DOGS, 45 



command. As from instinct, the Dog abandons his own per- 

 sonal liberty, shuns even the members of his own race, and 

 associates himself entirely with man as his dearest friend ; and 

 no cause, however great, is sufficient, in his estimation, to break 

 asunder these voluntary ties or destroy this beloved connection. 

 He asks but a trifle for his proffered services ; a kind word, an 

 occasional smile, a fragment of our abundance, or a mere mite 

 of our povert}^, is all that he requires. The extremes of luxury 

 or indigence are alike the same to him, so that he enjoys the 

 companionship and kindness of his allotted master, let him be 

 a prince or a beggar. For his master alone he leaps for joy 

 when spoken to; on him alone he fondles when caressed; for 

 him alone he grieves when absent, exults at his return, and 

 even in the fulness of his heart pines away over his deserted 

 grave. 



"Dark green was the spot, 'mid the brown mountain heather, 



AVhere the pilgrim of nature lay stretched in decay ; 

 Like the corpse of an outcast, abandoned to weather, 



Till the mountain winds wasted the tenantless clay; 



Nor yet quite deserted, though lonely extended. 



For, faithful in death, his mute favorite attended. 



The much-loved remains of her master defended. 

 And chased the hill Fox and the Raven away. 

 How long didst thou think that his silence was slumber? 



When the wind waved his garments, how oft didst thou start? 

 How many long days and long weeks didst thou number 



Ere he faded before thee, the friend of thy heart?"' 



How different is all this from the attachment or submission 

 that we witness in the other domesticated animals, all of which, 

 we may say, have been reclaimed with much trouble, and 

 enslaved contrary to their own will. They submit alone to 

 our arbitrary wishes through the fear of punishment or the 

 hope of reward ; they greedily partake of our proffered food, 

 and perform in return their apportioned labors ; these forced 



' A young man lost his life by falling from one of the precipices of the 

 Helvellyn Mountains. Three months afterwards his remains were discovered at 

 the bottom of a ravine, and his faithful Dog, almost a skeleton, still guarding 

 them. Sir Walter Scott beautifully describes the scene as above. — Youatt on 

 the Dog. 



