THE FRIEND OF MAN 139 



silence of their love, the dog's eyes gain a comprehension 

 beyond that of fretted fretful humanity's : they are divine 

 in their pitiless pity ! 



Then a dog's laugh ! Who does not know how infec- 

 tious it can be when on some bright breezy March day on 

 moor or field — or even on the hard high road — all the 

 youth, all the spring of the creature goes out into out- 

 rageous barks, inconsequential gambolling. 



In one of Retzches' famous outlines, Faust's dog is 

 depicted careering madly about his master and the Devil, 

 with wicked little flames streaming from his flying feet. 

 The picture was intended, no doubt, to be horribly awe- 

 inspiring ; but alas ! owing to the innate joyousness of such 

 careers in real life, the flames have no effect whatever. 

 One forgets the Devil in favour of the dog, who is evi- 

 dently enjoying one of these ridiculous fits of extravagant 

 energy which overtake the most sober-sided of them at 

 times, and send them head, body, tail, all swerving, curving 

 round some invisible centre of attraction, doubling, trebling, 

 in chase of nothing, until Nature can no more and Life 

 resolves itself into long red tongue and short panting 

 breath. 



So, naturally, one laughs ; for the surliest, crustiest of 

 humans cannot watch the performance without recognizing 

 that to some of God's creatures life is worth the living. 



What a joy, also, a good sporting dog brings into the 

 years, how much its keenness intensifies the pleasure of its 

 master ; and even if it is bad, it at least keeps his attention 

 on the alert, and acts as a gentle (?) stimulant to speech. 



The enormous influence for good which dogs have on 

 the children of the human race has already been pointed 



