There is a hideous slaughter of dogs going on in
New York. In that city there is an institution called a dog-pound, whither all stray dogs are taken for the day. If reclaimed before 4 p.m. no harm happens to them, and if not reclaimed, but belonging to the "upper ten thousand" of dogs, they are spared and sold. The common herd of unreclaimed dogs, however, are at 4 p.m. each day thrust into empty vats, shut in, and then inundated with water f rem the hose, so that they drown miserably in the dark. Three hundred a day are sometimes thus systematically destroyed, under the influence of the superstitious alarm produced by the absurd name of "dog-days." It is a well-known fact, we be- lieve, that hydrophobia in dogs is commoner in winter than sum- mer. Yet here are three hundred orphan dogs daily immolated, and three hundred bereaved masters or mistresses pierced to the heart, for a silly illusion that has been unfortunate enough to get itself embalmed in our language. If Anglo-Saxons in a fixture state of existence should inhabit the dog star, we suppose they would pass a dog law, like the Black law so recently repealed in Illinois, ex- cluding all dogs on pain of death. Dog-days in the dog star,with even a live puppy capable of hydrophobia, no Anglo-Saxon would be cynic enough to face.
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