PREFACE. 



^VNE sometimes hears parents, of the kind 

 ^ that I fear will think Dick's little story 

 only a bit of nonsense, reproach the little child 

 who asks for a second helping of Christinas pud- 

 ding with being "greedy as a dog." Dick has not 

 yet told me the opinion of his race of that other 

 species which asserts that human affection and 

 fidelity are virtues of the soul, but that these vir- 

 tues, when shown by dogs, proceed merely from 

 instinct. I am inclined to believe, however, that 

 there is current among those of our four-footed 

 relations who have had a hard time of it a little 

 saying which, in our speech, signifies "selfish as 

 a man." The author, who believes with Agassiz 

 and Theodore Parker, that love and constancy in 

 men and dogs proceed from the same high 

 source, trusts that the supposititious doggie 

 proverb will apply to none of the readers of 

 "Our Dick." 



Man Francisco, December, 1893. 



