Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1844-10-11
CANINE VIRTUES,
CapitOI HiH D. G..

The dog has always excited the admiration
and respect of mankind, not merely from their
sagacity, but from their moral qualities
There are very few men who possess some of
the moral qualities in degree equal to many
dogs. In the scale, therefore, of moral, that
is, Of real merit, the dog is frequently superior
to human kind.
Inthe character dogs, there is nothing that
strikes the writer more oddly, than of that the
object of their attachment should be being
so totally unlike themselves as man, and in
their affection for whom there is nothing ami
NAL or sensual. A community of feelings
and pursuits is the usual attachment between
NEST animals; but not so with dogs, whose at
tachment to creatures of their own species,
whether founded on the relation of sex or
otherwise, is infinitely lese constant and in
tense, than their regard for man. When we
behold the rapture, the transport which is
manifested by dogs, at the sight of their mas
ters, after an unusual separation, we feel emo
lions of veneration for the animal, which are
rarely justified by the conduct of one human
being towards another. But even in cases of
attachment of man to man, equal to that of
dog to man, the latter is the more remarkable,
and, if we may say so, meritorious, inasmuck
as the affection of the dog is more disinterested
and gratuitous.
An exception must, indeed, be admitted to
the truth of this observation, in the case of
sportsmen and their dogs. There is no such
dissimilarity Of tastes and feelings, between
the man and his faithful companion; in fact,
they both partake of the same passions and
tastes: the only difference between them be-
ing that one pursnes his object upon two legs,
and the other ;pon four.
The following is one Of the most striking
instances of the moral and intellectual merit
Of dogs we have ever net with
A gentleman, who used to spend the winter
months in the capitol of North Britain, having
gone with his family to pass the summer at
his country seat, left the care of his town res
idence, together with favourite house dog,
to some servants, who were placed at board
wages. The dog soon found board wages
very short allowance and to make up the
deficiency, he had recourse to the kitchen
I of friend of his masters, which in better
days he had occasionally visited. BY hear
ty meal, which he received here daily, he was
enabled to keep himself in good condition, till
the return of his MASTER family to town on
the approach of winter. Though now restor-
ed to the enjoyment of plenty at home, and
standing in no need of foreign iberality. he
did not forget that hospitable kitchen where
he had found resource in his adversely. A
few days after, happening to saunter about the
streets, he fell in with duck, which, as he
found it in no private pond, he probably con-
cluded to be no private property. He snatch
ed up the duck in his teeth, carried it to the
kitchen where ne had been so Hospitality fed,
laid it at the cooks feet. with many polite
movements of his tail, and then scampered off
with much seeming complacency at having
given his testimony of this grateful sense Of
favonrS. 2i-afs