236 The Carnivora. 
appeared: “A striking example of that devotedness and 
faithfulness characteristic of the canine race may be witnessed 
at the door of the Dundee prison, leading from the police 
office. At the police court, on Saturday, John Melville, a 
shepherd, was sent to prison for seven days for drunkenness. 
The shepherd possessed a beautiful colley, which patiently 
- waited upon its master during his trial. On leaving the bar 
and being marched to prison, the faithful animal followed, 
and would willingly have shared a corner of his master’s cell 
had it been permitted. The good dog, being necessarily sepa- 
rated from its master, would not, however, desert his place 
of confinement, but took up a position at the prison door, 
where it still keeps ‘watch o’er his lonely cell.” Meat and 
drink were laid down to it by one of the police officials, and 
some time afterwards another supply was brought, when it 
was found that the poor brute had not even tasted the first, 
and no coaxing could induce it to do so; neither can it be 
induced to accept a warmer and more comfortable place.” 
His drunkenness notwithstanding—and perhaps the Scottish 
magistrates did not take too lenient a view of the failing— 
that shepherd must have been a good man to his dog; for, 
though their forgivingness towards those they love is much 
greater than that of average men, dogs may be alienated by 
harsh treatment as certainly as ourselves. A blow unjustly 
given by one hand may be forgiven after a caress from the 
other, but a dog betrays by his demeanour to the observant 
eye the character of his master. We know at once whether 
he is the trusted friend or merely the slave of the man. In 
the former case there is confidence in every glance; “he is 
aye glowing up in his master’s een,” as Hogg says; whereas, 
in the latter, he shrinks from looking at a countenance on 
which he seldom sees any expression except that of anger. 
A human being who has not at some period of life enjoyed 
the friendship of a dog has missed one of the most humanising 
of all influences. Almost all the best men and women I have 
known were indebted to association with their dogs for much 
