CHAPTER XXXVI 

 THE IRISH TERRIER 



THE dare-devil Irish Terrier has most certainly made his 

 home in our bosom. There is no breed of dog more genuinely 

 loved by those who have sufficient experience and knowledge 

 to make the comparison. Other dogs have a larger share 

 of innate wisdom, others are most aesthetically beautiful, 

 others more peaceable ; but our rufous friend has a way of 

 winning into his owner's heart and making there an abiding 

 place which is all the more secure because it is gained by 

 sincere and undemonstrative devotion. Perhaps one likes 

 him equally for his faults as for his merits. His very failings 

 are due to his soldierly faithfulness and loyalty, to his too 

 ardent vigilance in guarding the threshold, to his officious 

 belligerence towards other canines who offend his sense of 

 proprietorship in his master. ^ His particular stature may have 

 some influence in his success as a chum. He is just|tall 

 enough to rest his chin upon one's knee and look up with all 

 his soul into one's eyes. Whatever be the secret of his 

 attraction 'tis certain that he has the Hibernian art of com- 

 pelling affection and forgiveness, and that he makes one 

 value him, not for the beauty of his ruddy raiment, the 

 straightness of his fore-legs, the set of his eye and ear, the 

 levelness of his back, or his ability to win prizes, but rather 

 for his true and trusty heart, that exacts no return and 

 seeks no recompense. He may be but an indifferent specimen 

 of his kind, taken in as a stranger at the gates ; but when 

 at length the inevitable time arrives, as it does all too soon in 

 canine nature, one then discovers how surely one has been 

 harbouring an angel unawares. 



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