pipes and
Speaker 1: tell stories. But before long they wrap themselves up in
Speaker 1: their robes, and, with their feet to the fire, go
Speaker 1: off to sleep. What fun that must be, said, Rob,
Speaker 1: I would like to drive a dog team ever so
Speaker 1: much how jolly to go sliding over the snow. It
Speaker 1: is not such good fun as you might think, said
Speaker 1: his mamma. For one sits on the very bottom of
Speaker 1: the sled, and if it goes over any ice, hummocks.
Speaker 1: Every jar shakes you till you feel before night that
Speaker 1: every bone in your body will drop to pieces. Sometimes, too,
Speaker 1: the dogs give great trouble. They find out at once
Speaker 1: whether the person who is driving them knows his business,
Speaker 1: and if he does not, woe betide him. Perhaps while
Speaker 1: he thinks all is going on beautifully, they come suddenly
Speaker 1: upon some game. The startled deer raise their heads in
Speaker 1: astonishment for a moment, and then dash away. The sight
Speaker 1: is too much for the dogs. With barks and howls,
Speaker 1: they dash away after them. In vain does the driver
Speaker 1: ply his whip. The dogs know that he is a
Speaker 1: green hen. And on they rush. The deer fly like
Speaker 1: the wind, across the open glades and through the woods,
Speaker 1: and after them come the dogs. At last they come
Speaker 1: too near the edge of some hill. The sledge loses
Speaker 1: its balance and slips, and away they go, dogs, men
Speaker 1: and sledge all head over heels, and bring up in
Speaker 1: some snow bank at its foot. I wonder how the
Speaker 1: Eskimaux and their dogs keep warm in the fearful winters
Speaker 1: they have, said Rob, as he looked at the blazing
Speaker 1: fire before him. The men and women are pretty thoroughly
Speaker 1: clothed in furs, said his mamma, and the dogs, as
Speaker 1: you know, carry their own furs. Besides, their houses are
Speaker 1: very warm, for they are built of ice, and the
Speaker 1: dogs I fancy share them with their masters. But I
Speaker 1: should think a house built of ice would be very cold,
Speaker 1: said Rob, Not at all, said his mamma. The Eskimo
Speaker 1: cut out blocks of snow and ice and build their
Speaker 1: homes in the shape of a dome. When it is warm,
Speaker 1: they leave out one block for a window, but if
Speaker 1: it be cold, they close it up. But how does
Speaker 1: the smoke get out, asked Rob. There is not much smoke,
Speaker 1: said his mamma, for they use a sort of lamp
Speaker 1: to heat the room, and as there is no ventilation,
Speaker 1: the heat of their bodies added to that of the lamp,
Speaker 1: soon makes the house very hot and close. But how
Speaker 1: do they cook their food, he asked. They very seldom
Speaker 1: cook it at all, said his mamma, But eat it raw.
Speaker 1: They think there is nothing so delicious as a piece
Speaker 1: of raw blood. If a whale is thrown up on
Speaker 1: the beach by any chance, they fall upon it with
Speaker 1: their knives and eat without waiting for any cooking. Then
Speaker 1: they cut off what they can and carry it back
Speaker 1: to their houses. The dogs are always on hand at
Speaker 1: such times, for in those far away lands food is
Speaker 1: not plenty, and the poor beasts often fare scantily. Often
Speaker 1: the men go to hunt walrus. They make their way
Speaker 1: out on some frozen bay until they find a hole
Speaker 1: in the ice which one of these animals has made
Speaker 1: in order to come to the top to breathe. Each
Speaker 1: man has a long spear in his hand and stands
Speaker 1: motionless with it, ready to strike the moment the walrus
Speaker 1: comes to the surface. Pretty soon he comes down, falls
Speaker 1: a spear, and they dine that day on walrus. Well,
Speaker 1: for my part, said Rob, I am glad that I
Speaker 1: am neither an eskimo nor an eskimo dog. For my part,
Speaker 1: said Grace, who had come in and had heard the
Speaker 1: latter part of what her mamma had been saying. I
Speaker 1: prefer cats to dogs. Cats are all very well, said Rob,
Speaker 1: very sagely, but I fear that most of them deserve
Speaker 1: the fate of Mother Tabby Skins. Who in the world
Speaker 1: was Mother Tabbyskins, asked Grace, did you never hear of her?
Speaker 1: Said Rob it's a piece of poetry and quite long,
Speaker 1: But this is a story. Mother Tabbyskins was an old cat,
Speaker 1: and a very wicked one. She used to spend her
Speaker 1: time in teaching kittens to spit and swear, which of
Speaker 1: course was very bad. One day, she felt very ill
Speaker 1: and said she was near her end. She got into
Speaker 1: bed and begged them to send for a doctor. So
Speaker 1: doctor Mouse was called in. But Tabby no sooner saw
Speaker 1: who her doctor was than she recovered at once and
Speaker 1: swallowed him at a gulp. Very soon after, she was
Speaker 1: taken ill again and wanted the doctor called as before.
Speaker 1: This time, Doctor Dog came. When Tabby saw him, she
Speaker 1: was seized with fear, and she had good cause to
Speaker 1: be for he ate her up in no time, just
Speaker 1: as she had done doctor Mouse. Oh Pshaw, said Grace,
Speaker 1: that's just a make belief story. No real cats do
Speaker 1: such things as teach kittens to swear. Why when my
Speaker 1: pussy has young ones, they're as well behaved as can
Speaker 1: be often I have seen her box their ears when
Speaker 1: they didn't do as she wished. Yes, said Rob, But
Speaker 1: cats never do the clever things that dogs do. There
Speaker 1: are lots of stories telling of how they have saved
Speaker 1: their masters lives. When some sudden snowstorm has come on
Speaker 1: the moors and persons have lost their way, and, overcome
Speaker 1: by the cold, have lain down to die, their dogs
Speaker 1: have made their way to some house, and, showing by
Speaker 1: their actions that their friends were in trouble, have brought
Speaker 1: them help. And only a day or two ago Papa
Speaker 1: read us out of the paper how a dog caught
Speaker 1: a burglar. The thief was a fast runner and was
Speaker 1: getting away from the policeman who was chasing him, when
Speaker 1: all at once a big Newfoundland rushed out from a brewery, and,
Speaker 1: seizing the thief, knocked him down and stood growling over
Speaker 1: him until the policeman came up and seized him. Well,
Speaker 1: cats sometimes do clever things, said Grace. I know of
Speaker 1: a cat who lived on a farm. She was always
Speaker 1: fed at noon. To call them in to dinner, they
Speaker 1: used to ring a great bell. Pussy found that this
Speaker 1: bell meant dinner, and so whenever she was hungry, she
Speaker 1: used to go and reach up to it with her
Speaker 1: paw and ring it ho lo, said Rob. Suddenly, I
Speaker 1: do believe it has stopped snowing. Yes, he said, going
Speaker 1: to the window. It surely has. But the clouds are
Speaker 1: darker than ever, and there's a sleigh with a man,
Speaker 1: and it stopped at our door. I'm going out to
Speaker 1: see what he wants, so saying, He ran out of
Speaker 1: the room, and, seizing his hat from a peg in
Speaker 1: a haw, crammed it on his head, and, opening the
Speaker 1: front door, ran out on the porch. When he was there,
Speaker 1: he saw that the man and the sleigh was the
Speaker 1: doctor's man. Are the roads bad, he asked, Yes, said
Speaker 1: the man. We had to walk all the way, but
Speaker 1: when we left the village they were just getting out
Speaker 1: the teams to break roads. Where is the doctor, asked
Speaker 1: Rob in the house talking with your father, said the man.
Speaker 1: Very soon the two gentlemen came out, and the doctor
Speaker 1: got into the sleigh and drove slowly on, while Rob's
Speaker 1: father went back indoors to work at his sermon for Sunday.
Speaker 1: How white everything looked. The trees were bent down under
Speaker 1: their load, and on the long hill the houses seemed
Speaker 1: to be half buried. The clouds were beginning to break
Speaker 1: away in the west. The storm was without doubt over.
Speaker 1: Rob stood on the porch, undecided what to do. On
Speaker 1: the hill, he could see gangs of men with teams
Speaker 1: of oxen and heavy sledge breaking the roads. It would
Speaker 1: have been good fun to have been with them, but
Speaker 1: it was pretty cold work standing still and watching from
Speaker 1: a distance, and he was just about to go in
Speaker 1: when he saw John come out of the barn, leading
Speaker 1: the two horses, each with his harness. On where are
Speaker 1: you going, John? He called to the woods for a
Speaker 1: load of wood. Called back John, who seemed to have
Speaker 1: recovered his good temper and to be in a jolly
Speaker 1: state of mind. You can come and drive if you
Speaker 1: want to. Nothing could have been more to Rob's mind
Speaker 1: than this, so, dashing into the house for his coat
Speaker 1: and gloves, he ran and clambered up on the sledge,
Speaker 1: gathering up the reins, ready to start. In a moment
Speaker 1: they were off the horses, stepping along briskly, though the
Speaker 1: snow was deep. Presently they left the highway and turned
Speaker 1: through a pair of bars into a large piece of woods.
Speaker 1: The snow had not drifted here at all, but lay
Speaker 1: evenly covering up all the dead leaves, and giving little
Speaker 1: white trimmings to all the tender shoots that raised their
Speaker 1: heads through it. They stopped before a great pile of logs,
Speaker 1: and the man, pushing off the snow with his foot,
Speaker 1: began to load them on the sled. Hallo, said Rob.
Speaker 1: Just as the last log was in its place, there
Speaker 1: goes a rabbit. I wish I could catch him. I
Speaker 1: caught many a one and birds besides, when I was
Speaker 1: a lad, said John. How asked Rob in traps, said
Speaker 1: the man. I had traps all through the wood. I
Speaker 1: and another lad. We made quite a little money one
Speaker 1: winter selling the game we caught. A time like this
Speaker 1: would be fine for catching rabbits. All their food is
Speaker 1: covered up, you see, and they would be so glad
Speaker 1: to see a nice little sweet apple that they would
Speaker 1: never stop to see whether there was a trap near
Speaker 1: it or not. What fun it must have been, said Rob. Yes,
Speaker 1: said the man, But there was a vast deal of
Speaker 1: walking to be done some mornings, I trapped nearly ten
Speaker 1: miles in the spring, though we got rather tired of trapping.
Speaker 1: It was much more fun then to go with the
Speaker 1: men sugaring. That was prime, they built a log hut,
Speaker 1: for sometimes they had to stay all night. We boys
Speaker 1: used to think that if we could only stay all night,
Speaker 1: we should have nothing more to wish for. Did you
Speaker 1: ever do it, asked Rob. Oh. Yes, but we didn't
Speaker 1: care to after the first time, for the bunks were
Speaker 1: very hard, and we liked a comfortable bed at home
Speaker 1: better I was reading a book the other day, said Rob,
Speaker 1: and it told about bird catching in the far North.
Speaker 1: It must be exciting work. A man sits across a
Speaker 1: stick on which a rope is tied, and then is
Speaker 1: lowered over the edge of a cliff by his friends
Speaker 1: on top. Sometimes he swings there in the air, a
Speaker 1: thousand feet clear above the sea. If his head should
Speaker 1: get dizzy and he should fall, it would be the
Speaker 1: end of him. He has a basket with him, and
Speaker 1: when he has filled it with eggs, the men above
Speaker 1: let down a light cord to which he ties the basket,
Speaker 1: and so they draw it up again. Sometimes he lands
Speaker 1: on a narrow ledge, and with the net on a
Speaker 1: long pole, captures the sea birds that fly past. That
Speaker 1: must be exciting enough, yes, said the man. But here
Speaker 1: we are at home, and there is your mamma calling you.
Speaker 1: End of Cats and Dogs. Author unknown,