I sometimes go with the crowd to a lecture-room, and listen to the
speeches about freedom and liberty, the hatred of bondage, and all that
sort of thing. I get my tail up, and wish I could tell them what liberty
really is. There is nothing worse in the world than this running around
loose, with no one to look after you, and no one for you to look after;
no one to notice you when you wag your tail, and to have no occasion for
so doing. You go out and you come in, and nobody cares. If you never
come back, no one troubles himself about you.

Every day I hear men reading in the papers about some lucky dogs having
strayed, or having been stolen, a large reward being offered for their
recovery: and I envy each lost dog! I wonder who would advertise for me
if I got lost! Alas! no one. They would not give me a bone to bring me
back, or to keep me from drowning myself. But every boy in the street
thinks he has a right to throw stones at me; and tie tin-kettles to my
tail; and chase me when I have had the good luck to find a bone; and to
set big dogs upon me to worry me when I am faint from hunger and haven't
much pluck; and worse than all, chase me and cry "Ki-yi," when I am
almost dying of thirst!

If you only knew how hard it is for a poor dog to make his way in the
world, with no one to help him to a mouthful of food, you would feel
sorry for us.

But I think we might get along better if it wasn't for the scarcity of
water. I hardly know a spot in the city where I can get a drink; and
many a time I have gone all day without a drop.

If I happen to hang out my tongue and droop my tail, my ears are saluted