Old Punch. 



What pleasant memories cluster around the name that 

 heads this article ! Days on the prairie after chickens, morn- 

 ings and evenings hidden in a duck blind with old Punch's 

 nose rubbing against my hand. Ye lovers of dog and gun 

 know all about it, and I hope you may enjoy the reading of 

 these few reminiscences as much as I do the penning of them. 



My first meeting with Punch was peculiar. I was walk- 

 ing down the main street of the little town of Belmond, Iowa, 

 on a hot July day. Passing a group of men on the corner, 

 my hunting eye fell on the old dog. I noticed at once that 

 he was a thoroughbred. As I passed the group I nodded 

 pleasantly to the gentlemen, patting the old dog gently on 

 the head. I had hardly proceeded a block before I felt some- 

 thing cold touch my hand, and, glancing clown, saw my new- 

 made canine friend trotting by my side. Such was my intro- 

 duction to Punch, and the many happy days spent afield with 

 him will always be one of memory's brightest pages. 



I have, in my long experience, owned and broken many 

 dogs; but Punch was the most intelligent, the best disposi- 

 tioned and the most superb all-round field dog I ever owned 

 or handled. He seemed to take to me from the very start, and 

 from the morning of our first meeting he followed me every- 

 where and could not be kept at his old home without being 

 chained to his kennel Doctor F. (his owner) met me on the 

 street one day a week or two later and said : "Doctor Steele, 

 I don't know what kind of a spell you have thrown around 

 my dog, but I can't keep him at home any more and can't 

 do anything with him. I expect to move to Arkansas soon 

 and will leave him with you. If I never send for him, he is 

 your dog." Thus I became the owner of the best dog I ever 

 possessed. 



The first time I went into the field with him, I found 

 out why he had deserted his old master. A pair of chickens 

 flushing wild in front of him, he dropped in a cringing way, 



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