The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1909-09-23
In His Wolf Days He Was n Hanger
On of the Camps of Men.

In His Wolf Days He Was Hanger
On of the Camps of Men.
AS to the origin of the dog we
should be inclined to conjecture, says
the Abolitionist. that the presence OF
primitive man suggested to him the
possibility of their domestication, and
then by feeding them directly from
his hand when hard pressed by hun
ger, or by taking charge of and bring
ing up the wolf cubs, some wolves be-
came domesticated, as they seem to
be now among the Indians and Eski-
mos, and from these domesticated
wolves the dog race of that region
was gradually evolved, choice in breed
ing being employed to develop the
qualities most useful to man.
1t must be remembered that the
remarkable thing about the dog is not
the survival of its primary instinct.
| the instinct of the CT ase, but the sub
stitution as dominant motive of
some ruling aim outside itself adopted
| to please its master and friend, man.
| To illustrate what we mean. let us
take the collie or sheep dog, which,
as we have seen, comes very directly
from the wolf and retain the physical
evidence of this origin. The domi-
nant instinct of the wolf is to chase
and kill and eat sheep whenever he
sees them, but this dominant natural
1 IN,
occasional collie. is yet in the great
majority of collies completely over
come by a desire to satisfy his mas
| ter's confidence and merit his masters
approval by showing himself to be the
! guardian, protector and guide of the
flock. The failure of few collies,
| the success of the majority, to resist
| the primary instinct to chase and kill
the sheep, the foresight and skill with
| which the guilty dogs endeavor to con
ceal their sins, their evident conscious
ness of gull, their almost human
| shame when discovered, point to
| moral nature in the making.
When we come to think of. 1t the
1
to his divinity-man-and to what the
| dog nature knows of the moral law
reads often a much-needed lesson to
his master. A collie has been known
to remain without food guarding the
flock and to be found by his master
after days of starvation deliberately
| endured rather than leave his charge,
| only able to crawl to his feet and
| die. Even the strong maternal in
stinct has been unable to overcome the
collies sense of duty, and collie, in
| charge of sheep, that has pupped on
the way has repeatedly been proved
/ true to her charge, giving her primary
| attention to the flock and her second
airy attention to her puppies. The ca
pacity for enforcing order and dis
| cipline in the flock is another very
| human and very remarkable quality
In the collie, not derived, apparently,
| from its wolf ancestry. The collie
knows the art of government His
woolly dependents are trained to obey
| his slightest orders and to accept his
will as law. He rules them resolutely
but kindly and, while ne Furnishes in
subordination, will risk his life to
protect them. The sheep dog in for
eign lands, for instance, in the Span
ish Pyrenees or the Sierra, will un-
hesitatingly face the wolf or even the
bear, with a kingly readiness to sacri-
fee himself In defense of his other
| wise defenseless subjects.