'Hearing Ear' Dog of Aberdeen

"Rags" is a dog of uncertain ancestry, but Fred Lewis, his master, will bet his bread and butter that he is as smart as any Seeing Eye dog in America. And well he might, for Rags is the most essential piece of equipment Lewis uses in his job as chief engineer at the city water station at Aberdeen, N. C.

Born deaf and dumb, Lewis became an expert mechanic. He took over the job at the pump works several years ago, but he was hampered because he could not hear the machinery. For a long time now, Rags, trained by his master, has taken the place of his ears.

When Lewis starts the pump engine, Rags will grab the end of his tail in his teeth and chase it around a few times. If all goes well, he will then lie still. But if the machinery stops, or suddenly makes some untoward noise, Rags arises and goes through his tail-chasing to warn the engineer.

Rags solved Lewis' greatest problem--how to know when to start extra pumps working in case of fire. Now, when the firebell rings, Rags leaps to his feet to chase that tail. Strangely enough, when the same bell rings regularly at 12 noon, as a time signal, he pays no attention.

"You can't fool Rags," Lewis wrote on a slip of paper, with a flourish. "He can tell me in a minute when something goes haywire with the pump. You can't mix him on that 12 o'clock bell, either--he just ignores it, but let it ring any other time, and he's on his feet, telling me to start the pumps."

He and Rags are inseparable. Though born a bum, the dog enjoys immense social prestige in Aberdeen, and is a point of interest to which visitors are regularly taken. Natives call him the "Hearing Ear" dog.