"What, a book telling you about the various kinds of dogs?"

Yes; with pretty stories about them. I can't tell you all that I should like you to write; but then you know such a number of stories that I am sure you could make a pretty book."

Well, Charley, I will try. You must be patient for a week or two, though. But what size would you like the book to be ?"

"Oh, just the size of my Christmas Tree!" with nice pictures of dogs and pretty poetry, that Aunt Minny could read to me and I could learn."

"Well, my little man, if you will promise to read it all through for yourself, I will write you a book about dogs. Can you promise ?"

"Yes, papa!" replies Charley, jumping up on his father's knee and covering his face with kisses.

And so from this I begin to think about dogs; and finding that my own knowledge of them is really not very extensive, I take down various books from my shelves, and read very industriously for three or four days, till I have acquired a much better acquaintance with the subject than I had before. Among the books thus read for the first time with a particular object in view, there is a little one, called "Estelle's Stories about Dogs," in which are anecdotes about the Spaniel, the Newfoundland, the Staghound, the Greyhound, and the Dog of St. Bernard. The stories I find to be

pretty, but the descriptions of the several animals, I fear, are rather vague and faulty. The book is, I imagine, of German origin, though in its present dress it is intended for the children of the United States. After some consideration, however, I determined to enlarge and improve the little volume, and have it illustrated with correct pictures of the various dogs introduced; so that what follows may, in fact, be considered an original book upon dogs, written in such simple language as children can understand. For descriptions of this interesting animal, I have found it necessary to consult Mr. Youatt's Treatise on the Dog, the best and most pleasing volume of the kind in the language; Jesse's "Gleanings," "Brookes' Natural History," Mr. Bell's "British Quadrupeds," the "Horse and the Hound," by Nimrod, "Buffon's Natural History," and several other less known works. From thinking and reading, the transition to writing is a very natural one with the wielders of the grey-goose-quill; and so here, my young readers, you have the result of all three processes. I hope you will find both profit and amusement from my labours.

CHAPTER I.

ABOUT DOGS IN GENERAL.

But the poor dog, in life the firmest friend,
The first to welcome, foremost to defend,
Whose honest heart is still his master's own,
Who labours, fights, lives, breathes for him alone.

BYRON.

HE DOG is the only animal that may be said to love its master for his own sake. In all civilized countries he is the friend, companion, and servant of mankind. Other animals submit to man, and perform the tasks he exacts from them; they eat from his hand and rest beneath his roof, but as soon as they have satisfied their hunger and recruited their strength

by repose, they appear to forget their benefactor. The dog, however, follows us to our home, enters into our sports and pleasures, and shows his love for us in a thousand sagacious and pleasing ways; his service is voluntary, and is performed without hope of reward. Other animals regard man as their natural enemy; but the dog seems to turn to him as if by a law of its nature, as his natural protector and friend. He is the most sagacious of brutes, and ranks next to man in intelligence and the power of thinking for himself. The elephant and the horse may be taught to perform various amusing tricks, and in a short time they learn to know the voices of their keepers; the monkey and the cat, and even the stolid sheep and the obstinate pig, have been instructed to perform various offices for their masters; many kinds of birds have been taught to speak, to come when they are called, and to display many wonderful signs of sagacity with correct obedience; but to the dog alone belongs that affectionate sympathy for those with whom it lives, that has, in all ages and countries, peculiarly distinguished it.

Nor is the affection which the dog bears to its master always the result of kind treatment and abundant food. He forgets the cruel blow in the first caress that follows it; he shares with equal devotedness in our abundance and in our poverty; he loves us while living, and mourns for us

of his master.

when dead-many instances being known of the faithful dog pining himself to death on the grave Sir Walter Scott beautifully describes an instance of the devotion of the dog to his dead master. A young man lost his life by falling from a precipice of Helvellyn, a high mountain in Cumberland, and was not heard of for three months. At last chance led some shepherds to the spot where his remains lay guarded by his faithful dog, now worn almost to a skeleton with grief and long watching :

"Dark green was the spot, 'mid the brown mountain heather,
Where the pilgrim of nature lay stretched in decay,
Like the corpse of an outcast abandoned to weather,
Till the mountain winds wasted the tenantless clay.
Not yet quite deserted, though lonely extended,
For, faithful in death, his mute favourite attended,
The much-loved remains of her master defended,
And chased the hill-fox and the raven away.

How long didst thou think that his silence was slumber? When the wind waved his garments how oft didst thou start?

How many long days and long weeks didst thou number, Ere he faded before thee, the friend of thy heart?"

The first animal mentioned in Scripture is the sheep; but probably the dog was soon also known to Abel, "the keeper of sheep." And, as the rearing of flocks and herds was nearly the whole business of men in the earlier ages of the world, it seems likely that the training of the dog, the natural guardian of the sheep, should speedily