FAITH, HOPE, AND CHARITY 47 



indeed suffereth long and is kind ! Endless are the examples 

 amongst birds of sympathy in sickness or misfortune, passing 

 even into such grief at bereavement as to bring death to the 

 mourner also ; none perhaps is more quaint than that of the 

 hand-reared gander who, after vainly trying to find a friend 

 in the farmyard, finally attached himself to a blind old goose 

 deserted by her fellows and in danger of dying from starva- 

 tion. The story of how he cared for her, led her about, 

 fed her, and was finally rewarded by a fine family of gos- 

 lings is as romantic as many a three volume novel. 



It is easy to be anecdotal ; but that is not the intention 

 of this poor book. Still ere this consideration of the con- 

 duct of our fellow mortals, as tested by our standards, ends, 

 it is necessary to touch on that sense of duty and sense of 

 sin, which — if it be worth anything — such a standard 

 involves. Few accurate observers, it is true, will deny either 

 of these senses to some animals, especially to dogs, who 

 constantly resort to subterfuges in order to conceal their mal- 

 practices, and over and over again show a distinct sense of 

 responsibility. Nevertheless the following three incidents 

 may be admitted as a fitting close to a comparison which 

 has necessarily been a tentative one, since it started with 

 the presumption that we knew too little of the minds of 

 the beasts that perish to credit them with inward and 

 spiritual graces. 



(i) A dog, who for years had been guardian of her home, 

 assuring herself daily and nightly of its safety, was growing 

 old and stiff when a young puppy was brought in to enliven 

 the house. She continued her duties unswervingly for close 

 on a year, when one day, to the surprise of the household, 

 she deliberately made over charge to the younger but now 



