Man has hitherto entertained the ridiculously unjustifiable idea that all the animal and insect world has been created solely for his benefit, to be killed or to be kept alive entirely at his discretion.  Such an absurd and presumptuous belief ought to be exploded once and for all.  The animal world, so all sane people must agree, was undoubtedly created to lead the same, free, untrammelled life as does man himself.  Man—­save in cunning—­is nothing superior either to the dog, horse, or other mammalia; indeed, he is not infrequently so inferior that one cannot help thinking that possibly the higher spiritual planes are not for him at all, but for those who—­misnamed the lower creation—­have surpassed man in spirituality.  Let those who doubt this study the superphysical all around them.  Let them carefully watch animals, and observe their propensities, their psychic faculties of scent, sight, and hearing.  They can easily test them in any house or locality which has a well-established reputation for being haunted.  They will then see how close a relationship there really is between the animal and superphysical worlds.  And if they want further proof,—­proof of a more material nature,—­let them search around for some spot stated to be haunted by a ghostly phenomenon in the form of a dog, horse, cat, or other animal,—­and investigate there themselves.

Such investigations have convinced me, and surely, by using these same methods with patience and perseverance, other people might also be convinced.  At all events, let them try.  For, a conviction like mine—­a conviction that an eternity exists for our canine pets and dumb friends—­is certainly worth a lot of striving after.  At least so I think.

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STRANGER THAN FICTION

Being Tales from the Byways of Ghost and Folk-lore

By MARY L. LEWES

Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 234 pp., 3s. 6d. net.

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SHADOWS CAST BEFORE

An Anthology of Prophecies and Presentiments

Collected and Edited by CLAUD FIELD

Author of “A Dictionary of Oriental Quotations,” “Tales of the Caliphs.”

Crown 8vo, xii + 223 pp., cloth gilt, 2s. 6d. net.