The hall is
lighted with gas, and the burner is placed between the two doors. When
the outer door swings, the frame-work of the sash throws a moving shadow
on the wall, beneath the structure, which, from its peculiar movement
toward the floor, has attracted the notice of this dog. He watches it as
sharp as if it were a mouse, and although his labors have been
fruitless, yet he still continues nightly to grace this place with his
presence. Several attempts have been made to draw his attention from the
object, with but little success; for though his attention may be
diverted, it is soon lost, as the instant his eye catches the shadow, he
renews his watchings. In all his movements he is very harmless, and he
neither injures nor even molests those who have occasion to pass through
the hall.
As a farmer of good circumstances, who resided in the county of Norfolk,
England, was taking an excursion to a considerable distance from home,
during the frosts in the month of March 1795, he at length was so
benumbed by the intense cold, that he became stupefied, and so sleepy
that he found himself unable to proceed. He lay down, and would have
perished on the spot, had not a faithful dog, which attended him, as if
sensible of his dangerous situation, got on his breast, and, extending
himself over him, preserved the circulation of his blood. The dog, so
situated for many hours, kept up a continual barking, by which means,
and the assistance of some passengers, the farmer was roused, and led to
a house, where he soon recovered.
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