TWO BOOKS ABOUT DOGS.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2007, 14 March 1914, Page 9

TWO BOOKS ABOUT DOGS.

It was a happy thought of tho author of that clever and pathetic little story, "Where's Master?''to compile an anthology of proso and poetic references to. dogs by writers of distinction both past and present.. 'Lam not awaro whether this has been done before, but it could not surely havo been better done than in tho handsome volume entitled "My Dog Friends," recently published by Hodder and Stoughton (Wellington, S. and W. Mackay and Whitcombe and Tombs). The book is divided into sections, headed successively, "Dogs .in General," "Dogs'in Particular," "The Intelligence of Dogs," "Tho Companion, ship of Dogs," -"The Faithfulness of Dogs," "The Humorist Among the Dogs," "Dog-Characters and Characteristics," "Love Me, Love My Dog." and, finally, "Tho Loss of a Dog." The rango of the extracts is very wide, quota-', tions having been made from the works of authors so far apart in point of period and the character of their work .'as Shakespeare, Gervaso Markham, Sam. Pepys, Swift, Gay, Lamb, Landor,' and Wordsworth, Scott, Charles Kingsley, Dr. John Brown, Edward Jesse,_Sanwel Rogers, Burns, Dickens, and the Carlylos, down to such moderns as Ouida, Barrio, Hichens, "Lucas Malet," R. C. Lehman, and Jack London. All the old favourites are here, together with many tributes to canine intelligence, faithfulness, and fascination, which will bo new to many read6rs. As exemplificative of the. scheme of the book, I may refer to the contents of the section headed "Dog Characters and Characteristics." We commence with an extract from Alfred Ollivant's charming story, "Owd Bob".(procurable nowadays, so 1 see, in a, soveiipenny edition, and well worth, to-a dog lover,'seven shillings!), and pas's on to Scott's famous description of that gallant wolf-dog Bovis, which figures in "Woodstock." Next comes Pope's version of Homer's portrait of Argus, the 'Dog'of ■ Ulysses; and Captaiii Marryatt's portrait of that unamiable cur, Snarlcyoiv, the special pet of that extraordinary individual,. Mr. Vanslyporkon. .Theii how good_ it'is to renew one's , acquaintance with Dr. Broivu's famous Kali : —"as mighty in his own line as Julius- Caesar or the Duko' of Wellington; ho had tho gravity of all great fighters"—and with that old friend of so many British lads, R. M. Ballantyne's "Dog Crusoe." An extract from Jesse, who wrote so much and so well on dogs—do you remember his famous description of King Charles and his spaniels?—and wo chuckle over Diekens's portrait of Mr. Toots's present to Florence Dombey, the ugly but delightful Diogenes: Another extract from "Rab and His Friends" (this time a description of that comical' tyko, Toby), another d?g portrait from Scott (the staghound lloswal in "The Talisman"), and we are introduced to that "infatuated little boast, Nero," Mrs. Carlyle's dog, who, sho - tells us, when the dyspeptic philosopher'"comes down weary in tho morning;, or conies in wearied,from his walk ... . dances round him on his hind legs, as 1 ought, to do and can't, and he feels Hattered

a'nd surprised by such unwonted capers to his honour and glory." An extract from Alexander'Dumas's "Histoiro do Mes Betes," a book which displays tho author of "Tho Three, Musketeers" in a very amiable and charming light, is followed by quotations from William Kamiltoji and Walter Savage Laiidor, and the section closes with tho tribute of an old writer, Thomas Blackcock, to "A well-bred "Brute," which is so brief as to fairly demand q\iotation here I I never bnrk'd when out of season; I never bit without a reason; I ne'er insulted weaker, brother; Aor wrong-'d by force nor fraud another. Though brutes are plac'd a rank below, Happy for man could he say so! The compiler is responsible for a short, well-written preface, which ho says "only those who have loved and lost a dog will understand," and Miss Maud Earl, the famous English painter of dogs, contributes a number of illustrations, reproduced in colour, from her paintings. Beautifully printed and very attractively bound, "My Dog Friends" is an ideal gift book for any lover of man's best and most faithful friend amongst animals. Mr. Stephen Townsend, author of that delightfully humorous story "Dr. Tuppy," has written a very original and quite fascinating study of dog-life, entitled "A ■ Thoroughbred Mongrel" (Hodder.and Stoughton; per Whitcombe and'Toinbs). Mr. Townsend calls his story "Tho Talo'of a Dog, Told by a Dog, to Lovers of. Dogs," and although imagination plays no small part in the narrative, the author makes it clear in his preface that much that is in his book has been based upon a close study of live originals. Hett, the imaginary dog narrator, is a tiny Black Skye, bought, says the author, ''from the Lost Dogs' Tome at Batteroea some ten years ago." . "Her master, being a dog-lover, had gone to seo the place. Among the scores of restless, leaping, barking howling creatures, he observed a Black Skye, who, ill the midst of the pandemonium of din, stood silently upon her hind legs, placing her forepaws upon tho railing of the cage, and gazing at him with pained decorum. She was rather suggestive of a refined widow lady, who, having-lost her way, found herself in-, volved in a howling mob in the city. She made no plaints, merely appealed to him in silence, as to a gentleman who would comprehend the painfulness of a position so annoying, and relieve her «rom its embarrassment, as a mere matter of courtesy. He purchased her at onco took herhome to liis chambers in the Temple, and from that hour they have been two souls with but a. single thought, two hearts that boat as one." Hett's' story of her own life and that of her friends is vastly amusing. There is an episode in which a hopeless cur from the East End is palmed off as a rare Mexican—"a genuine dhihuahua," which is quite riotously funny. But there is much shrewd delineation of human as well as canine character in the story, and those who, like the author—and "Liber"—hold vivisection in loathing and abhorrence, will find in one chapter a singularly dramatic and telling incident. Had.l space to spare, I would quote '.. this chapter, which '.is headed "A' Nightmare," in' full. But' no, on .sec- ; ond thoughts, I would do nothing .of tho kind, for it is positively too painful, too dreadful, to be read away from j .its context. The incident, so the author informs us, is based upon a scene witnessed by him in tho physiological class of Edinburgh University in 1882. With- this exception, this chapter in which a note of tragedy is struck so powerfully, so unsparingly, light comedy pervades the pages of Mr.- Townsend's book, and those who have read "Dr.' Tuppy"- need : no: reminder from mk aHo thd''atithbr , s : aKilty as.a'ini'rthprovoker. - "A Thoroughbred Mon'Krcl"'"does credit 'alike to the author's heart and pen. No one who loves dogs, should" miss this excellent story.'"Mr. J: A.' , Shepherd cbntribjiites a ■ ■ number of .well-drawn'• illustrations.- The present is the eighth edition of the story. (New Zealand pricp 35.). ,