somewhat limited vocal organs failed to express, his tail was quite sufficient to explain. As he sat on the floor in the midst of the family group, though always nearest to the master, his quick ear catching every word that was said, his brilliant brown eye flashing with intelligence, his sharp voice joining ever and anon in the conversation, what force and emphasis did those vigorous thumps of his long, slender tail lend to his wishes or his opinions. topics avoided, or the conversation discontinued. Plato was never trained, in the usual sense of the term, but simply talked to and noticed, till he seemed more like a child than an animal, and brightened many an otherwise lonely hour with his quick, sympathizing, affectionate intelligence. When he had been but three years a member of the household, his real owner, the good doctor, was summoned away to the invisible country, and Plato was left as a most precious legacy to the master. Rarely has a dog been admitted to such a friendly companionship. The master was a man of quiet "Plato," his master would say, in a mild tone of expostulation, "what is the use of your making such an ado with that tail of yours?" Thump, thump, was Plato's unconcerned voice and manner, with only the slightest reply. emphasis of word or gesture; but his little "See here, doggie, I think we shall have friend was alert to catch the lowest tones of to cut off that tail." the kind, even voice, his eye quick to per A low growl from Plato, and a more em- ceive the smallest movement of the hand he phatic thump. At this culminating point of description, Plato's indignation always got the better of his manners, and with hair and tail erect in scornful defiance, he would make a sudden and disgusted exit. Yet a very gentlemanly dog was Plato. Frank, easy, courteous, not over familiar with "unfledged acquaintance," yet by no means surly or shy. He was not fond of his own species, greatly preferring the society of ladies and gentlemen to that of ordinary dogs; while "curs of low degree" he held in utter scorn. With this the master used to twit him a little sometimes, when they were conversing together, Plato being seated in his favorite position on the master's knee. "Plato, do you like little dogs?" loved so well. The mistress and auntie were duly regarded and obeyed, but the master was Plato's divinity. On him he lavished the worship of his poor, dumb soul, followed his footsteps whenever he was permitted to do so, watched him in mute, wistful adoration as he read or wrote, sat on his knee like a petted child whenever he could win that position by the most delicate and insinuating entreaty, rode proudly beside him on the carriage seat when allowed that crowning privilege, and kept faithful guard over whatever his liege lord intrusted to his keeping. As was said, he had not been trained to perform many tricks, though this could easily have been done. His chief and most remarkable characteristic, the one that entitles him to this biography, was his ability to understand ordinary conversation. It was this which made him seem half human. The life of the family moved on in the A decided growl of dissent was his invari- most regular fashion. In the morning the able answer. "Well, how is it about big dogs?" A loud bark of displeasure. "Now, Plato, if a great big dog should come along, what would you say to him?" Such growls and barks and bristlings and thumps of his tail would ensue, that the mistress would beg to have these exciting master looked after the details of his farm and garden, always accompanied by Plato, who had all a terrier's mania for chasing stray cats, and was a most enthusiastic and successful hunter of rats, mice, squirrels, and other small game. Then came usually an hour of quiet reading in the library, which was rather a dull time for the little dog, though much mitigated by frequent naps. He never lost himself, however, sufficiently to let the master rise unobserved. The early family dinner was a much livelier affair, though Plato had a delicate and fastidious appetite, and was far more of an epicure than a gourmand. He never touched food that was not given to him, but would take his position on the floor near the master's place at the table, with his head a little on one side, his eye and ear keenly expressive, and his tail signaling his readiness for a bill of fare. "Plato, would you like some roast beef?" An affirmative "ugh," not a bark, was the ready answer. "Would you like pepper on it?" "Will you have plenty of gravy?" "Will you have some pie or cake?" A still more emphatic "ugh" from the little dog, who had a decided sweet tooth. "Well, go and ask the mistress for some." Instantly Plato would trot around to the mistress's end of the table and make known his desire. If she said, "Wait a little," he would sit pleading so eloquently but silently that a plate of dainties would soon be provided for him. No child could be more sensitive to rebuke. A word, a look, a gesture, would send him out of the room crestfallen and wretched. After dinner came a siesta for both master and dog, when they retired together to a quiet upper room, where Plato was allowed the high honor of curling up on the couch at the feet of his beloved master-a privilege neither sought for nor granted at any other hour. When the midday nap was over, the master drove over to the village post-office for his afternoon's mail, and was usually gone for an hour or two. The question as to whether the little dog might go too was generally discussed and settled before the horse was harnessed: Plato often bringing up the subject, and growing eloquent over his desire to go before any one else had discovered that mail-time had arrived-whining, barking, standing up, rushing to the door and back in a most distracted fashion. "Why, Plato, what's the matter? Is it time to go to town?" Yelp, yelp. "Do you want to go?" A tremendous demonstration of assent from the dog. "O, I think you'd better not." Ah, the woe-begone look that would come into the dancing eyes! "No," finally decided the master, "on the whole, you may go," and back leaps the tumultuous joy into the little breast. It was indeed a sight to see him riding beside the master in the carriage. Such an air of dignity, of self-congratulation, of lofty superiority to other dogs whom they met trotting along on foot! Sometimes the master would say, "You may stand up and drive if you wish to, Plato." Instantly he was down in front, his fore-paws resting on the dash-board, and his small, shapely head held erect with an air of authority. When in this position he seemed to feel a general supervision of the horse, and assumed as nearly as possible the master's manners. Every one who was met on the road was greeted with a brief but cordial salute in the shape of a bark, which was generally pleasantly recognized by bow and smile; for Plato was widely known and respected. But if the master had another companion, or for other good reasons refused to take Plato on this diurnal trip, and told him he must stay at home and "keep house," he would meekly abandon his bright anticipations and retire to his own special nook— a little nest in a back room-curl up in a sort of resigned fashion, and court oblivion. Yet so accurate was his sense of time, that he invariably reappeared after an hour and took up his post of observation on the piazza overlooking the road along which he knew the object of his affections would presently be coming. What bright expectation shone in his far-seeing eye! What acoustic power quivered in his sharp, forward-bent ear! What faithful love-O rarest, noblest gift of all !-throbbed beneath the white star on his breast! Far away, before any other eye could discern aught but a moving speck, impossible to be distinguished from any other vehicle, Plato's clairvoyant eye discovered the master, and he was off with a mad hurry-scurry down the lane, over the gate, along the road till the goal was reached, and he found his heaven in a kind smile of greeting and a word of permission to climb in and ride to the house. There was a certain easy-chair in the library which was the special property of the master. Of this right Plato was jealously regardful. He did not like to see any inferior being occupy that sacred position, and to prevent this, he generally took possession of it himself when his deity chanced to take another seat, and only left it when he again approached. Let any common mortal, even the gentle mistress, presume to show an inclination to eject him, and wrathful indignation fairly blazed from those loyal brown eyes. Sunday was a day of severe discipline to him. He came forth as usual in the morning from his cozy bed, but with an unmistakably subdued and sabbatical air. How he knew the sacred time, no one could tell; but directly after breakfast, and before any preparation for church-going was begun, he went back dejectedly to his nest, and spent the day there-in repose apparently, but perhaps in profound meditation on abstruse questions who knows? : The family was of the Scotch Presbyterian faith, and Plato was presumably a strict Calvinist-for the master was. Perhaps he was able to think out satisfactorily the vexed questions of "fate, freewill, foreordination absolute." But at no time did he feel such a sense of hopeless inferiority to the rest of the family as on Sunday. The truth was, that once he was allowed to attend church, but from his seat in the family pew he had ventured to express a loud Methodistic assent to some theological statement of the dominie, and was thenceforth bidden to stay at home and keep the house. Once or twice he attempted to follow the family, and as a punishment was shut up for the day in the carriage-house— a perfectly humiliating affair, any allusion to which in subsequent years sent Plato with drooping ears and tail into the most sequestered spot in the room. After this question of church-going was settled, Plato never asked to accompany his friends, but he could not fail to show that he felt the edict both cruel and degrading. Right joyfully, however, did he sally forth from his "dumb meditations and confusions" at the proper time, to look for the return of the family carriage. He never mistook the hour, but about three in the afternoon (there were two services in the day-time in the oldfashioned kirk) he took up his sentinelship on the piazza, and then rushed forth like a young whirlwind to welcome the returning household. "Plato," the master would say, as they sat together after tea, "I think I'll take off my boots now"; and no trained valet de chambre ever rushed more eagerly to the service of royalty. Seizing the boot by the heel, he brought all his tremendous energies to the struggle, and never abandoned his grip till he came off conqueror. "Now get my slippers, doggie"; and off scampered Plato for the slippers, bringing them one at a time, and placing them at the beloved feet. Time would fail to tell of his numberless performances of this sort. He would bring in wood, holding it in his firm white teeth, and pursue the business with far more zeal than the average small boy. He would car ry a parcel or basket with great care and faithfulness, and indeed was always overflowing with the beautiful instinct of service. He had a quick sense of fun also, and was only too willing, at the mischievous instigation of the master, to whirl the mistress's knitting out of her lap when she incautiously dropped it there to indulge in her nap of "forty winks." Or, knowing her exquisite neatness, he would take the slightest signal of permission from the head of the house to make a bed of the soft folds of her gown as it lay on the carpet beside her low rockingchair, and then retire from it in affected re pentance when she discovered the trespass, but return to it again the moment her attention was diverted by his more guilty confed erate. Perhaps the feat over which visitors, both small and great, expressed the most astonishment was his skill at climbing trees. Just let the master throw some article up so that it would lodge in the branches, and bid Plato go for it, and an acrobatic performance would at once begin. First would come the perilous ascent, with much wary eyeing of the best points to obtain a foothold; then such scrambling over slippery places, such artistic balancing and poising, as must surely have placed him in the front rank of canine Ravels and Blondins. Very seldom did he abandon the pursuit till the object was reached; and, with triumph shining in his eye, the even more dangerous descent began. Plato's loyalty to his master shone out when any stranger asked him to perform some of his well-known feats. Never would he yield to persuasion until he had first run to his dictator and inquired with eye and ear what was his sovereign pleasure. If he said, "Yes, you may do it," there was no more hesitation or delay. A decade of happy years goes by quickly. It is a dog's life-time—at least, of active, enjoyable life; after that come old age and decrepitude. But Plato's usual good fortune attended him to the last. A disease of the throat, which no care could arrest, attacked him when about ten years old, and a few days of suffering brought the release. The pain to him must have been unaccountable, but it was brief, and his dear master was never far away-there could be nothing very much amiss. Ah, wonderful mystery of animal life and death! Let no one pronounce upon it rashly or with irreverence. A stiller life settled down upon the household out of which this blithe little creature had passed, but Plato will never wholly vanish from his accustomed haunts while his friends are there. His eidolon still lingers by the winter hearth-stone or on the vineshaded summer porch; and they who loved him will see him still in the familiar places, invested with all his old-time traits, alert, affectionate, beautiful, faithful unto death. Mary H. Field. LITERARY CONTENTMENT. THE Alpine heights from whose drear solitude F. L. Foster. MAUMA PHILLIS. AFTER the bustle and excitement that followed Aunt Venus's flight had somewhat subsided, an old colored "aunty," Phillis by name, who had endeared herself to the household by her unfailing good nature and unsparing, affectionate devotion, was appointed to fill her place, as being the most efficient substitute available. Her qualifications, however, might be summed up in the fact that, on occasions when many guests were visiting at the house, she had been accustomed to help in the kitchen, and thus serving under Venus, had gained some superficial knowledge of the duties now demanded of her. About these days many a mysteriouslooking dish was set before us; for to tell the truth, although the mistress spent most of her time trying to drill this new hand into something like the skill and perfection Venus had attained in the culinary art, she could boast of no great attainments herself in her new line of labor-in fact, was nearly as ignorant as the raw recruit serving under her. Herein was an opportunity too favorable to be slighted for making a practical demonstration of the usefulness of the domestic education which nearly every New England girl acquires in a greater or less degree. I gladly came to the front in several emergencies, thankful for the store of knowledge acquired under the supervision of an efficient housekeeper in my northern home. For my mother in the training of her girls had put into vigorous practice her pet theory, that, for their future comfort and well-being, girls in all classes of life should be taught to perform every kind of labor necessary in a wellregulated kitchen. But between New England cookery and southern a wide gulf is set; hence, many a wordy battle I had with Phillis before I could induce her to roast the turkey or beef for dinner without first boiling all the nutriment out of it. Flourishing about the great wooden spoon with which she was mixing dressing, she would exclaim: "Now yo' jus' cl'ar right outen hyar, Miss Kate! I reckon I'se done roasted tu'keys afore yo' was bo'n; and I tells yo', chile, it's unpossible to make dat ar fit fo' to eat 'dout I biles him fus'!" "But, mauma, it is young and tender. Uncle Lamb told me so. Do please, Mauma Phillis, try just this one my way." "Don' car', honey, nuffin' 'bout what Lamb sez! It don' make no kind ob diff’rence how tender dat tu'key am, I'se gwine fo' to put him inter dis hyar pot an' bile him till he am done; an' den I'll jus' hang him afore de fire an' brown him b'u'ful. Dat ar am de way my ole mudder usen to do up in old Virginny; an' dey knows what good eatin' am up dar whar I cum from.” "It may look beautiful, but it will be tasteless enough, I can tell you; and what is more, I know that Aunt Venus did not cook her meats in that senseless fashion; and her roasts were delicious!" I said, trying to excite her envy, being vexed at her obstinacy. "Don' car' nuffin' 'bout Venus, nudder, honey! Dis am a p'int ez her an' I neber 'greed on, no time. Howsomeber, chile, she's dun cl'ar'd out and lef' no 'structions behind; an' 'tween yo' an' me, I reckon she am de on'y one ez know'd how to gib 'em; fo' I neber seed her do nuffin else on dis hyar place 'cept bilin' an' bakin' an' fryin' an' de likes-'less 'twas cuttin' up ole Sam. Now jus' look at dem han's ob yourn, an' den look at dese hyar! Dat tells de story-'tis 'sperience ez knows. Now jus' cl'ar right out, honey, like I dun tol' yo' afore, 'dout mo' argifyin'. O, Lor'! it makes me larf, it do, to see yo' an' missus comin' inter dis hyar smoky kitchen wif yo' white gowns on, an' yo' soft white fingers all sparklin', for to tell me, wif dese hyar fists like horn, how to work! I tells yo' bofe, it am onsuitable, yo |