When the claims of all the varied species of such pets are fairly
considered, there will appear no reason for displacing the dog from
his supremacy as the only creature who will of his own free will leave
his own kindred for the sake of man. For the credit of humanity
it is pleasant to believe that man has not been wholly ungrateful to
him, and that it is not only the poor Indian who can feel affection
for the faithful companion of his fortunes. The dog never forsakes
his master because of any change of worldly circumstances or a re-
duced scale of living. In the homes, or too often the no-homes, of
the very poor, the dog is one of the inseparable family and accom-
panies them when they seek brighter fortunes in the far West. How-
ever scanty may be the stock of food, the faithful creature has his
. necessary share. In many Southern States, as Virginia and North
Carolina, one may often see two or three big dogs belonging to one
poor family and counted as so many " hands " in the domestic pro-
gramme. When the human family migrates the dogs go with it,
and should accident or death befall a dog the family, especially the
children, are filled with inconsolable grief. The vacant kennel is
sometimes as much an emblem of bereavement and sorrow as the
vacant chair.
But all the kindness we human beings have ever shown to dogs
does not equal their benevolent services to us. Rightly have they
been deemed worthy of the greatest friendship by the greatest minds.
Sir Isaac Newton might not so calmly have forgiven the destruction
of his manuscript had it been done by a careless human domestic.
But the playful spaniel had small respect for the binomial theorem.
Education, of which dogs, as the ancient Athenians well knew, are
PETS IN THE HOUSEHOLD. 343
peculiarly susceptible, soon teaches a dog of gentle breeding never
to lay paws or apply teeth to matter which he does not know to be
valueless, — like a flunky's leg. And even if they sometimes err
through inadvertence and injure furniture or books, these are foibles
to be lost sight of in their grander virtues. When thieves are trying
to break through and steal, who so vigilant as the faithful watch-dog?
When sickness is in the household, who notes the doctor's visits and
long face more anxiously than the silent, thoughtful, sorrowing dog ?
When the kind voice of the master or mistress, or the little play-
fellow of the nursery, calls to him so cheerily no more, who sickens
and dies out of the truth and depth of his affection for us except the
faithful dog? Very touching is the not unfrequent sight of the dog
refusing to be comforted and visiting — to return no more to the home
now desolate to him — the new-made grave of his master. Often
in their death they are not divided.
Page 224
Presented as published in 1883. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
When the claims of all the varied species of such pets are fairly considered, there will appear no reason for displacing the dog from his supremacy as the only creature who will of his own free will leave his own kindred for the sake of man. For the credit of humanity it is pleasant to believe that man has not been wholly ungrateful to him, and that it is not only the poor Indian who can feel affection for the faithful companion of his fortunes. The dog never forsakes his master because of any change of worldly circumstances or a reduced scale of living. In the homes, or too often the no-homes, of the very poor, the dog is one of the inseparable family and accompanies them when they seek brighter fortunes in the far West. However scanty may be the stock of food, the faithful creature has his . necessary share. In many Southern States, as Virginia and North Carolina, one may often see two or three big dogs belonging to one poor family and counted as so many " hands " in the domestic programme. When the human family migrates the dogs go with it, and should accident or death befall a dog the family, especially the children, are filled with inconsolable grief. The vacant kennel is sometimes as much an emblem of bereavement and sorrow as the vacant chair.
But all the kindness we human beings have ever shown to dogs does not equal their benevolent services to us. Rightly have they been deemed worthy of the greatest friendship by the greatest minds. Sir Isaac Newton might not so calmly have forgiven the destruction of his manuscript had it been done by a careless human domestic. But the playful spaniel had small respect for the binomial theorem. Education, of which dogs, as the ancient Athenians well knew, are
peculiarly susceptible, soon teaches a dog of gentle breeding never to lay paws or apply teeth to matter which he does not know to be valueless, — like a flunky's leg. And even if they sometimes err through inadvertence and injure furniture or books, these are foibles to be lost sight of in their grander virtues. When thieves are trying to break through and steal, who so vigilant as the faithful watch-dog? When sickness is in the household, who notes the doctor's visits and long face more anxiously than the silent, thoughtful, sorrowing dog ? When the kind voice of the master or mistress, or the little playfellow of the nursery, calls to him so cheerily no more, who sickens and dies out of the truth and depth of his affection for us except the faithful dog? Very touching is the not unfrequent sight of the dog refusing to be comforted and visiting — to return no more to the home now desolate to him — the new-made grave of his master. Often in their death they are not divided.