THE SUMMIT OF THE YEARS 



would give no heed to, just as boys abroad in the 

 fields and woods will commit depredations that they 

 would be ashamed of at home. 



When I go into my neighbor's house his dog of 

 many strains, and a great crony of mine, becomes 

 riotous with delight. He whines with joy, hops 

 upon my lap, caresses me, and then springs to the 

 door, and with wagging tail and speaking looks 

 and actions says, " Come on! let 's off." I open the 

 door and say, " Go, if you want to." He leaps back 

 upon my lap, and says, " No, no, not without you." 

 Then to the door again with his eloquent panto- 

 mime, till I finally follow him forth into the street. 

 Then he tears up the road to the woods, saying 

 so plainly, "Better one hour of Slabsides than a 

 week of humdrum at home." At such times, if we 

 chance to meet his master or mistress' on the road, 

 he heeds them not, and is absolutely deaf to their 

 calls. 



Well, I do not suppose the dog is in our line of de- 

 scent, but his stem-form must join ours not very far 

 back. He is our brother at not very many removes, 

 and he has been so modified and humanized by his 

 long intercourse with our kind, stretching no doubt 

 through hundreds of thousands of years, that we 

 are near to him and he is near to us. I do not sup- 

 pose, if this affectionate intercourse were to con- 

 tinue any number of ages or cycles longer, that the 

 dog would ever be any more developed on his in- 

 132 



