y. Great trees
all about it; and the wide stretches of a park, where rabbits played in
the long evenings, extending from it on all sides. A holly hedge and
ha-ha prevented trespass; but those invited there found in this quiet
sun-trap many headstones, bearing names and dates and epitaphs. Close by,
a path, along which members of the family went often to and fro, led to
yet another quiet corner, where a well-known spire showed above the
trees. From this last there sounded at intervals the music of bells,
chiming, or ringing solemnly, and beneath its shadow slept other folk,
who had once walked the world with these same dogs of many generations,
earning epitaphs no better, if as good, as they. To lie in either, seeing
what falls to some, might well be thought a stroke of luck for dog or
man.

It was not always so for dogs, here or elsewhere, whatever it may have
been for men. Within the recollection of all past middle age, dogs were
kept tied to kennels by heavy chains, seldom allowed in house, fed at
uncertain hours, and taken out at hours still more uncertain--if at all.
Left often to howl time away by day, and to bark themselves to sleep at
night. And when all was over, life having been often shortened by
disease, there came along the man with the spade, detailed for the job,
to fulfil the last of offices, and put in some handy resting-place the
dog that had had his day.

We have come out of all that now, and rather plume ourselves upon the
fact. We have altered our opinions respecting the proper place and
surroundings of our dogs here; and many of us are not ashamed to confess
that we hold opinions staunchly regarding their place and surroundings
hereafter. We also have our dog-doctors, our dogs' infirmaries, our homes
and charities, and, in the end, our dogs' secluded cemeteries. Such
things, in the case of dumb animals, point, we judge, to a higher grade
of civilisation, and to many other things besides.

Yet let us not forget the fact that others, in the past, have gone before
us, and far ahead of us, on this same track, of which we often speak with
so much unction. In ancient Egypt dogs had names, and these are found
inscribed in many places. They were the favourites of the home, and
constantly made much of. They wore collars, too, and often by no means
cheap ones; and just as they were everywhere admitted to the house, so,
all these ages ago, they were talked to, and also made to talk. Legends
were woven about