1889.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 71 



ditch says you can hurdle the sheep. If he can hurdle them, 

 that is all right ; but farmers upon these hill-town pastures 

 would have great difficulty in doing it. If you want to raise 

 sheep and make it a success, as he does, you must have large 

 farms, and have a large number of help ; but where some of 

 us do not keep much help, the dogs beat us. But still I 

 agree with him, that, with the present state of feeling, you 

 cannot pass a law that is much more stringent than the one 

 you have now. 



Mr. Grinnell of Greenfield. It is hardly worth while, 

 perhaps, to say anything more on the question ; but I am 

 going to give my testimony. I had the honor to be in the 

 Senate as the representative of the farmers of Franklin 

 county, and Gov. Long said to me, "Why do you not make 

 a law that will give you the protection you want?" I said 

 "it is utterly impossible." We prepared an amendment to 

 the present dog law. We could not make a new one ; but 

 the amendment was so simple that I had every expectation it 

 would pass, a4id I supposed that would be the first entering 

 wedge toward changing the law. The provision was, first, 

 when the injury had been done to a flock, the county com- 

 missioners should pass upon the testimony about it at the 

 first meeting they had, and not as now, in December. 



Mr. BowDiTCH. It has been changed. It is all- right 

 now. 



Mr. Grinnell. Very well. It won't hurt my story at 

 all. That was one. The other was simply to the efiect, that 

 when a dog was known to have killed sheep, the owner of 

 the dog should be prosecuted, — the county commissioners 

 should be obliged to prosecute that man for the value of the 

 sheep destroyed, and cause the dog to be killed. It is the 

 simplest thing in the world, and the county commissioners 

 can do it, but I do not think they ever did in this State. I 

 got those two amendments through the Senate, which is the 

 worst place in the world for such things, because it is farthest 

 from the people. But when it went into the House of 

 Kepresentatives, of all the scenes that were ever enacted, 

 those took the prize. A man got up and opposed the law, 

 a Boston lawyer, a dog-breeder ; and one, I am happy to 

 say, who afterwards skipped the State on account of em- 



