he first real lesson was when I undertook to make him sit up. If he had
only known what I wished him to do, he would gladly have done it; but
the words "Sit up!" meant nothing to him. He was almost too willing, for
when I took hold of him to put him into a sitting position, he became as
limp as a wet rag, and seemed to be trying to put himself into a
condition to be twisted into any shape I chose.

Then I put him into a corner and set him up, saying continually, "Sit
up! Sit up!" I held him up for a while and then took my hand away, but
at once he collapsed as if all the stiffening had suddenly left his
back-bone. Then I showed him a piece of sugar, of which he was very
fond, and immediately he was himself again. Once more, and many times
more, I put him in position in the corner, until at last, seemingly by
accident, he failed to fall over when I took my hand away. I did not tax
his endurance, but at once gave him the sugar.

It took him about three days to grasp the idea that "sit up!" meant a
special performance, and that to achieve it meant a lump of sugar. Then
I put him through the same process in the middle of the room. He missed
the support of the wall at first, and fell over; whereupon he looked
foolish. One fact was evidently firmly fixed in his mind, however,--the
fact that there was sugar to be had if only he could do as I wished him
to do. All the time that he was struggling for balance, he kept his eye
on the lump of sugar, which I had on the floor beside me. Finally that
lesson was learned, and he could sit up if I would put him in position.
He knew, too, what "sit up!" meant.

After that, I would not feed him until he had first sat up; but it was a
long time before he gained sufficient confidence in himself to sit up
without help. At first I helped him up by both paws; then I helped by
holding only one paw; then I merely touched one paw; then I only
motioned, as if about to touch the paw; and finally I simply said, "Sit
up!"

I think Bob reasoned this all out in his own mind and concluded that
there must be some strange and beautiful power in the words "sit up!"
for he could see that whenever he did it, he had something to eat. I am
obliged to confess that Bob loved to eat; and after he had learned to
sit up, he was inclined to perform the feat morning, noon, and night,
and it was, of course, impossible to make him go away without first
giving him a morsel, however small, of food.

[Illustration: AW