38 



DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 



the dog's education we must not set too much store by his 

 affection for his master. This kind of devotion of one being 

 to another is displayed elsewhere in the animal kingdom, 

 thou eh it is more common amono^ birds than amony: mam- 

 mals. We find traces of it in the greater part of our domes- 

 ticated creatures or in those which we have individually 

 adopted from the wilderness. It is a part of the great sym- 

 pathetic motive, which, originating far down in the series of 

 animals, increases as they gain in the scale of being, until it 



reaches the high- 

 est level it has yet 

 attained in spirit- 

 ually minded men. 

 The eminent pe- 

 culiarity in the 

 case of a dog is 

 that the very 

 centre of his life 

 is formed of the 

 affections, which 

 are evidently the same as those which rule the days of the 

 most cultivated men. To him these elements of friendli- 

 ness are absolutely necessary to a comfortable existence. If 

 by chance he becomes separated from his master and the 

 other people with whom he is familiar, his bereavement is 

 intense ; but in most cases, at the end of a day or two, he is 

 compelled to form new bonds, and he sets about the task in 

 an exceedingly human way. I dwell in a town where dogs 

 abound and where the frequent coming and going of the peo- 

 ple puts many of the creatures astray. Perhaps as often as 

 once a week, almost always late in the evening, one of these 



Pomeranian or " Spitz ' 



