We removed all their material; and in our language that action said: "No; we would rather have you build over the plank."
The next night more mud and sticks piled against the fence said to us,
"We really insist upon building it here!"
We made a second clearance of their materials, saying in effect:
"You shall not build against the fence! You must build where we tell you!"
Thereupon, the beavers began to build over the plank, saying,
"Oh, well, if you are going to make a fuss about it, we will let you have your way."
So they built a beautiful water-tight dam precisely where we suggested it to them, and after that our only trouble was to keep them from overdoing the matter, and flooding the whole valley.
I am not going to dwell upon the mind and manners of the beaver. The animal is well known. Three excellent books have been written and pictured about him, in the language that the General Reader understands. They are as follows: "The American Beaver and His Works," Lewis H. Morgan (1868); "The Romance of the Beaver," A. R. Dugmore (no date); "History and Traditions of the Canada Beaver," H. T. Martin (1892).
"Clever Hans," the "Thinking Horse." From 1906 to 1910 the world read much about a wonderful educated horse owned and educated by Herr von Osten, in Germany. The German scientists who first came in touch with "Hans" were quite bowled over by the discovery that that one horse could "think." The Review of Reviews said, in 1910: