TAKING FIVE LITTLE ONES HOME.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 126, 30 May 1931, Page 2 (Supplement)

TAKING FIVE LITTLE ONES HOME.

It is incredible that there should etill bo people in the world who, in the face of strong and repeated proof to the contrary, believe tliat reason and will power are solely human qualities, unshared by beasts and birds. One wonders how many human beings would have been capable of such settled purpose and such endurance and tenacity in carrying it out as was shown a little while ago by an Alsatian wolfhound named Senta. Senta's owner, who lived on the left bank of the Rhine, had sold her to a friend across the river. At first she showed no marked dislike of the change, but when, a few weeks later, she had five puppies, ehe decided that the time had come to undo what had been dune. Perhaps she did not wish her children to grow up in what ehe considered exile; perhaps she held that it was not fair for a man who had only paid the price of one dog to be suddenly possessed of six.

However that may be, she decided to act, and to act quickly. One night, having waited until everyone but herself had gone to bed, she caught up the nearest puppy, scrambled with it over the garden wall, and, jumping into the river, swam across to her old home. No one saw her ae she made her way to her old kennel and laid her puppy carefully in the straw. It was only next morning that her old master discovered her, beaming with satisfaction and friendliness, and with all five puppies around her. She must have swum back after she had brought the first one over, and repeated the perilous trip four times mere; she must have swum across- the Rhine ten times in order to achieve her fixed and settled purpose of having her children grow up in their old home. So a dog"s will conquered over human will, for Senta's former owner, touched by her feat, has returned the purchase money to his Mend, and has kept her with him, together with her puppies. A long and happy life to all of them!

TWO HATS. Haviug placed the children ill a row, one child is selected and given two hats. He then walks along the row and presents one hat to any player he chooses. The moment the child receives the hat ho must do everything contrary to that being done "by the owner of the other hat. If this player should put the hat on his head, hig victim must keep his off. If he holds it in his left hand, the victim holds it in his right hand. Should he sit down, the victim must stand up—and so on. If the player finds that no mistakes are being made (and therefore no forfeits forthcoming) he goes to 'another and tries different tactics. Forfeits are sure to result if smart things are done.