26 JUNE 1909, Page 33

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."]

SIR,—The correspondence you publish on the reasoning powers of animals prompts me to write to you of the fine saying many years ago of a man in Colyton, Devonshire. He had a breed of mastiffs, and was greatly attached to all his dogs. One of them died. He was much distressed. A few days later a friend met him, and finding Min still very despondent, said:—" Why do you go on grieving? After all; it was only a dog." The old man replied :—" Only a dog! Do you know that it has pleased the Almighty to endow the dog with two of His own most divine attributes,—unchanging constancy and unpurchasable love."—I am, Sir, &c.,

JAS. RALPH. 101 Hill Lane, Southampton.