Animal Friendliness—See Protection. ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE A recent dispatch from an Indiana town says: Jeff Clarke, a farmer of Wabash township, owns a mule that plays the part of an alarm-clock every morning with such regularity that Clarke has about discarded the little alarm-clock that hangs on the bed-post and firmly refuses to part with the animal. Promptly at 4 o'clock this mule kicks the side of the barn four times in succession. At first Clarke thought the animal was ill, and for several mornings he got up and investigated. He took note, however, that the gong of the alarm-clock started buzzing when the mule started kicking. He put two and two together, and reached the conclusion that the mule knows the hour when the Clarke household should arise and begin the day's work.
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The criminal classes of Moscow, Russia, are beginning to believe that the police dog "Tref" is possest of an evil spirit. It was rumored recently, in the night shelters and criminal dens of Moscow, that "Tref" and his keeper were on the track of certain robbers, and were about to scour the town. It transpired that a number of banknotes and other valuables had been stolen from a Moscow gentleman named Pokrofsky. "Tref's" services were immediately requisitioned. He was put on the scent of the thief, and, after taking a circuitous course, entered a night shelter and made straight for an old coat belonging to a house-painter who was known under the name of Alexander. The sum of five hundred rubles, which had been stolen from M. Pokrofsky, was found in one of the pockets of the coat. "Tref" then left the night shelter, and, still hot on the scent, went to the shop of a second-hand dealer named Gussef, and here a number of silver articles stolen from M. Pokrofsky were discovered. A cabman drove up at this time, and complained that he had just been robbed of a fur coat and an ordinary overcoat. "Tref" was at once taken to the scene of the theft, and within a few minutes found the clothing concealed in the courtyard of a neighboring house.—Philadelphia Record.
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See Conviction Through a Monkey; Direction; Instinct, the Homing. Animal Instinct—See Faith Better Than Sight. Animal Retaliation—See Anger, Futile. ANIMAL SAVES LIFE St. Clair McClary, a miner, buried deep in a snow-slide, at Seward, Alaska, owed his life to the keen scent of his dog. The snow-slide swept down the mountain. Four men at work on the property were caught without warning and buried under several feet of snow and débris. Two escaped without serious injury. So deep was the slide, however, that difficulty was experienced in reaching the others. The dog led the rescuers to a place several yards distant, where, after hard digging, they came on the men, who had been buried eight hours. Thomas Coales was dead under the icy weight. McClary was barely alive when taken out.—The Associated Press.
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ANIMAL SOLVING PROBLEM
A tiny mouse recently solved the problem
of getting an electric wire through a
pipe 197 feet long at the Vinery Building
(Norfolk, Va.). There were several bends
in the pipe, and modern methods, such as
blow-pipes, failed to produce results.
A mouse was caught and a thread tied to its leg. A tape was tied to the thread, and the wire to the tape. The mouse was given a start, and went through the pipe in a hurry. Liberty was its reward.—Philadelphia Record.
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Animal Traits—See Peaceful Instinct of Simians.
ANIMALS, ABSURD FONDNESS FOR
A seamstress whom I know was sewing
in the home of a wealthy woman in one
of the aristocratic suburbs of Boston. She
was there every day for nearly a week, when
finally her patience became exhausted and
she left the house never to return.
She said she could stand being fed on crackers and milk every day at the noon meal, but when she heard the mistress of the house at the telephone ordering half a chicken for her pet dogs she could withhold her wrath no longer.
Of course, the good woman of the house was sweetly unconscious of the absurd comparison between the dogs' food and the food for the seamstress. Had she had any sense of the meanness of her conduct, she never
