XVIII 

 THE "TOYS" 



THE old-fashioned name for the tiny dogs 

 we call toys, "lapdogs," quaintly indicates 

 where to draw this line between our household 

 animals. They are dogs small enough to be 

 held in the lap, and they are emphatically pets 

 for the parlor, requiring the care of my lady 

 herself, or of her deputy, a well-trained maid. 



Let us begin with the Skye, the droll little 

 bundle of hair who has hardly enough leg to 

 get about on so short, indeed, that his long 

 hair almost sweeps the ground as he waddles 

 about. His deficiency in height is amply 

 atoned for by his length, for he comes peril- 

 ously near to resembling the weasel tribe, be- 

 ing at least three times as long as he is high. 

 Nine or ten inches tall and twenty-five or thirty 

 inches long is his approved measurement, and 

 the weight considered proper for these inches 

 is from sixteen to seventeen pounds. 



