220 DOG STORIES 



Many horses drink in the manner described, 

 and in old horses heart-disease is not un- 

 common. I imagine the stoppage of respira- 

 tion caused a sudden and natural death from 

 heart-disease. 



I should like to ask naturalists who think 

 animals know that they must die, where they 

 draw the line. They must stop somewhere 

 between a dog and a dormouse. Poets have 

 made far more frequent allusion to the 

 subject than naturalists, and they may be 

 quoted on both sides. Philip James Bailey, 

 in illustration of his contention that hope is 

 universal, says : " and the poor hack that 

 sinks down on the flints, upon whose eye 

 the dust is settling, he hopes to die." But 

 we have on the other hand Shelley's Skylark, 

 with its " ignorance of pain," because it 

 differs from men who "look before and 

 after." Wordsworth's little girl of eight 

 knew less than her dog, if she had one, for, 

 says the poet, " what could she know of 

 death ? " I admit that when the carnivora 

 have crushed their prey to death they cease 

 to mangle them ; but I fancy that is only 



