in what had to be done, however
trying the case might be. To show anger, to give an extra stroke when the
stick was up, to be hasty for an instant, would be to fail ignominiously,
to the mutual unhappiness of both.

The whole enterprise was thus obviously full of pitfalls. Yet faith
declared this way: by kindness, sympathy, and self-control the end might
be attained, confidence won back, the young life put into touch with
happiness again.

As the further aspect of the question was considered, it looked rather as
if, while the man was trying to train the dog, the dog might equally be
all the time training the man. Here was one none too strong, whose
nervous organisation had been shattered, and whose confidence had been
wholly undermined. To win back what had been lost would be difficult
enough in the case of a man; how would it be in the case of a dog? Oddly
enough, too, the conditions of life of neither party here were of the
normal kind--in one case never could be so. Yet here were these two, and
by the merest chance, placed in juxtaposition. A strange link was forging
itself apparently, quite unknown to both, and coupling the one firmly to
the other, though neither was aware of it.

It was not until some time had passed that the position took a more
definite form, and the question repeated itself--what if sympathy grew up
and blossomed into something fair, with love and mutual confidence as its
accompaniments? Such might result, perhaps. The thought added interest to
the problem as it floated through the mind and was lost again.

There was nothing uncommon in the possible situation; it had occurred
again and again. History furnished innumerable instances. Folklore, with
its roots in truth, told endless stories of similar complexion. The Dog
and the Man; the interdependence of both: living things of like
passions--sharers of like passions; fellow-helpers, the advancement of
the one having kept pace with that of the other, right up from the days
when, in prehistoric times and the Neolithic age, as is shown by the
bones that are found, the dog shared the home of the man and partook of
his food--right up from the days when the Egyptians, though they dubbed
him unclean, worshipped this animal, and, because of his fidelity and
courage, gave him a place as one among three who were to share with them
the joys of Paradise.

The same story is to be traced through all the ages. Even Ulysses could
shed a tear for Argus, hid