NEW GLEANINGS IN OLD FIELDS 



IV. THE DOG 



The most wonderful thing about the dog is not 

 his intelligence, but his capacity for loving. We can 

 call it by no other name. The more you love your 

 dog, the more your dog loves you. You can win your 

 neighbor's dog any time by loving him more than 

 your neighbor does. He will follow you to the ends 

 of the earth if you love him enough. He may become 

 so attached to you that he fairly divines your 

 thoughts, not through his own power of thought, 

 but through his intense sympathy and the free- 

 masonry of love. 



He is the ideal companion because he gives you 

 a sense of companionship without disturbing your 

 sense of solitude. Your mind is alone, but your heart 

 has company. He is below your horizon, but some- 

 thing comes up from his life that mingles with your 

 own. This friend walks with you, or sits with you, 

 and yet he does not come between you and your 

 book, or between you and the holiday spirit you 

 went out to woo. He is the visible embodiment of 

 the holiday spirit; he shows you how to leave dull 

 care behind; he goes forth with you in the spirit of 

 eternal youth, sure that something beautiful or curi- 

 ous or adventurous will happen at any turn of the 

 road. He finds no places dull, he is alert with expect- 

 ancy every moment. 



In him you have good-fellowship, always on tap, 

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