52 Forty Years Beagling 



"In the conference above spoken of it was 

 deemed imperative to have a standard of excellence, 

 General Rowett, N. Elmore and myself were ap- 

 pointed to draft it. General Rowett was just at 

 that time very much occupied with his horse inter- 

 ests, and asked me to formulate a scale of points 

 and submit for revision if required. Mr. Elmore 

 acquiesced, and I proceeded with the work. When 

 finished it met with the entire approval of my col- 

 leagues; no change whatever being suggested by 

 either gentlemen, so whatever mistake we have 

 made 'on our heads be it.' 



"And now the reason for fixing the limit at 15 

 inches. In the old days anything a httle smaller 

 than a foxhound was by courtesy called a beagle; 

 if a pure-bred beagle dog was accessible he was 

 crossed on small foxhound bitches, and if at all pre- 

 potent the produce showed enough beagle character 

 barring size, to pass muster and satisfy their own- 

 ers. The result of this shpshod, ignorant method 

 was that the country was filled with mongrel non- 

 descripts posing as beagles; witness our earlier 

 bench shows. It was to strike at the root of this 

 evil and rescue the breed from utter extinction that 

 I decided to draw the line rigidly fixed in the stand- 

 ard, knowing that the little thoroughbred could not 

 be bred from the big mongrel, and that those who 



