Mother Hubbard's Dog.
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MOTHER HUBBARD'S DOG. By Irving Browne. [ When a man kills a dog that nightly disturbs his family by howling and fighting with other dogs around his house, the justifiability of the act is a question for the jury. — Hubbard v. Preston (Vermont Sup. Ct.)] I ANA'S orb was up in majesty, Shining on divers places of the earth (One might say sundry, but I let that pass), Including Bagg Street, city of Detroit, Sleeping upon the silver stream St. Clair. It seemed that all the dogs, excepting that Pertaining to Endymion, steeped in love Of that high shining huntress, were awake And full of riot; gathered round the house Of Ellery D. Preston, Esq., Who kept no dog himself, but whose front lawn They chose for their convention, just as men Prefer this town or that for purposes Political, wherein to hold their rows. Night after night they barked and howled and fought, And so to speak, they cursed, and made the night Hideous with tumult, scaring Mrs. P., And all the little P.'s tucked in their pods. In vain had Preston gone to the police And made complaint, and asked them to abate The nuisance; they just glared at him and said, "'T is not within our province to arrest Disturbers of the night unless they go Upon two legs; poison or powder's cheap." And so much-suffering Preston gat him thence; And when they next did congregate, he drave Them twice away, but they returned, and then, Vexed in his spirit, he discharged at them A pistol, aimed at no particular dog, But which did take effect upon a cur Owned by a woman, Carrie Hubbard named (But whether she was "Mother" in the tale Sung in our infant ears by nurses fond.
