CHAPTER XXII 

 ANECDOTES ABOUT DOGS (Continued) 



I HAVE been asked to reproduce a humourous " skit," 

 which appeared in " The Daily Mail " gth of July, 

 1897, from the pen of a well-known contributor to that 

 paper. It was headed " A Ladies' Dog Show," and ran 

 as follows : " Seven gentle ladies were yesterday to be 

 observed walking gravely in a circle in Regents Park. 

 They each led a Black Pug by a chain. They walked 

 round and round a ruddy old gentleman with keen blue 

 eyes, a shepherd's smock, and a slouched straw hat. 

 Three partridge feathers stuck out jauntily from the 

 side of the hat. The ladies cast appealing looks at the 

 shepherd, who stared hard at the insignificant little 

 wretches of dogs, one of whom barked all the while, 

 but he did not heed it. The march became quicker ; the 

 ladies looked more appealing than ever. A crowd gath- 

 ered around and observed the strange proceedings with 

 wonder. What was it? they asked. A new system of 

 Pantheistic worship? or a side show from a menag- 

 erie? The shepherd put up his hand and the ladies 

 stopped, dead. He threw down his glittering pencil to 

 attract the notice of one of the glossy little Pugs. The 

 Pug snapped. He caught it by the head, and stared 

 hard in its ridiculous little face. The dog chastened by 



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