A Deserted Dog
The most lusty dog of my acquaintance is of the Heinz variety, and is endowed with the intelligence that belongs to many mongrels. He is not a perfect character ; and is cer- tainly neither Pacifist nor Puritan ; but he has the virtue of devotion to his master. Though the devotion is returned in some measure, the master had the hardness of heart thiS spring to go to Italy on holiday and leave the dog behind. After a week or more of searching in the house and garden, which are on the edge of a western town, he set forth into the country, and arrived in a state of exhaustion at his master's farm, which is fifteen miles away. He had been taken there often enough, but always in a motor-chr ; and the roads are intricate. The adventure is taken as evidence both of devotion and intelligence ; and who will deny the claim ? It is not of course known whether the dog found his way by a direct route to the farm or set out in a general search and came across the familiar place. His master believes that dogs learn their way by smell, that when they sniff at the window of a car they are learning the consecution of smells belonging to this place and that. It is an ingenious idea.
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