MY OLD DOG TRIM. 77 



I had no end of trouble with him in his early days, as he 

 did rot take kindly to the course of instruction that I con- 

 sidered indispensable to his future well doing ; it was 

 literally a course of sprouts to him. After many trials, and 

 much tribulation, I succeeded in teaching him to retrieve 

 when he had & mind to. I had no trouble in teaching him 

 to charge, as that appeared to be his forte. He was the most 

 listless pup that I ever saw, and could discount the original 

 "lazy dog." I should have been utterly discouraged had I 

 not seen him, when but nine weeks old, make several beauti- 

 ful points on small birds ; and on rare occasions I had seen 

 him let himself out in wonderful bursts of speed. I was 

 hungering and thirsting for a dog that would point his game 

 in the same beautiful gamey style, and get around in the 

 same lively manner, and so was very patient with him, 

 hoping, almost against hope, that he would sometimes brace 

 up and repay me for my trouble. I kept him until he was 

 nearly a year old, when my mother, who had suffered long 

 but not always in silence, emphatically told me that she 

 would stand it no longer; Trim must go. Fallowing close 

 upon this dictum was a long list of his sins of omission and 

 commission, the former consisting mainly in omitting to get 

 up from his favorite place before the fire when any one was 

 coming, and this performance had just ended, with herself 

 as principal actress, in a wild whirl of dress goods and a sad 

 mixing up of woman, dog and big arm chair. There was a 

 light in her eye that I did not dare disregard ; therefore, the 

 next morning, early, I took Trim about three miles from 

 home, to a farmer friend who had vainly asked me for him 

 several times, as he was overrun with woodchucks, and 

 thought that the dog would rid him of the pests. I left him 

 with him upon conditions that he should use him well, and 

 return him to me in the fall when I commenced hunting. 

 He thankfully received him and promised to take the best of 

 care of him, and return him safe. 



I must confess that my feelings on my homeward journey 

 were far from agreeable. I had done a dishonorable act ; I 

 had foisted upon my unsuspecting and guileless farmer friend 



