A DOG CEMETERY.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LX, Issue LX, 1 November 1910, Page 3

A DOG CEMETERY.

The Frencn woman is probably unique in the worship of her pets — particularly her dog. While the Englishwoman prizes her pet according to its pedigree, the fair Parisienne will love even a mongrel, and more, when death overtakes it she will give it a grave in the dog's cemetery, erect a tombstone with loving inscriptions and bring flowers at every opportunity. Hardhearted persons would say she does this, or part of it, because the laws of France do not offer facilities for the disposal of departed pets. Cellars as graveyards are forbidden, and suspicious persons with parcels making for the Seine are quickly arrested. Mos^ people have a horror of entrusting their departed pets to the dustman, so the cemetery supplies a long-felt want. There, for fifteen francs a grave can be leased for three years, and a thirty years' lease may be considered cheap at a hundred. Years ago the resting-place of departed Fidos was deservedly called "Lisle dcs Rava> geurs," but now, as "L'isle>des Chiens," it is, says the Chronicle, "a smiling gan|e-n." Where! once disreputable characters lived wild life, hundreds of little plots covered with gay flowers, exemplify the words of Pascal : "Plue je vois les hommes, plus j'aime mon chien." Religious emblems and anything resembling a human grave are strictly forbidden, but there are many monuments, some ornate and expensive, but verj few artistic. Parisian sculptors unfortunately appear to have very vague ideas on the canine species, and the majprity of animals have to be taken on trust. "Ma bien aiinee Lulu" has an imposing stone erected to her memory, yet judging fTom a photograph displayed inside Lulu was merely a fat and rather stupid-looking pug. Rather surprising is the number of English names. There are at least nine "Misses," several "Bobs," as well as "Derby Day" and "My Pet." In a far-away corner thore is a "quartier dcs chats," though the cats are not accorded such striking monuments, the majority having a china effigy placed on their tiny ."plots."

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