Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Science -- Periodicals
It is argued by the dog-haters that we must not judge the whole vast and
varied race of _Canidæ_ from a few exceptional individuals and
highly-cultivated breeds. But it may be retorted that neither are all
men Shakespeares and St. Augustines. The credit is so much the greater
to those of the species which have overcome the disadvantages of a low
and repulsive origin. None the less, however, will a strict veracity of
mind and speech be careful not to generalize too sweepingly from a few
particulars, and also not to make too indiscriminate and imperious a
demand upon other people's enthusiasm. Especially will it be unwise for
the friends of the dog to persist in their attempt to exalt him by
depreciating man, inasmuch as man is the party to be won over to their
way of thinking. Man has, unfortunately, been endowed by his Creator
with a notion of his superiority even to the hound and the terrier, and
naturally winces at the comparison, and is in danger of being thrown to
the other extreme. I myself am able to present these considerations thus
dispassionately as a friend of humanity rather than a foe to caninity;
but all are not favored with a judicial spirit.
I suspect, in fact, that this inclining of our race to these brute
servitors is largely due to the same cause which promotes the love of
"horse-flesh." Man must assert his dominion over the brutes. He wants
some tangible evidence, always beside him and running at his heels, of
his superiority to something. It is a great upholder of his
self-respect. It is so consoling, amid our conscious defeats and
snubbings by a proud and unmanageable world, to have at hand a
fellow-creature, strong enough to tear us in pieces, who will grovel at
our feet, and quail before our eye, and let us laugh at him while he
makes a fool of himself at our bidding. Even the most successful and
superior men find herein a grateful outlet for their surplus
masterfulness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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