The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1873-01-11
THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS.

after provocation is sometimes vindictive
and sometimes placable, according to his
! individual character. He is susceptible of
hatred of the bitterest kind. He is so ex-
cruciatingly jealous, that his life becomes
burden in the presence of favored rival.
His envy continually leads him to eat what
he does not want, lest another animal
should take it, and to illustrate the fable of
the dog in the manger. Gluttony holds
out to him temptations under which even
his honesty sometimes succumbs; but, on
the other hand, from drunkenness he is
nobly emancipated. A dog mentioned by
the Rev. Thomas Jackson Sour Dumb
Companions, y having been once made so
drunk with malt liquor that he was una
Bile to walk up stairs, ever after declined to
taste the pernicious beverage, and growled
and snarhd at the sight of pewter pot.
Again, as to love, Don Juan was cold
and unenterprsing character compared to
dog; and rs to maternal affection, the
mother dog feels it with heroic passion,
starving herself to death rather than for
sake her offspring. Gratitude may be al
most said to be dogs leading principle,
supplying first the spring of allegiance to
his master, and ever after reconciling him,
with true magnanimity, to take evil from
the hand from which he has accepted good.
Regret and grief he feels so deeply that
they often break his heart. Fear is pas
sion which dogs exhibit with singular var
iation, some breeds and individuals being
very timorous, and others perfect models
of courage, the latter characteristics and
fortitude seeming to be more characteristic
cally canine. A greyhound has been known,
after breaking his thigh, to run on till the
course was concluded. As to hope, no one
can observe the dog watching for his mas
ter's STEP as in Landseer's picture of
Expectation" without admitting that
he knows the sentiment as we'll as we.-
Pride in successful chase may be wit
messed in every dog, and even felt in the
quickened heart-beats of a greyhound when
caressed and praised. That dogs have per-
sonal vanity appears from the fact that
they are SO manifestly detected and demon
allied when dirty and ragged by long ex-
posture, and recover their self-respect i'm
mediately on being washed and combed.
Chivalry and magnanimity may nearly
always be calculated upon in dogs, and
wife, beating is an offence to which the
four-footed beast never descends. The
stories are endless of big dogs generously
overlooking the insults of small ours, or
good ducking as punishment for their
impertinence, and then helping them mer-
cifully back to land. Sense of property,
bifurcating into both covetousness and
avarice, is common to all dogs. The ken
mel, rug, collar, waste basin, or bone once
devoted to his use, no dog can see trans
ferred to another without Indignation
Frequently he "covets his neighbor's
house," and attempts to ensconce in it sur
reptitiously; and almost universally he
covets his nelghbor's bone, and purloins it,
if he dare. Even from avarice he cannot
be wholly exonerated, observing his pro-
W IlSdSuICo.
after transgressing any of the arbitrary
rules imposed on him, dog displays with
ludicrous simplicity; but of the deeper
sense of violated modesty which in human
beings accompanies the commission of sin,
the dog evidently knows nothing whatever
Humor, SO far as it can proceed without
language, the dog catches readily from a
humorous master, and also the enjoyment
of such games as he can understand. As
baby crows with glee at "bo-peep," SO
dog banks with delight at ego fetch. -
Make believe runs and false starts romps
and ticklings, throwing ball for him to
catch ON the grass, or a stick to fish out of
lake, all supply him with pleasures per-
fectly analogous in their nature to that
which boys and men find in blind-man's-
buff and prisoners base, lordly cricket,
and lady-like croquet. Lastly, faith in a
beloved superior is perhaps the most beau
tiful and affecting Of all the attributes of
a dog.-From the Quarley Rerie@.