THE CHESAPEAKE BAY DOG. 365 



dog I have ever seen, he excels also in virtues not claimed 

 for him." 



" FERGUS FALLS, MINN., Sept. 23, 1885. 



" Dear Sir : I have been in the field every day since re- 

 ceiving the Chesapeake puppy. I received him at Crooks- 

 ton September 2d, took him immediately out of the box, 

 fed him, and while sitting on the express office steps with a 

 number of my friends, the puppy saw a piece of paper blow- 

 ing along the road, and, without a word, went and got it, 

 laid it down at my feet, and crawled up into my lap. 



" I took him into my wagon- the same day and carried 

 him out into the country twenty-five miles; returned in 

 two days; took him out with me shooting mallards with 

 a number of my friends, who wanted to see more of him; 

 and the first mallard I shot was in a small, shallow pond 

 of mud and water, not deep enough to allow him to swim. 

 The puppy was at heel when the duck fell, and I did not 

 intend to send him for it alone; but without a word he 

 started out, felt his way timidly at first, reached the duck, 

 which was a monster, took hold of its body -first and tried 

 hard to lift it out of the mud and water, but could not; 

 then took hold of its wing and tried to carry it, but of 

 course would step on it. He finally became discouraged, 

 laid it down, and commenced to cry. I at once waded out 

 and helped him bring it in, and you never saw a prouder 

 dog in all your life, or perhaps a prouder man. All this 

 was done without a word of command and entirely at his 

 own free will. I would not allow him to do or try to 

 do much work, as he is too young; but he has never re- 

 fused anything that I have asked, and I can only express 

 my opinion of him by saying he is a dandy. Very intelli- 

 gent, he is easy to control, and I now have only to point my 

 finger at- him to make him down; and on my third trial 

 he would creep behind me on a ' sneak' on ducks." 



NOTE. This puppy was whelped May 31, 1885, and was 

 less than four months old at the writing of the above letter. 



