HE WAS GENTLE TO THE BABY.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XI, Issue 38, 23 September 1893, Page 239

HE WAS GENTLE TO THE BABY.

When travelling in the north of Sweden I bought a beautiful dog. When first I became bis master he was savage, and the difficulties I had in bringing him home would fill a volume. After being domiciled some time in my country place his temper became more civilized, but he was still very cross to strangers and even I could not take liberties with him.

He had the langeof the house and his favourite place was in my wife’s boudoir. My last child was then hardly out of babyhood in the semi-crawling, toddling stage. She was always brought down to the boudoir every evening. One evening the dog was, as usual, on the rug in front of the fire, the child being in another part of the room. A sudden cry from my wife made me look up and I saw to my horror the child had crawled up to the dog. One glance showed me that there was no time to interfere, as by doing so the dog might bite. By this time the baby had got up to the dog she was pulling his ears and had one of her little arms right in his mouth. All the dog did was to lick the little one’s face and permit her to tug away at her pleasure. Almost the first word that child learned was the name of the dog, which was Flink. From that day the dog was a constant visitor to the nursery, and never let the children go out without his escort, anil it is needless to say that no stranger was permitted to come near them. Though Flink liked the other children, he was always devoted especially to the baby.