r kindness
is not selfish.

My dear friends, our interests are mutual. I am a silent partner in your
business. Under my sound hoof is the diamond of national prosperity.
Beyond my nostril the world's progress may not go. With thrift, and
wealth, and comfort, I daily race neck and neck. Be kind to me if you
want me to be useful to you. And near be the day when the red horse of
war shall be hocked and impotent, and the pale horse of death shall be
hurled back on his haunches, but the white horse of peace, and joy, and
triumph shall pass on, its rider with face like the sun, all nations
following!

Your most obedient servant,
Charley Bucephalus.

CHAPTER XVII.

KINGS OF THE KENNEL.

I said, when I lost Carlo, that I would never own another dog. We all sat
around, like big children, crying about it; and what made the grief worse,
we had no sympathizers. Our neighbors were glad of it, for he had not
always done the fair thing with them. One of them had lost a chicken when
it was stuffed and all ready for the pan, and suspicions were upon Carlo.

I was the only counsel for the defendant; and while I had to acknowledge
that the circumstantial evidence was against him, I proved his general
character for integrity, and showed that the common and criminal law were
on our side, Coke and Blackstone in our favor, and a long list of
authorities and decisions: II. Revised Statutes, New York, 132, Sec. 27; also,
Watch vs. Towser, Crompton and Meeson, p. 375; also, State of New Jersey
vs. Sicem Blanchard.

When I made these citations, my neighbor and his wife, who were judges and
jurors in the case, looked confounded; and so I followed up the advantage I
had gained with the law maxim, "Non minus ex dolo quam ex culpa quisque hac
lege tenetur," which I found afterward was the wrong Latin, but it had its
desired effect, so that the jury did not agree, and Carlo escaped with his
life; and on the way home he went spinning round like a top, and
punctuating his glee with a semicolon made by both paws on my new clothes.

Yet, notwithstanding all his predicaments and frailties, at his decease we
resolved, in our trouble, that we would never own another dog. But this,
like many another resolution of our life, has been broken; and here is
Nick, the Newfoundland, lying sprawled on the mat. He has a jaw set with
strength; an eye mild, but indicative of the fact that he does not want too
many familiarities f