for rice might be large, but think what a joy 

 it would be to take him out with you in the 

 country lanes and to see him speeding, as he 

 unquestionably would, in headlong flight from 

 the anger of a Pomeranian dog to whom he 

 had ventured to make unsolicited advances. In 

 his off moments he might make himself useful 

 as a substitute for the steam-roller on newly 

 mended roads. 



%& These are agreeable fancies, but in the 

 meantime fate and the size and frailty of our 

 homes limit us for the most part to dogs and 

 cats. Some, no doubt, will put forward the 

 mongoose and the jerboa as amiable com- 

 panions, but these, delightful though they 

 may be, are exotics beyond the attainment of 

 the general. It is not everybody who can 

 secure or keep a supply of snakes sufficient 

 to gratify a mongoose's unquenchable desire 

 for sport and exercise. So, as I say, we must 

 confine ourselves chiefly to dogs and cats, 

 with, perhaps, an occasional exception in 

 favour of a parrot or a cockatoo. It is of 

 7 %& dogs 



