18 DECEMBER 1886, Page 25

Our Pets and Companions. By Mary Kemble Martin. (Religious Tract

Society.)—Interesting anecdotes, illustrated by spirited pic- tures (the frontispiece, with its variety of dogs, is noticeably good— the Newfoundland possibly excepted), make up a pleasant book. And the object of the writer would go far to excuse defects, if excuse were needed. "Kindness to animals" is the lesson that she would inculcate. And one effective way of doing this is to interest the young in the very large subject of the "intelligence and morality" of the lower orders. "The more I see of men, the more I love dogs," said a somewhat gloomy sage. But we may love animals without being cynical.