The Irish Setter 191 



show on the Irish benches, which had formerly been one of the "garden 

 spots" at Madison Square. Dr. Jarvis continued to show Elcho Jr. until 

 1890, when he sold him to Mr. George H. Covert of Chicago and retired 

 as an exhibitor the last of the old brigade. 



In place of the Wenzel dogs we now had the Seminole Kennels of 

 Chestnut Hill, with Tim as the star. Mr. C. T. Thompson sold his last 

 good ones to Fred Kirby, and the St. Cloud, Kildare and Washington 

 Kennels were the newcomers in the ring competitions. The leading setters 

 of this period were Blarney, owned by Mr. E. N. Clark Jr. of Philadelphia; 

 Dick Swiveller, a big winner for Mr. Covert; Kildare, Laura B., 

 Ruby Glenmore and Winnie II., shown later on in the name of the 

 Kildare Kennels, Kildare being the premier dog. He was by Elcho Jr. out 

 of Red Rose, a daughter of Biz and Lady Clare. The next important step 

 was the bringing together of a number of high-class dogs in the kennels of 

 Mr. F. C. Fowler of Moodus, Conn. He secured Kildare, Duke Elcho, Edna, 

 Seminole and others, and in his own name and afterward in that of Oak 

 Grove Kennels took a leading part at the best shows. But these exhibitors 

 did not last long, as is far too often the case with men attracted by the pleasure 

 of owning winners only and not imbued with the true spirit of the fancier, 

 the man who .keeps on the even tenor of his effort to improve his kennel. 

 Such a man, for instance, is Mr. J. J. Scanlan, or Mr. Nelson Mclntosh, 

 each of whom was playing a by no means inconspicuous part at that time 

 and has lasted up to the present. 



The dogs named held their own well until the close of 1900, but the 

 year before that some good new ones came out, such as Fred Elcho, Lord 

 Lismore, Redbud Finglas and Red Rose III., the three first named doing 

 a lot of winning for their owners, Messrs. J. S. Laycock, J. S. Wall and J. A. 

 Meyer, names no longer prominent. In this year Ben Law made his appear- 

 ance and began a well-merited career of success. It cannot be admitted, how- 

 ever, that the general run of Irish setters was in any way equal to what was 

 seen during the Elcho period, there being a lack of that quality then so con- 

 spicuous. A few still looked like the old sort, but their very presence only 

 accentuated the lack of Irish setter character in the classes. As a natural 

 result less interest seemed to be taken in the breed, and things were not 

 going the right way at all. 



The first approach to a return to the good old days was noticeable 

 when a choice lot of Signal bitches made their appearance. They perhaps 



