Page:My last friend, dog Dick (IA mylastfrienddogd00deam).pdf/40

32 And thus De Amicis gathers up his observations with the utmost regard for the truth.

De Amicis makes these points: the dog's quick understanding, ready response, manifestations of intelligence, mental penetration, tenderness, powers of acting a part, pretending to be innocent, varied expressions of the eyes such as a curiosity, reproach, ardent demand of rights, his sense of right. Dick suspects "waggery concealed in a menace," and sees "treachery in a earess," detects "ostentatious sweetness." How clever of Dog Dick!

Such are the points selected by De Amicis as signs that the dog has reason.

"A dog has no reason, and so you can not convince him." This is the scientific way of looking at it. "It is the reason that is convinced." Reason demands sufficient grounds for being convinced. We know a fact when we believe it to be true on sufficient grounds. De Amicis with exceeding truthfulness believes only what he knows to be true on sufficient grounds and so he observes every detail, and stores it away. He seems to believe in evolution backwards, you might say: "Words that can not come forth," "the aggravation of