254 GUN, ROD, AND SADDLE. 



IDEAS OE" DOG 



How many that would have turned out good men 

 and useful members of the community, have been ru- 

 ined in their youth through not being understood, 

 and possibly treated with undue severity? How 

 many promising colts, perfect in general appearance, 

 have turned out runaways, apt to shy, and possessed 

 of every failing that it was possible for horseflesh to 

 learn, therefore irrecoverably ruined, through the bul- 

 lying and barbarity of the trainer? As men are 

 ruined, as colts are ruined, so are a preponderating 

 percentage of our pointers and setters. My old Dom- 

 inie used habitu ally to go about with the end of his 

 strap hanging out of his pocket ; no ordinary strap, 

 but what the reader might imagine a couple of feet 

 cut off an omnibus trace, terrible only to behold by 

 such as were fond of toffey, or encased in tight-fitting 

 jackets. And then the possessor of this strap was no 

 puny bookworm no, not he but a stalwart Celt 

 with a biceps so tremendous that his wife, proud of 



