The problem of dependents is a chronic occupational hazard of families of the U. S. Foreign Service. In some countries superior educational facilities for children, excellent doctors, and good dentists can be found. In more countries all three necessities are in short supply—sometimes nonexistent. Then there is the psychological effect upon children of changes from one nation to another. Our son was in school in five foreign countries in seven years. Foreign Service children who psychologically survive their abnormal ways of life benefit from it in many ways, but they may also suffer in the process. So do household pets.

Consider, for example, our dog Thor, a Boxer of distinguished ancestry whom we acquired as a tiny puppy in Norway. His carefree early life gave him no inkling of what awaited him in his travels with us, but his experiences on our journey from our assignment in Oslo to a new one in Trieste appropriately launched him on a canine Foreign Service career. His ordeals by train, gondola, and Venetian pigeon were only one episode in the saga of a remarkable animal who was less able than we to understand sudden and often unpleasant changes in life-style. Being a dog, his love for his family transcended his bewilderment and discomforts, and he accepted both uncomplainingly. Perhaps, being a Norwegian by birth, he carried on in canine fashion the Peer Gynt tradition of wanderlust.