A Little Dog-Comedy 



dog comes to you when you are reading, looks 

 intently into your face, and tells you without 

 words that he wants a drink or that it is time for 

 him to be put to bed) that I propose now to make 

 clear. Before we enter that trail of silence, how- 

 ever, there is a much simpler language, such as is 

 implied in the whistle of a quail or the howl of a 

 wolf, which we must try as best we can to inter- 

 pret. For unless our ears are keen enough to dis- 

 tinguish between the food and hunting calls of an 

 animal, or between bob-white's love note and the 

 yodel that brings his scattered flock together, it 

 will be idle for us to ask what message or impulse 

 a mother wolf sends after a running cub when she 

 lifts her head to look at him steadily, and he 

 checks his rush to return to her side as if she had 

 made the murky woods echo to her assembly 

 clamor. 



