226 DOGS AND DOG LOVERS 



We may call it instinct, but what is the love of a 

 human mother ? 



A dog differs from his master in not taking 

 offence ; you may tread on his tail and he will only 

 apologise for being in your way. But I have 

 known a dog bite his mistress when she interfered 

 with him in a fight, while he was beside himself 

 with anger. In the same way an unhappy dog 

 caught in a trap may be so maddened with pain 

 as to attempt to bite those who seek to free him, but 

 these are extreme cases. It is again part of this 

 same lovable quality of dogs that they are not 

 given to moods. They are always ready to 

 welcome us and to wag tails when we notice them. 



M. Anatole France shows in some ways a 

 sympathy with dogs, and a sensitiveness to their 

 mental attitudes, finer and more true than any- 

 thing in Stevenson's essay. The misery of 

 Riquet* over the dimenagement of his master, 

 M. Bergeret, is admirably drawn. Riquet begins by 

 barking fiercely when " des hommes inconnus, mal 

 vetus, injurieux et farouches " invade his beloved 

 house, and ends in being lifted in silent misery and 

 shut up in a portmanteau. Riquet soon becomes 

 too human, but he does at least show his adoration 

 of M. Bergeret, in mourning over the desecration 

 and removal of "ton fauteuil profond — le fauteuil 

 oti nous reposions tous les soirs, et bien souvent le 

 matin, k cote I'un de I'autre." 



No. XII. of the Pens^es de Riquet does not bear 

 on the love that subsists between dog and man ; 



* Crainquebille, Riquet, etc., (n.d.) 



