Darwin’s extreme love for all domestic animals I have already indicated negatively in dealing with his dislike of cruelty and ill-treatment, but the love was always positive and showed itself in constant interest and attention and care. One instance of much regretted sin in this regard is amusingly recorded in the Autobiographical Sketch: ‘Once as a very little boy whilst at the day school, or before that time, I acted cruelly, for I beat a puppy, I believe, simply from enjoying the sense of power; but the beating could not have been severe, for the puppy did not howl, of which I feel sure, as the spot was near the house. This act lay heavily on my conscience, as is shown by my remembering the exact spot where the crime was committed.’[107] But the crime was not repeated in later life. Even to the pigeons, which he raised for purposes of scientific investigation Darwin became greatly attached: ‘I love them to that extent,’ he says, ‘that I cannot bear to kill and skeletonize them.’[108] His dogs were matter of interest and delight and intense affection to him always. And dogs of all kinds seemed to be drawn to him. As a young man his sister’s pets would follow him instead of her, and with the dog of a friend at Cambridge it was the same. Dogs were not only the subject of his minute observations for the study of expression, they were his companions in his daily walks and his intimate friends. For all the members of his family Darwin’s affection was deep, solid, and lasting. The tenderness with which he regarded his father’s memory is, it seems to me, somewhat unusual: ‘I do not think any one could love a father much more than I did mine, and I do not believe three or four days ever pass without my still thinking of him.’[109] The tenderness shows especially in the long sketch of his father’s character, which is far less qualified with critical comments than one would expect from Darwin’s naturally analytical disposition, and always where his affection was concerned the analysis seemed to drop somewhat into abeyance. His references to his brothers and sisters also show in simple earnestness how much they meant in his life. [Illustration: EMMA DARWIN AT THIRTY-ONE]