l6o THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS 



danger and the dread of the exposure. The strange 

 feeling of affection enables them to overcome the 

 fear of risks, even of death itself, in order to save the 

 lives of friends. And they show their consciousness 

 of having performed such moral acts by their 

 manifestation of joy for any approbation bestowed 

 on them. They not only give themselves as a sac- 

 rifice, but make intercession for the welfare and 

 protection of others. 



My kinsman, Gen. S. B. Buckner, on one oc- 

 casion, was so deeply impressed by the actions of a 

 dog that he promptly relieved the distress of a 

 heart-broken woman. 



The Louisville Courier- Journal tells the beauti- 

 ful and touching story in the following language : 

 "That was a fine passage between the Executive of 

 Kentucky and the wife of the condemned man, 

 who went to Frankfort last Friday to ask for a 

 pardon. She had presented her papers and sat 

 breathless whilst the arbiter of her fate perused 

 them. As she waited, a mastiff, the playmate of 

 the Governor's little son, an animal not given to 

 strangers, uncoiled himself from the rug where he 

 had been lying, and came up in that friendly way 

 which only dogs know how to affect with perfect 



