USEFULNESS OF ANIMALS TO MAN. 



benefit from their intercourse and association with 

 him ; but that, in conformity with original appoint- 

 ment, they aid him to acquire the enjoyments and 

 accomplish the necessities of civilized life. Yet 

 there is one creature, that seems designed by its 

 natural habits to be the servant and dependant 

 of man ; and of all that fall under his dominion, 

 not one receives an equal portion of his care, or is 

 more exempt from a life of exhaustion in his ser- 

 vice. The dog is fed with him, housed, and ca- 

 ressed ; associates with him in his pleasures, is 

 identified with and enjoys them with his master ; 

 living with him, he acquires the high bearing and 

 freedom of his lord ; feels he is the companion and 

 the friend ; deports himself as a partaker of the 

 importance and superiority, we might almost say 

 of the sorrows and pleasures of the man ; is elated 

 with praise, and abased by rebuke ; submissive 

 when corrected, and grateful when caressed : his 

 anxiety and tremor when he has lost his master, 

 and with him himself, is pitiable ; when deserted 

 by his lord, he becomes the most forlorn of animals, 

 a never failing victim to misery, famine, disease, 

 and death. His ardour may excite him at times 

 until overpowered by fatigue ; but he is not gene- 

 rally stimulated by pain or menace to attempts 

 beyond his natural powers : view him in all his 

 progress, his life will be found to be an easy, and 

 frequently an enjoyable one; and though not 



