The Lambertville record., 1888-11-14
Our CANINE COMPANIONS.
! Good Word for the Dog Sense of Conn
rndeship.

A Good Word for the Dog gsense OF Conn
radeship.
Often has the present writer questioned his
canine companion-withn no response beyond
the act--to find why it is that he, who will
never set out on any excursion by himself,
will yet find no bliss so great as to run beside
vehicle, a horseman or q pedestrian, ira
versing hill, field and forest in perfect happi-
ness, so long as he goes with his friends. In
deed, large part of a dogs existence consists
in trotting about the farm or the estate, SIM
ply to establish himself near his master, his
mistress, the baby, the hired man, without
definite communication, but simply with tho
sense of comradeship He is an animated
shadow Of you; and whether your immediate
aim be playing tennis, hoeing corn or read
ing Shakespeare, it is needful to his happi-
ness that he should be close by. He sympa-
thizes with his eyes, interrogates with his
nose, appeals with his paw, and, as Victor
Hugo says, smiles with his tail
As for his intelligence, q myriad anecdotes
raise the question seriously whether we do
not compliment ourselves too highly in
putting our sagacity beside his. Can we find
our way like hiina Can we seek, investigate,
remember, like himl "There are times,n
said an eminent author to me, the other day,
when that dog Of mine has no more sense
9lan man; but three days out of four he
knows more than l do. He knows when I
am going TO take him down to the office with
me as well as do; indeed, he often knows 1t
before do, and Is at the door all ready to
go-in certain days when I had supposed
my mind fully made up Co leave him at
home; the result is that he goes"
To love dog thoroughly, it is necessary to
have reared him. For full enjoyment, you
must be able to trace back this graceful
creature who bounds beside you, with hiseye
full Of light and every silken hair line Of
beauty, to that shambling puppy who was
first brought TO your house-known to the
boys of the neighborhood only as tone of
Quin's pups" and possessing no gifts beyond
o blunt and very wrinkled nose, body al
ways waddling helplessly In the wrong direc-
ton, and a boundless gift OF getting his
leash entangled round your ankles. Your
attachment for him has grown In proportion
to the extent Of his development.
The dog Of my own immediate household
Is the dearer, / suspect, for every folly he has
outgrown and every sin he has imperfectly
reformed. We should almost regret to have
him quite lose that guilty expression of sub
dued longing which still creeps into his eyes
when he passes near particularly plump
hen, although 1t is now a year or two since
he has chased one; or the experienced hu-
mility with which he comes crouching, un-
called, to have his ears pulled after barking
at the postman. He knows that as he still
keeps within ear shot, as it were, OF those
sins of his youth, so do we; like many an
other handsome scapegrnce he is never so
near the heart as when 1t becomes necessary
to forgive him. Nothing SO initiates against
virtue, both among dogs and men, as a GER.
tain becomingness in particular types of
wrong doing.-.T W. H. in Harper's
Bazar,