DOGS AND CATS. 147 



your hungry face at the dinner-table, suppose papa should 

 say, " What *s that boy here for ? He was fed this morn- 

 ing." You would think this hard measure ; yet a dog's or 

 cat's stomach digests as rapidly as yours. In like manner, 

 dogs are often shut out of the house in cold winter weather, 

 without the least protection being furnished them. A lady 

 and I looked out once, in a freezing icy day, and saw a 

 great Newfoundland cowering in a corner of a fence to 

 keep from the driving wind ; and I said, " Do tell me if 

 you have no kennel for that poor creature." "No," said 

 the lady. " I did n't know that dogs needed shelter. Now 

 I think of it, I remember last spring he seemed quite 

 poorly, and his hair seemed to come out ; do you suppose 

 it was being exposed so much in the winter?" This Jady 

 had taken into her family a living creature, .without ever 

 having reflected on what that creature needed, or that it 

 was her duty to provide for its wants. 



Dogs can bear more cold than human beings, but they 

 do not like cold any better than we do ; and when a dog 

 has his choice, he will very gladly stretch himself on a rug 

 before the fire for his afternoon nap, and show that he en- 

 joys the blaze and warmth as much as anybody. 



As to cats, many people seem to think that a miserable, 

 half-starved beast, never fed, and always hunted and beaten, 

 and with no rights that anybody is bound to respect, is a 

 necessary appendage to a family. They have the idea that 



