84 MEMORIES OF GLENAUGH. 



grace to his father and mother, his brothers, 

 sisters, and his cousins, all of whom had been 

 more or less distinguished. I had a grave 

 suspicion once that he bolted an entire snipe 

 behind my back, while pretending to "find 

 dead." Unless the bird dropped through the 

 ground I don't know how else to understand 

 my not procuring it, but the notion involves 

 an amount of cunning on the part of Tom for 

 which I wouldn't give him credit. Yet your 

 fool is sometimes a knave also. A friend of 

 mine asked me for the loan of Tom for a 

 month. He told me afterwards he never met 

 such a " pointer," nor so bad a " finder." He 

 pointed everything and everywhere. He was 

 discovered " pointing" a child's shoe on a gar- 

 den walk, and having a similar rehearsal over a 

 raw potato in a scullery. His attitude in these 

 cases was all that could be desired, but attitude 

 is not all that is wanting in the field. Tom has 

 stood for his portrait, and you would swear by 

 the impostor unless you had experience of him. 

 I never had the heart to beat him for his stu- 

 pidity ; it appeared so hopeless and so comical. 

 He had an intense affection for his master, and 



