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    A Dog's Tale
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    A Dog's Tale
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    A Dog's Tale
    Ebook23 pages15 minutes

    A Dog's Tale

    By Mark Twain

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    My father was a St. Bernard, my mother was a collie, but I am a Presbyterian. This is what my mother told me, I do not know these nice distinctions myself. To me they are only fine large words meaning nothing. My mother had a fondness for such; she liked to say them, and see other dogs look surprised and envious, as wondering how she got so much education. But, indeed, it was not real education; it was only show: she got the words by listening in the dining-room and drawing-room when there was company, and by going with the children to Sunday-school and listening there; and whenever she heard a large word she said it over to herself many times, and so was able to keep it until there was a dogmatic gathering in the neighborhood, then she would get it off, and surprise and distress them all, from pocket-pup to mastiff, which rewarded her for all her trouble.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMark Twain
    Release dateOct 23, 2015
    ISBN9788892510678
    Author

    Mark Twain

    Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born in Missouri in 1835, the son of a lawyer. Early in his childhood, the family moved to Hannibal, Missouri – a town which would provide the inspiration for St Petersburg in Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. After a period spent as a travelling printer, Clemens became a river pilot on the Mississippi: a time he would look back upon as his happiest. When he turned to writing in his thirties, he adopted the pseudonym Mark Twain ('Mark Twain' is the cry of a Mississippi boatman taking depth measurements, and means 'two fathoms'), and a number of highly successful publications followed, including The Prince and the Pauper (1882), Huckleberry Finn (1884) and A Connecticut Yankee (1889). His later life, however, was marked by personal tragedy and sadness, as well as financial difficulty. In 1894, several businesses in which he had invested failed, and he was declared bankrupt. Over the next fifteen years – during which he managed to regain some measure of financial independence – he saw the deaths of two of his beloved daughters, and his wife. Increasingly bitter and depressed, Twain died in 1910, aged seventy-five.

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    Reviews for A Dog's Tale

    3.5/5

    39 ratings8 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Wonderful story but sad, depressing and leaves an animal lover feeling deflated and hurt.

      I suppose it was written to give that strong punch required to wake up mankind and its horrible treatment of animals.

      Man's inhumanity to man, and to all other living creatures - we've much to answer for.
    • 1/5
      As a pet lover I found this story quite distressing amd definitely would not let little children read it. While I can see the point of the casual contempt with which we treat animals and the causual use, abuse and experimentation they are subjected to is still relevant (unfortunately)I hope that as a society we have moved forward form this.
    • 3/5
      made me cry
    • 5/5
      heartbreaking ...
    • 4/5
      This book was part of my AMS syllabus. Here is the review I gave.
      I found “A Dog’s Tale”, by Mark Twain, hard to read. Whether it is a movie or a book, I cannot bear the thought of harm coming to an animal. I will not watch a movie if it involves animal cruelty.
      Mark Twain writes this short story as told by, Aileen Mavourneen, a Presbyterian. Her mother was a Collie and her father a St. Bernard. As I read the story, I could picture Aileen as a little girl, explaining how she admires her mother’s knack for an extensive vocabulary. The Collie even used her knowledge of words and phrases as weapons to defeat other dogs, making them feel ashamed and inferior to her. It is funny to imagine a dog following the children to Sunday school, to pick up on new words, and use them however she chose. She was intelligent and her Presbyterian puppy loved her.

      Eventually, as the puppy grew up, she was sold to a family, and had to leave her mother and father. Her mother gave her important advice, and this was “In memory of me, when there is a time of danger to another do not think of yourself, think of your mother, and do as she would do.” Of course Aileen would obey her mother. She became part of this new family and was happy there. Mr. & Mrs. Gray became her owners and did not rename her, which made her happy. She lived with them and their daughter Sadie, and new baby.

      A time came when a fire broke out in the baby’s room, and at first Aileen began to run away from it until she remembered her mother’s words. Aileen ran back to the bassinet and dragged the baby out of harms way. The master seeing this, thought Aileen meant harm to the baby, which was not the case. Mr. Gray began striking Aileen with his cane. Aileen escaped to the garrett where she lay in pain from her beating. She heard a commotion going on for a time and this caused her great fear. Eventually it stopped. Aileen thought she would starve to death in the garrett, without food or water, until she heard Sadie’s voice crying for her. Then she knew everything was alright, and she could go back to the way things were.

      Aileen had a puppy and this gave her great happiness. Mr. Gray, being the scientist he was, wanted to experiment on Aileen’s puppy, to determine whether a certain injury to the brain would produce blindness or not. After the experiment, the puppy lay dying. Aileen ran over to her and licked the blood and comforted it with a mother’s touch. She went with the footman, to bury the puppy, and Aileen expected the puppy to grow up from the dirt as seeds grow. After much time passed, Aileen’s heart broken, she could not eat, but cried every night for her puppy, and eventually she was gone too.

      Mark Twain apparently felt that language was under appreciated and language of course, was very instrumental in how Mark Twain communicated. It was humorous to imagine a dog showing off to other dogs, using big words that she really did not understand. It was humorous to just imagine a dog speaking. By using the Collie to misrepresent words, he attempts to prove his point. Mark Twain would be appalled at how language has evolved or rather not evolved since his demise. Mark Twain was an animal activist, early on. He did not believe in experimentation on animals. This was very humane of him, and something that Mr. Gray lacked; compassion.In this story, Aileen shares her emotions with us in such a way, it seems human. It is so pitiful that you can feel her suffering. I found “A Dog’s Tale” to be briefly humorous and also pathos.

      It is a quick read with a lesson to learn.
    • 5/5
      Mark Twain's story A Dog's Tale first appeared in Harper's magazine in the early 1900's. It's a short story, about 50 pages it tells the story of a dog growing up with her family and the irony of being truly good in an indifferent, often cruel world. The story has Mark Twain's humor, but also a lesson in irony. I really enjoyed this story.
    • 1/5
      I know this was meant to illicit change in the way animals were treated, but it was read to me as a young child who did not yet have a dog but desperately wanted one. The memory of this story still brings me a feeling of misery and horror more than 12 years since I read it.
    • 5/5
      heartbreaking ...