MODERN TRAINING. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE SETTER AND POINTER. 



The setter and pointer, so far as they have a history, have 

 always held a high place in the appreciation of mankind ; 

 but the general elevation of the dog to the high grade and 

 full appreciation to which his intelligence and worth entitle 

 him may be said to have occurred in this country within 

 the last two decades. 



It is within the memory of comparatively young men, 

 particularly in the East, when to take a dog and gun afield 

 was considered as being an uncanny act for any one who 

 had gentlemanly pretensions, and if the act was repeated a 

 few times a lowering of social and financial standing ensued. 

 Appreciation of the dog and gun was considered as being a 

 depraved taste, which, in some vague manner, led to whole 

 groups of depravities, and the man whose passion for sport 

 afield with the dog and gun was great, and whose respect 

 for social opinion was greater, hied covertly to the fields by 

 early dawn, or unfrequented by-ways, much after the same 

 manner as the wicked hunter does at present on sacred days. 

 To neglect business was an unpardonable sin, life being an 



21 



