"
"Tattine," said Grandma Luty, with her dear, kindly smile "your Mother has
told me how disappointed you have been this summer in Betsy and Doctor and
little Black-and-white, and that now Barney has fallen into disgrace, since he
kept you so long in the ford the other day, but I want to tell you something.
You must not stop loving them at all because they do what you call cruel
things. You have heard the old rhyme:--
"Let dogs delight to bark and bite,
For God has made them so:
Let bears and lions growl and fight,
For 'tis their nature to."
"Oh, yes, I know that," said Tattine, "and I don't think it's all qu?te true;
our dogs don't bite (I suppose it means biting people), bad as they are."
"No; I've always thought myself that line was not quite fair to the dogs
either, but the verses mean that we mustn't blame animals for doing things
that it is their nature to do."
"And yet, Grandma, I am not allowed to do naughty things because it is my
nature to."
"Ah, but, Tattine, there lies the beautiful difference. You can be reasoned
with, and made to understand things, so that you can change your nature--I
mean the part of you that makes you sometimes love to do naughty things.
"There's another part of your nature that is dear and good …nd sweet, and
doesn't need to be changed at all.
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