upon a time in tracking fugitive slaves. His dimensions
were beyond all my previous conceptions of the canine race. He impressed
me rather as an institution than an animal. And as he stood across my
path in a statuesque repose, with his red tongue and massive jaws, and a
slumbering fire in his eye, I conceived a new idea and even admiration
of "brute force."

The intelligence of the dog has also been developed, notwithstanding the
smallness of his brain and his natural inferiority in this respect to
many other animals, until he has almost rivalled the feats of the
learned pig and the industrious fleas. His moral character must be
admitted to have shown itself capable of great development, despite the
recent effort of writers like Mr. Robert Louis Stevenson to prove that
he develops chiefly the worst and meanest traits of human nature. His
capacity for hero-worship and his patience under ill usage from the one
who has mastered him are conspicuous. He has a sublime indifference to
that master's moral character, however, being as subservient to Bill
Sykes or Daniel Quilp as to Leatherstocking or Dr. John Brown himself.
This fidelity to me does not imply that he may not be highly
treacherous to others, just as his protective value to me is in
proportion to his savage and perilous possibilities to the not-me.
Therefore I ought not to insist that my lovers must love my dog also. I
should rather estimate their steadfast affection for me all the more on
his account.

It is argued by the dog-haters that we must not judge the whole vast and
varied race of _Canidae_ from a few exceptional individuals and
highly-cultivated breeds. But it may be retorted that neither are all
men Shakespeares and St. Augustines. The credit is so much the greater
to those of the species which have overcome the disadvantages of a low
and repulsive origin. None the less, however, will a strict veracity of
mind and speech be careful not to generalize too sweepingly from a few
particulars, and also not to make too indiscriminate and imperious a
demand upon other people's enthusiasm. Especially will it be unwise for
the friends of the dog to persist in their attempt to exalt him by
depreciating man, inasmuch as man is the party to be won over to their
way of thinking. Man has, unfortunately, been endowed by his Creator
with a notion of his superiority even to the hound and the terrier, and
naturally winces at the comparison, and is in danger of being thro