688 THE DOG. 



pity of the passing crowd, or conducts him from door to door. 

 The animal will be seen to stop at the particular houses where 

 alms are wont to be bestowed, sometimes uttering a low 

 whine, as if supplicating the attention of the inmates. Where 

 there are churches, he makes his way to them at the times 

 of the day when they are most frequented. He knows every 

 pathway through which he has occasion to pass ; and it is 

 interesting to observe with what caution he leads his help- 

 less master along, avoiding every obstruction, and keeping 

 him out of the reach of carriages and other dangerous ob- 

 structions. When passing along a river or canal, he keeps 

 between the blind man and the bank ; and when a path is 

 rugged and narrow, he directs his companion along the 

 smoother and broader part, himself taking the rougher and 

 narrower. When a piece of money is thrown down, he has 

 been taught to pick it up ; nay, there have been cases in 

 which he has been known to carry money to a neighbouring 

 shop, and exchange it for a loaf, or such article of food as 

 the mendicant had been in use to obtain at the same place. 



The Dog can be taught arts of deception ; and although it 

 is painful to contemplate this creature made subservient to 

 unlawful acts, our admiration of the animal is not the less, 

 since it is manifest that the turpitude is not in the dog but 

 in his human guide. Dogs have been taught to steal, and 

 it is wonderful to what arts they will resort to accomplish 

 their purpose and escape detection. In London, a dog was 

 lately taught to pilfer little articles of provision from shops 

 and stalls, which he managed to do with consummate address. 

 He never stood for a moment to gaze at the articles to be 

 plundered, but kept moving about until, the owner being off his 

 guard, the opportunity presented itself of escaping with the 

 prize. Another was disciplined to snatch reticules from the 

 hands of ladies when walking, another to seize hats hung up for 

 display at the doors of shops, and so on. The employment 

 of dogs, in certain parts of the Continent, for smuggling 

 prohibited goods across the frontiers, as tobacco, muslin, and 



