Perhaps what you call conventionality, I call decency.

The Devil's out of fashion.

Prayer's a very tricky business.

...surely I could give him--a sort of contentment... That isn't enough to give. Not for the giver.

Everything in the least connected with him has value for me; if someone even mentions his name it is like a little present to me-and I long to mention it myself

I write this sitting in the kitchen sink.

Many dogs can understand almost every word humans say, while humans seldom learn to recognize more than half a dozen barks, if that. And barks are only a small part of the dog language. A wagging tail can mean so many things. Humans know that it means a dog is pleased, but not what a dog is saying about his pleasedness.