THE ST. BEKNAKD. 



551 



for service and reproduction only the puppies who approach the nearest, by 

 their exterior form and appearance, to the original and fatherly race. Those 

 that proved themselves unable to sustain the work, or who from their long 

 hair were disabled, were either given as souvenirs to friends of the Hospice, or 

 else sold. Of such are those that have been sold to M. de Pourtaltjs, at Mett- 

 lin, near Berne, and to M. Rougemont, at Loewenberg, near Morat. These 

 dogs come directly from the Hospice, where they are not fit for work on 

 account of their long hair, but are distinguished by their colossal size and 





ROUGH-COATED ST. BERNARD SIR BED1VERE. 



excellent qualities. They always retain in the Hospice the finest dogs, and 

 train them for service; those who do not possess all the marks of genuine breed 

 are given away or sold, because among the number they still find some pup- 

 pies with long hair, who thus reveal their motherly ancestry. 



It is now some ten years since it could be read in many of the papers that 

 a Mr. Essig, of Leonberg, had presented to the Hospice a couple of dogs of the 

 celebrated Leonberg breed, which is extraordinarily large and handsome. His 

 intention was laudable and worthy of acknowledgment. But these dogs 

 shared the same fate as those of Newfoundland some fifty years previous. 



