Patriotism Among the Lower Animals-Dogs, Cats, Donkeys, Mules, Vermin, the Editor of the Alta, etc. (1863)

Source: The Polynesian. Honolulu: Saturday, April 4, 1863.

The Alta of the 20th inst. gives a "remarkable instance of Patriotism, a canine seeking protection of the Stars and Stripes." It tells us how an Englishman "swore allegiance" to the "British" Government, to avoid the draft; how this Englishman had a "dorg;" how the "dorg," directly he found it out, ran away from his master, and turned up his canine nose at a sirloin steak with which his master tried to entice him from his new home, "a few doors from the recruiting office."

We are in a position to state emphatically that is nothing. We know of several much more extraordinary cases of patriotism among the lower animals:

1. Mrs. Lincoln has a favorite cat, of there male persuasion; the cat's name is Tom; color black; white spot upon the nose, three-quarters of an inch from the tip. When the news of the recent disaster before Fredericksburg reached the White House, Tom was lying on the rug before the fire; Mr. Lincoln told Mrs. Lincoln what had happened; Mrs. Lincoln said, "Oh, my!" Mr. Lincoln was going to say that "it reminded him of a little story," when the feline animal sprung to its feet, jumped three feet and a half in a perpendicular direction, howled, and fell in an epileptic fit on the floor. Restoratives were administered in the shape of several leading articles from the daily papers, proving that, under the circumstances, the reverse was "just the best thing that could have happened, because it taught us a lesson." The cat recovered , but the next morning every hair on its tail turned as white as snow!

2. It is currently reported that all the vermin which the papers said were attached to the Rebels, have come over to the Union.

3. There is a mule in the Army of the potomac that has on several occasions been missing for several days, and has returned with a new set of shoes. It was at length discovered that the patriotic animal, when it found its shoes wearing out, would desert to the enemy, and as soon as re-shod would return to the Union army-thus subsisting on the enemy, and saving the Government a complete set of shoes.

4. No less patriotic sagacity is shown in a male donkey, who is in the habit of gaining the affections of female donkeys in the Rebel army and leading them to the Union side. It is stated that this patriotic animal has espoused, and thus delivered into the hands of our army, no less than seventeen females in the last few months. It is rumored that a vote to thanks to him will be proposed in Congress, and also that a gold medal is to be presented to him at the same time that Com. Wilkes gets that which Congress voted him for his spirited conduct in taking Messrs. Slidell and Mason.

5. To descend still lower, we are credibly informed that the Editor of the Alta refused an advertisement of an auction sale of furniture, because among the effects were two likenesses of Jeff Davis and one of Gen. Beauregard! We shall be on the lookout for interesting facts in natural history similar to the above, and we are determined that the Editor of the Alta shall not get very far ahead of us.