320 



"SNAP" VISITING THE TRAPS. 



one. They will wish it to be forgotten that I advise a gradual 

 advance, step by step, from the A, B, ; that accomplishments 

 have only been recommended after the acquisition of essentials 

 never at the expense of essentials ; that at any moment it is in the 

 instructor's power to say, " I am now satisfied with the extent of my 

 pupil's acquirements, and have neither leisure nor inclination to 

 teach him more;" and that they cannot suggest quicker means of 

 imparting any grade of education, however incomplete; at least 

 they do not I wish they would ; few would thank them more than 

 myself. 



589. Greatly vexed at the erroneous way in which I saw some 

 dogs instructed in the north by one, who from his profession should 

 have known better, I promised, on the impulse of the moment, to 

 write. If I could have purchased any work which treated the 

 subject in what I considered a judicious and perspicuous manner, 

 and, above all, which taught by what means a finished education 

 could be imparted, I would gladly have recommended the study of 

 it, have spared myself the trouble of detailing the results of my 

 own observations and experience, and not have sought to impose 

 on any one the task of reading them. When I began the book, and 

 even when I had finished it, I intended to put it forth without any 

 token by which the writer might be discovered. Mr. Murray, how- 

 ever, forcibly represented that unless the public had some guarantee 



to accompany him in fine weather, 

 and avail himself of that oppor- 

 tunity to give the young dogs an 

 occasional out-door lesson, they 

 would all be brought under good 

 subjection, and be taught to obey 

 implicitly every signal of the hand 

 which is half the battle with- 

 out taking him from his other oc- 

 cupations, and without his having 

 devoted more than a few hours ex- 

 clusively to their preparatory edu- 

 cation. If a keeper feels no pride 

 in the conduct of his dogs if he 

 is not animated with a spark of 

 the enthusiasm that incites the 

 huntsman to such willing exertion 

 in the education and performance 

 of his hounds, he (the keeper) had 

 better change his profession. He 

 may attain to eminence in another, 

 he certainly never will in his pre- 

 sent position. 



As I have just talked about a 

 keeper " going his rounds" to ex- 

 amine his traps, it would be wrong 

 not to mention the serviceable 



" Snap," a white, short-haired 

 terrier belonging to a game-keeper 



of Mr. R es, who for many 



years has sat as member for Dover. 

 The little animal's personal quali- 

 ties are far inferior to his men- 

 tal, for even his master, with all 

 his well-known partiality for his 

 petted companion, cannot call him 

 handsome ; but he has a right to 

 quote in the dog's favour the old 

 saying, " Handsome is as hand- 

 somedoes." Besides other ways of 

 rendering himself useful, " Snap " 

 willingly considers it a standing 

 rule that he is to start off alone 

 every morning after breakfast to 

 take the tour of all the traps. On 

 his return to the lodge, if he has 

 no report to make, lie maintains 

 a discreet silence ; but if any of 

 them are sprung, by vermin or 

 otherwise, he loudly proclaims 

 the fact, and leads the keeper, 

 whose time and legs he has thus 

 cleverly saved, direct to any spots 

 requiring his personal attention. 



