354 Life and Immortality. 
gone nearly the entire day. But he managed to keep a 
pretty fair record of the time, for he was always on hand to 
greet me on my return home. His joy at my coming knew 
nc bounds. He would rub up against my side, caper around 
me, assuming a hundred different attitudes, leap up into my 
face, which he would caress with his tongue. I shall never 
forget the barks of delight, nor the smile, as I would call it, 
for it verily seemed a smile to me, which lit up his intelligent 
face. Then he would slowly meander his way to the gate. 
Reaching it, he would place his right front paw upon the 
latch, spring it, and, taking hold of the top with his mouth, 
fling it wide open. He was then a very happy fellow. That 
he appreciated the favor I was about to show him, there 
could be no question, as he plainly showed it in his look, 
gesture and speech. Sometimes it was not convenient for 
me to take a walk with him, or I was not in the physical or 
mental condition to do so. It was not necessary for me to 
tell him in so many words that the pleasure would have to 
be foregone for the present, for his keen, discerning mind 
could read it in my looks. I never liked to disappoint him, 
for the grief which he manifested was piteous in the extreme. 
He would prostrate himself to the ground, place his head 
between his front paws, and look the very picture of incon- 
solable distress. The low, sorrowful moan which he would 
emit, when the disappointment was the keenest, was so 
heart-rending, that many a time I would reverse my purpose 
and say, “Come, Rover, master will not deny so good a 
creature the pleasure of his company for an hour or so in 
the woods.” Instantly his whole expression would change, 
and there would be exhibited a joy as intense as the grief 
which had depressed him to the earth. Rover was no hypo- 
crite. His sorrow was not assumed, but as real and poignant 
a sorrow as ever possessed a human breast. I have known 
him to grieve for hours, and even to refuse the daintiest food 
when he has been disappointed. Were he dissembling, see- 
ing that it availed him not, he would not be likely to have 
