IN a town in the south of France, twenty poor people were served with dinner, at a certain hour every day. A dog belonging to the place was always present at this meal, to watch for the scraps that were now and then thrown to him.
The guests, however, were poor and hungry, and of course not very liberal. So the poor dog hardly did more than smell the feast, of which he would have liked a share. Now it happened that this dinner was served out to each one on his ringing a bell; but, as the person who served the dinner handed it through a small opening, he did not see who received it.
Well, one day the dog had waited till all the poor people were gone. Having himself got very little to eat, he reached up, took hold of the rope by his teeth, and rang the bell. A good dinner was at once handed out, and the dog ate it with great delight.
This was done by the dog for several days; but the rogue was at length found out. It was thought, however, so clever for a dog, that he was allowed to take his regular turn at the dinner every day. And thus he went on for a long time, ringing the bell, and taking his meal with the other beggars!
What is the dog in the picture doing? Why? What is that coming through the opening? For whom is it? How did the dog learn to do this? How long did he do it before he was found out? Why was he allowed to continue it? Where did this take place?
pres´-ent hard´-ly sev´-er´-al be-long´-ing reg´-u-lar
how-ev´-er o´-pen-ing al-lowed´ hap´-pened hand´-ed
hun´-gry wait´-ed beg´-gars clev´-er din´-ner