48 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



misdemeanors; but, as he does not know them to be such, I 

 should be very wrong were I to punish him for them. He is at 

 present obedient to instinct alone, and, until his reasoning pow- 

 ers have been brought into play, I should not only have no right 

 to punish him for any instinctive act, but should greatly retard 

 the duration of his training. 



Being unused to human society, he had no idea that he might 

 not jump on the table and help himself to meat; and his only 

 idea of shoes, shawls, and other articles of clothing was, that they 

 were charming playthings, which could be bitten and shaken 

 without hurting his teeth. So, when I see him standing on the 

 table, busily at work on a joint, or come upon him in the act of 

 worrying my favorite shoe, I do not fly in a passion with him 

 and beat him, but quietly put a stop to his proceedings, and tell 

 him that he is not to do so again. Not being terrified by the 

 fear of ill treatment, he perfectly understands the sense though 

 not the ipsissima verba of the remonstrance, and proves his intel- 

 ligence by his acts. For example, if he takes another shoe and 

 is discovered, he immediately drops his tail and ears, and looks 

 like the culprit that he is. Being a delinquent, and knowing 

 that he is so, he receives the punishment due to the offense, and 

 ever afterward the very word "shoe" will make him look utter- 

 ly ashamed of himself. 



Again, if he scampers over my newly-dug flower-borders, and 

 lies down on my best bed of mignonette, I reflect that, in his po- 

 sition, I should have done just the same thing, not knowing that 

 there was any harm in it. So I call him off the flowers, and ex- 

 plain to him that he is to restrict his gambols to the gravel and 

 lawn. If, after the explanation, he persists in running over the 

 borders, he becomes a conscious delinquent, and is punished ac- 

 cordingly. 



Moreover, I manage so that he fancies the punishment to be 

 inherent in the offense. For example, the animal at present in 

 training is a Skye puppy of the purest breed, and as such is lia- 

 ble to be carried off by the numerous vagabonds who turn a dis- 

 honest penny by dog-stealing. His orders are, that he is not to 

 go into the road on any pretext whatever, and, as a necessar}*- 

 consequence, he is always burning to do so. Therefore, I keep a 

 watch upon him, and as soon as he pushes his way under the 

 gate, he gets such a shower of swan-shot about his ears that he 

 yelps in sudden terror, and dives back again. On such occasions 



