367 



^ '• Mi 



CH. PAYMASTER (soNi, ERASMIC imother', PORCELAIN (daughter). 



PROPERTY OF MISS LILIAN A. PAULL. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 



THE IRISH TERRIER. 



BY ROBERT LEIGHTON. 



" Though the last glimpse of Erin with sorrow I see, 

 Yet wherever thou art will seem Erin to me ; 

 In exile thy hosoni shall still be my home, 

 And thine eyes make my climate wherever we roam." 



Moore's Irish Melodies. 



THE dare-devil Irish Terrier has most 

 certainly made his home in our 

 bosom. There is no breed of dog 

 more genuinely loved by those who have 

 sufficient experience and knowledge to 

 make the comparison. Other dogs have a 

 larger share of innate wisdom, others are 

 more aesthetically beautiful, others more 

 peaceable ; but our rufous friend has a 

 way of winning into his owner's heart and 

 making there an abiding place which is 

 all the more secure because it is gained by 

 sincere and undemonstrative devotion. Per- 

 haps one likes him equally for his faults 

 as for his merits. His very failings are due 

 to his soldierly faithfulness and loj^alty, to 

 his too ardent vigilance in guarding the 



threshold, to his officious belligerence to- 

 wards other canines who offend his sense 

 of proprietorship in liis master. His par- 

 ticular stature may have some influence 

 in his success as a chum. He is just tall 

 enough to rest his cliin upon one's knee and 

 look up with all his soul into one's eyes. 

 Whatever be the secret of his attraction — 

 whether it is merely a subtle Irish blarney 

 that conquers, or a spontaneous worship 

 of the being who is to him instead of a 

 god — 'tis certain that he has the Hibernian 

 art of compelling affection and forgiveness, 

 and that he makes one value him, not for 

 the beauty of his ruddy raiment, the straight- 

 ness of his forelegs, the set of his eye and 

 ear, the levelness of his back, or his ability 



