In one of the churches at Lambeth, England, there is a painting on a
window, representing a man with his dog. There is a story connected with
this painting which is worth telling. Tradition informs us that a piece
of ground near Westminster bridge, containing a little over an acre, was
left to that parish by a pedler, upon condition that his picture,
accompanied by his dog, should be faithfully painted on the glass of one
of the windows. The parishioners, as the story goes, had this picture
executed accordingly, and came in possession of the land. This was in
the year 1504. The property rented at that time for about a dollar a
year. It now commands a rent of nearly fifteen hundred dollars. The
reason given for the pedler's request is, that he was once very poor,
when, one day, having occasion to pass across this piece of ground, and
being weary, he sat down under a tree to rest. While seated here, he
noticed that his dog, who was with him, acted strangely. At a distance
of several rods from the place where he sat, the dog busied himself for
awhile in scratching at a particular spot of earth, after which he
returned to his master, looked earnestly up to his face, and endeavored
to draw him toward the spot where he had been digging. The pedler,
however, paid but little attention to the movements of the dog, until he
had repeated them several times, when he was induced to accompany the
dog. To his surprise he found, on doing so, that there was a pot of gold
buried there. With a part of this gold he purchased the lot of ground on
which it had been discovered, and bequeathed it to the parish on the
conditions mentioned above. The pedler and his dog are represented in
the picture which ornaments the window of that church. "But is the story
a true one?" methinks I hear my little friends inquire. I confess it has
the air of one of Baron Munchausen's yarns, and I am somewhat doubtful
about it. But that is the tradition in the Lambeth parish, where the
picture may still be seen by any body who takes the trouble to visit the