Vol. XXXV, No. 3 



WASHINGTON 



March, 1919 



THE 



NATHONAL 

 GEOGKAPMBG 



U 



COPYRIGHT. 1919. BY NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY. WASHINGTON, D. C. 



MANKIND'S BEST FRIEND 



Companion of His Solitude, Advance Guard in the Hunt, 

 and Ally of the Trenches 



By Ernest Harold Baynes 



WHEN the intellectual gulf be- 

 gan to widen, in the author's 

 tancy, the man stood on one 

 side and the rest of the animals on the 

 other. The man looked upward at the 

 sky, and all the other animals walked off, 

 each about his own business. "All," did 

 I say ? All but one ! The little dog sat 

 on the very edge of the widening gulf, 

 ears cocked, tail moving, and watching 

 the man. Then he rose to his feet, trem- 

 bling. "I want to go to him," he whined, 

 and crouched as if to leap. 



The pig grunted and went on rooting 

 in the ground ; the sheep nibbled a tus- 

 sock of grass ; the cow chewed her cud in 

 calm indifference. It was none of their 

 business whether he went or stayed. 



"Don't try that jump," said the friendly 

 horse; "you can't possibly make it; I 

 couldn't do that myself." 



"Oh, let him try it," sneered the cat; 

 "he'll break his silly neck and serve him 

 right." 



But the dog heard none of them; his 

 eyes were on the man, and he danced on 

 the edge of the gulf and yelped. And the 

 man heard him and looked across and 

 saw what he wished to dc. 



"Come !" shouted the man. 



"I'm coming," yelped the dog. 



And then he gathered himself and 

 leaped. But the gulf was very wide — 

 almost too wide for a little dog. Only 

 his brave forepaws struck the farther 

 edge of the chasm, and there he hung 

 without a whimper, looking straight into 

 the eyes of the man. And then there 

 came to the man a strange feeling he had 

 never had before, and he smiled, stooped 

 and lifted the dog firmly and placed him 

 by his side, where he has been ever since. 

 And this was the very beginning of the 

 movement which, ages later, led to the 

 foundation of the first humane society. 

 And the dog went frantic with joy and 

 gratitude, pledged his loyalty to the man, 

 and he has never broken his pledge. 



the; beginnings of the: friendship 

 between dogs and men 



The dog is the oldest friend man has 

 among the animals — very much the old- 

 e'st. Compared with him the cat and the 

 horse are new acquaintances. Probably 

 we shall never know when the friendship 

 began, but the bones of dogs lying side 

 by side with the bones of primitive men 

 tend to show that it was in very, very re- 

 mote times. 



And perhaps in the beginning of their 

 acquaintanceship they were not friends ; 

 probably not. Probably primitive man 



