"THE SOULLESS BRUTE"
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—The other day on the Avenue Louise in Brussels I witnessed an incident which raised my opinion of canine nature, already high, to a point very considerably higher yet, nor have I ever heard or read of such an incident as I then saw.
This is one of the most dangerous of the many dangerous places in Brussels from high-speeding motor cars ; but the most dangerous part of all on the Avenue is the Rond Point, for the double reason that the cars here are unseen until, swinging round the curve, they are within a few paces of one, and, also, that it is not guarded by the police, as more central places are, for it is seldom frequented by many persons at the same time.
Two dogs were playing in the roadway of this perilous spot, when a car driven by a woman dashed round the curve at full speed, passed over one of the dogs as cleanly as you cut the folder of an envelope with a paperknife, and in a minute later was lost to sight again, the driver, however, having seen the accident she had caused, sped away to avoid the consequences.
The agony of the poor animal was terrible but of short duration. In three minutes it was dead. However, it is not of the victim but of the other dog that I wish to speak.
'I he distress of this latter I have never seen exceeded by any human being. As he realized what had happened to his friend, not only tears but tears of blood literally poured down from his eyes, while he strenuously resisted every attempt of the crowd, which instantly gathered on the spot, to drive him away from his dead companion. A gentleman, moved to admiration and as the dog had evidently lost his master, offered the policeman, who had come up meanwhile, to take the dog home with him ; but it proved impossible to drag him away from the corpse, and it was found necessary to call a cab and put the dead dog inside it before the living one could be induced to get into the vehicle, when the party drove away amid the loud cheers of the crowd.—! am, Sir, &c., A. H. COOPER-PRITCHARD, A.M., Litt.B.,
Member of the S.P.C.A., Rome.
Clo Lloyds & National Provincial Foreign Bank, Brussels, Belgium.
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