The Adventures of a Dog, and a Good Dog Too | Page 2

delicacies of her language. I think
myself a tolerable linguist, yet have too great a respect for puss to say
that any fault is attributable to her.
The same feeling has, naturally, made me careful in rendering those
portions which were exclusively her own. I have preferred letting her
say little to allowing her to express anything she did not intend. Her
notes, which, doubtless, drew many a purr of approval from her own
breast, and many a wag of approbation from the tails of her choice
acquaintance, I have preferred leaving out altogether; and I have so
curtailed the labours of her paw, and the workings of her brain, as to
condense into half-a-dozen pages her little volume of introduction. The
autobiography itself, most luckily, required no alteration. It is the work
of a simple mind, detailing the events of a simple but not uneventful
life. Whether I have succeeded in conveying to my readers' intelligence
the impression which this Dog's Adventures made on mine, they alone
can decide.

A. E.
LYNDHURST ROAD, PECKHAM.

INTRODUCTION.
BY MISS MINETTE GATTINA.
It may seem peculiar to any but an inhabitant of this renowned city of
Caneville, that one of our nation should venture on the task of bringing
to the notice of the world the memoir I have undertaken to edit. But,
besides that in this favoured place animals of all kinds learn to dwell in
tolerable harmony together, the subject of this biography had so
endeared himself to all classes and to every tribe by his kindness of
heart, noble devotion, and other dog-like qualities, that there was not a
cat, in spite of the supposed natural antipathy existing between the
great feline and canine races, who would not have set up her back and
fought to the last gasp in defence of this dear old fellow.
Many a time has he saved me from the rough treatment of rude and
ill-conducted curs, when I have been returning from a concert, or
tripping quietly home after a pleasant chat with a friend. Often and
often, when a kitten, has he carried me on his back through the streets,
in order that I might not wet my velvet slippers on a rainy day: and
once, ah! well do I remember it, he did me even greater service; for a
wicked Tom of our race, who had often annoyed me with his attentions,
had actually formed a plan of carrying me off to some foreign land, and
would have succeeded too, if dear Doggy had not got scent of the affair,
and pounced on that treacherous Tom just as he was on the point of
executing his odious project.
I can speak of these things now without the slightest fear of being
accused of vanity. If I say my eyes were beautifully round and green,
they are so no longer. If I boast of the former lightness of my step, it
drags, alas! but too heavily now. If I dwell on the sweetness of my
voice and melody of my purr at one period, little can be said in their

favour at the present day, and I feel therefore less scruple in dilating on
the elegance of my figure, and the taste of my toilette, as, when
speaking of them, I seem to be referring to another individual Puss,
with whom the actual snuffy old Tabby has little or no connection.
But, it will be said, these last matters have not much to do with the
object I have in hand. I must not attempt to palm off on my readers any
adventures of my own under the shadow of a dog. I must rather allow
my Cat's-paw to perform the office for which it has become noted,
namely, that of aiding in the recovery of what its owner is not intended
to participate. I must endeavour to place before the world of Caneville,
to be thence transmitted to the less civilized portions of the globe, those
incidents in our Dog's life which he has been too modest to relate
himself, in order that after-generations may fully appreciate all the
goodness of his character. To greatness, he had no pretension, although
few animals are aware how close is the relation between these two
qualities.
I think I see the dear old Dog now, as it has been often my privilege to
behold him, seated in his large arm-chair, his hair quite silvered with
age, shading his thoughtful, yet kindly face, his pipe in his paw, his
faithful old friend by his side, and surrounded by a group of attentive
listeners of both sexes, who seemed to hang upon every word of
wisdom as it dropped from his mouth; all these spring to my mind
when I recal his image, and if I were