“The charming relations I have had with a long succession of dogs results from their happy spontaneity. Usually they are quick to discover that I can not see or hear. Considerately they rise as I come near, so that I may not stumble. It is not training but love which impels them to break the silence about me with the thud of a tail rippling against my chair, or gambols round the study, or news conveyed by expressive ear, nose, and paw. Often I yearn to give them speech, their motions are so eloquent with things they can not say. Truly, as companions, friends, equals in opportunities of self-expression, they unfold to me the dignity of creation, and in their joy smiles the blessing of St. Francis.”
– Helen Keller in A Tribute to a Dog
Helen Keller with Phiz (a Boston Terrier). Photo courtesy of Perkins School for the Blind
