animals, because of the great
number of words which amplify and shade his meanings. But by a single
word of human speech we can express many shades of meaning simply by
modulation; but having at our command so many words to qualify our
meaning, we lose sight of the value and power of intonation. The
difficulty of discerning the delicate shades of meaning imparted by
intonation, depends upon the mode of thought, and the simpler this is
the keener the power to interpret inflections. One very important fact
is that a dog only learns to interpret one sound on one subject at any
one time. He cannot put together in his mind a great number of sounds,
nor interpret complex ideas in detail. I know a dog in Charleston, South
Carolina, that would fly into a rage and bark fiercely if you say,
"Chad, where is that big black dog that whipped you so badly?" But
repeated experiments proved to my mind that the dog did not interpret
any part of the sentence except the words "black dog," and even this
seemed to depend chiefly upon the sound "black," and by saying this
sound you would get the same results as to use the entire sentence. He
had been whipped by a dog of this description, and had been so often
reminded of it that he had associated the sound with the incident.

I know a little dog in New York that understands the same sound in a
similar way and for similar reasons. She also recognises the name of the
lady who owns the black dog. A family, with whom I am on close terms of
friendship, owns an ugly little mongrel, to which two of the daughters
are very devoted. They have reared her with great care, and lavished
upon her many luxuries, far better than most human beings enjoy. The
young ladies declared to me that Eunice (which is the dog's name) could
understand every word they said on any subject that she had been
accustomed to hear.

Mattie would say to her, "Eunice, go tell Miss Kate to get on her hat
and let us go take a walk." The little dog would run to Miss Kate's room
and bark and jump until the young lady would comply. I found that the
dog associated the sounds "hat" and "walk" with the act of taking a
stroll in the company of the young ladies; but she would act just the
same when either one of these words were said to her as she would if one
were to repeat a whole canto of Milton; and I think the young ladies
have never quite forgiven me for trying to prove to them that Eunice was
not a fine English scholar.

I find, by