THE TOY SPANIELS. 659 



the Yorkshire or the Skye Terrier, not only in aristocratic 

 and democratic homes, but on the .show bench. The time 

 will come when true merit and beauty will count for more 

 than the mandates of dame fashion, and then the Spaniel 

 will achieve his true and proper place in the estimation of 

 dog-lovers. 



What can be more loved or lovable in the canine world 

 than the richly colored and richly coated Blenheim, or the 

 large-eyed, somber-hued King Charles? Not alone in appear- 

 ance are these dogs attractive, but their intellectual quali- 

 ties attract to them all who come to know them. 



"What," say you, "intellect in a dog?" Aye, verily; 

 and far more of it in some dogs than in some people whom 

 I know. I will not here go into an argument on this point; 

 abler pens than mine have laid down the reasons for this 

 faith, and to them I refer all doubters. 



Speaking of the intellectuality of these dogs, I can not 

 do better than quote again from " Idstone," who says: 



I have seen extraordinary instinct developed in these Spaniels. One, a 

 dog in my possession in 1838, and until his death, was, from constant associa- 

 tion with me and my friends, almost human; and as he held his head on one 

 side, apparently endeavoring to fathom the meaning of conversation, it seemed 

 as though he were almost prepared to join in it. 



On one occasion he was sleeping in the room where a lady to whom he was 

 much attached was moaning with pain, and waking up, he seemed at a glance 

 to understand the emergency, and after a moment's consideration endeavored 

 to pull the bell, though he had never before been taught to do so. Though 

 impatient of strangers, he would at once permit the approaches of my friends 

 at first sight; and, more singular still, he understood and appreciated a dislike 

 I did not venture to express, and would always dive at the legs of a couple of 

 New College chaplains toward whom I had no cordiality. How did he know 

 this, I wonder; or how divine that I had a sincere respect for Doctor Pusey, to 

 whom I never spoke in my life? But such was the case, I am sure, by his man- 

 ner and gestures, which, however, the sage never noticed or acknowledged. 



One of the greatest pleasures to be derived from the own- 

 ership of a Toy Spaniel is in training him to perform 

 various tricks, to carry notes, packages, etc. , to persons in 

 various parts of the house or grounds. They take up these 

 tricks readily, and it is intensely interesting to watch the 

 development of intelligence in a young Spaniel under 



