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Transcriber’s note:
Text in italics is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.
“THE ONE” DOG AND “THE OTHERS”
[Illustration: BANDY]
“THE ONE” DOG
AND
“THE OTHERS”
A Study of Canine Character
by
FRANCES SLAUGHTER
[Illustration]
Illustrations by Augusta Guest and G. Vernon Stokes
and From Photographs
Longmans, Green, and Co.
39 Paternoster Row, London
New York, Bombay, and Calcutta
1907
Copyright, 1907, by
Longmans, Green, and Co.
All Rights Reserved
The University Press, Cambridge, U.S.A.
TO THE MEMORY
OF
“THE ONE”
A life so close to ours, and yet apart
By all the wide and unsailed seas of race,
But yet a faithful soul, a loving heart
Can send a voice o’er that unbounded space.
We knew thy wants, thy soft eyes told thy love,
Thy joys and sorrows were to us as dear
As though winged words were given thee from above,
Nor any human soul could be more dear.
No man more pure and single in his life,
Thou lov’dst one only and to her wast true.
Thy love was firm, thou seekedst naught that’s new,
Affection’s chain kept out the rule of strife.
So close thy little life twined round the heart,
That of our life thou art henceforth a part.
FOREWORD
“My dog is perfection in character and disposition, and in intelligence
he cannot be beaten.”
These words give the attitude of mind of the large body of dog lovers,
whether in England or America, or in whatever remote corner of the
earth they may be found. For is not every human convinced in the inner
recesses of his mind of the immense superiority of his own canine
favourite to all others of his race? Yet some there are who only
cherish this delusion in the sanctity of their unspoken thoughts,
while with the unfettered license of a fine freedom they look out on
the world of dogs with what appears, at least to themselves, to be
an unbiassed and independent judgment. Thus while in confidential
parley with ourselves we play with our unshaken faith in the gifts and
performances of our own special dog friend, we present a bold front of
open-minded justice when we are asked to listen to the deeds of other
dogs.
Such an attitude is all that I can hope for from those who read these
simple studies of dog life. The interest of the unvarnished anecdotes,
that have been collected at first hand, will be intensified by the
thought of the very superior cleverness of “The One” dog in similar
circumstances, as against “The Others,” whose gifts must always seem
quite painfully mediocre in comparison.
But to all our dog friends we have duties in proportion to the response
they make to the influences of mind and affection we bring to bear
on them. While we cherish “The One,” may we never forget that every
instinct of humanity demands from us a careful discrimination of the
rights of “The Others” in the battle of life.
CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION xiii
BOOK I--LIFE HISTORIES
THE CHILD OF THE HOUSE 3
THE DIPLOMATIST 32
THE PROFESSOR 44
THE SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 69
THE ARTISTIC THIEF 87