574 
NATURAL HISTORY AND ORIGIN OF DOGS. 
benefits conferred. The dog that shares the lot of the miserable 
and poor, is no less faithful than another that enjoys all that can 
gratify the senses. The peasant boy, who rears up his little 
favourite in his cabin of mud, and shares with it his scanty crust, 
has a friend as true as he who has ease and abundance to bestow. 
Release from the cord of the blind beggar the dog that leads him 
from door to door, and will he follow you a step for all with which 
you can tempt his senses'? Confine him in your mansion, and feed 
him with the waste of plenteous repasts, and let his forlorn com- 
panion approach your door to crave a scrap of food, and the dog 
will fly to him with fidelity unshaken, and bound with joy to be 
allowed once more to share his miserable lot. Again and again has 
the dog of the humblest and poorest remained faithful to the last, 
and laid himself down to die on the grave of his earliest friend. 
“ Recently, a poor boy in a manufacturing town had contrived 
from his hard earnings to rear up a little dog. The boy, as he 
was passing' along to his daily work, was struck down, and dread- 
fully maimed, by the fall of some scaffolding. He was carried on 
a shutter, mangled and bleeding, to an hospital near, attended by 
the dog. When he was brought to the door, the dog endeavoured 
to enter along with him, but, being shut out, he laid himself down. 
Being driven beyond the outer gate, he went round and round the 
walls, searching for any opening by which he could enter. He 
then lay down at the gate, watching every one who entered with 
wistful eyes, as if imploring admittance. Though continually 
repulsed, he never left the precincts night or day; and even before 
the wounded boy had breathed his last, the faithful dog, struck 
with total paralysis, had ceased to live. It is well known that the 
soldiers of the French levies were often mere boys, brought from 
their country homes to undergo at once all the rigours of the 
service. They were often accompanied by their little dogs, who 
followed them as best they could. Often, after the carnage of a 
desperate field, these dogs have been found stretched on the 
mangled bodies of their youthful friends. A French officer, mor- 
tally wounded in the field, was found with his dog by his side. 
An attempt having been made to seize a military decoratipn on the 
breast of the fallen officer, the dog, as if conscious how much his 
master had valued it, sprang fiercely at the assailants. An un- 
fortunate soldier, condemned for some offence to die, stood ban- 
daged before his comrades appointed to give the fatal volley, when 
his dog, a beautiful spaniel, rushed wildly forward, flew into his 
arms to lick his face, and for a moment interrupted the sad 
solemnity. The comrades, with tears in their eyes, gave the 
volley, and the two friends fell together. A youthful conscript, 
severely wounded in the terrible field of Eylau, was carried to the 
