ALTERATIONS AND MEMORY 105 



this! tell me nicely 1" " Eid fur hunde." " What is 

 oath to mean ? " " Zu schweigen ! " (= to be silent). 

 " What ? have you promised that to each other ? " 

 " Yes." " Who told you that ? " " Frechi." 

 (This was one of the dogs on the farm.) " Frechi ? 

 and what has that to do with you ? Nonsense, had you 

 told me so yesterday I should have known now ! 

 Say ' we are happy ' otherwise I shall think you are 

 telling me stories : now why ? " " Wegen iren augen 

 und iren sorgen one ruhe " (= because of their eyes and 

 their sorrows without ceasing). Lola was very tired 

 when she had finished, but it had all been rapped out 

 clearly and carefully, without a single correction. 

 Later I said : " Lola, do you like being with me ? " 

 " Yes." " Why ? " " ich gut ura ? " Now this 

 was quite incomprehensible, so I said : " What do 

 dogs feel when they look at the eyes and see the sorrows 

 of people ? " " No." " Yes, tell me ? " Then with 

 hesitation : " libe . . ." (Liebe = love) and to this 

 day I feel touched at these answers. How often in 

 trouble and in sorrow have we not found relief in a dog's 

 sympathy, and been glad to call it a friend in our 

 sufferings ? How often has not a dog's eye filled with 

 understanding when its master has sat alone and lost 

 in grief coming, perhaps, and gently laying its head 

 upon his knees fixing its faithful gaze on him until 

 at length he might be moved to smile, feeling that 

 after all he was not alone ? Dogs ! may this not be 

 your true vocation ? Indeed, this thought possessed 

 me for a long time. This sensitive aspect had not been 

 so apparent to me until now ... I had been^so keen 

 on the objective tests and on all that they meant and 

 now I was almost ready to reproach myself, for had I 

 not centred my love and intelligence on science alone : 

 and only in a secondary sense upon the dog ?_. , . 



