LUCKY AND UNLUCKY.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE spacreroa:1 Sra,—As letters telling of dogs and their doings occasionally- appear in the Spectator, perhaps the following rather pathetic- anecdote of a dog I know well may also find a place there. Two, or three weeks ago, Lucky—so called from having, when an out- cast, found its present happy home—perhaps by way of showing- its gratitude to its benefactors, presented them with five small " Luckys," or rather, with one exception, " Unluckys," as the melancholy process always resorted to with these too-blooming families had to be carried out in this instance, and the five were reduced to one. Poor Lucky was inconsolable, looking every- where for them, and looking, too, with such appealing eyes into the faces of her friends, and asking them so plainly where they were. Near her kennel was an inclosed piece of ground for pigeons, and' as it was discovered that rats were carrying off the young pigeons, and as Lucky bad carried off one or two rats, it was- decided one night to leave the door of the pigeons' house open, that Lucky might have the run of it ; and the next morning, side- by side with the puppy, was found a baby pigeon, looking quite bright and at home, but hungry, and poor Lucky, proud of the addition it had made to its family, was looking more contented than it had done since the loss of its puppies. The pigeon must have fallen from its nest, some distance from the ground, and Lucky, while on the look-out for rata, must have found' it, and carefully carried it to her kennel, with the vague feeling, perhaps, that it was one of her own lost little ones " developing " a little curiously. Unfortunately the arrangement could not be a permanent one, and the famished little pigeon was put back into- its own nest, to be found again the next morning in Lucky's bed,. but this time dead. The old birds seem to have deserted it, and it had died of starvation. If Lucky could give this account her- self, it might be much more interesting, for it was thought not at all improbable that she had actually rescued from a rat the bird. she was so anxious to adopt, as a small wound was found upon it such as a rat might have made, and as a young pigeon had been taken the night before from the same nest ; but this is only con- jecture, and Lucky only could tell us the facts ; how often it would be interesting, if our humble friends could tell us their adventures ! A friend who is staying with me tells me that a few months ago her dog was lost for a week, and at the end of that time it came back one night in a scarlet ruff and spangles, and looking altogether dreadfully dissipated. Evidently it had been the " performing dog " in some show, "Punch and Judy" perhaps ; being natur- ally a clever dog, it would quickly have learnt the part of "Toby' in that delightful and time-honoured exhibition. If it could only' have written also an article entitled "A Week of My Life," with what pleasure the Spectator would have published it !—I am, Sir,
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