428 With Rod and Gun in New England 



developed, but as a house dog and carriage attendant, combining the 

 requisite qualities of docility, courage and dignity, added to a grand figure, 

 bold muscular action and elegant bearing, it is much admired in Europe, 

 and is also attracting considerable attention in this country. 



It is used on the stage in dramas in which bloodhounds are required, 

 the Dane personating the less handsome and tractable species, and in such 

 a role it is well known to those who frequent the theatres. While the Dane 

 will rarely initiate a fight, he seldom shuns one, and unlucky is the dog 

 that is seized in his powerful jaws, for huge mastiffs have been obliged to 

 succumb to his onslaught, and smaller dogs are quickly shaken to death. 



The color of the great Dane is of various shades of gray, red, black, 

 pure white or white, with patches of the other colors, and the coat of hair 

 is very short, hard and close. The standard minimum height for male is 

 thirty inches ; for females, twenty-eight inches ; weight of former, 120 

 pounds, and the latter, 100 pounds. 



There are few breeds of dogs that compare in the popular estimation 

 with the grand and stately St. Bernard. His gentle and magnanimous 

 disposition and the benevolent work in which he has for centuries been 

 engaged, have endeared him to every one, and he is always received with a 

 warm welcome and kindly greeting by those whom he approaches. The 

 stories that have been told of his wonderful intelligence in rescuing be- 

 nighted or storm-lost travelers in the Alps are numberless, and they have 

 surrounded him with a halo in the popular mind that can never be 

 dispelled. 



The training of the St. Bernard is carried on by the hospice monks in 

 the most careful and systematic manner. Every animal is taught to famil- 

 iarize himself with the various paths, and visit the different cabins of 

 refuge, and if travelers are found who have sought shelter in them, they 

 are led by the dogs at once to the hospice. 



The history of this famous breed is, like that of many others, very 

 obscure. As early as 962 the St. Bernard was employed at the hospice 

 on Mount Joux, and at that on the road that led over the Grison Alps at 

 Colonne Jou ; but there seems to be no authentic record of the origin of 

 the race. 



According to a tradition among the monks of these " hospitia " the 

 dog was first produced by crossing the Danish bull dog with a mastiff (or 

 shepherd's dog of the Pyrenees), the progeny obtaining its great size and 

 strength from the former, and from the latter the intelligence, the exquisite 

 sense of smell and the faithfulness and sagacity with which it is endowed. 

 This is probably the correct story of the origin of the famous breed. The 

 modern long-haired breed, however, differs from the original considerably. 



Owing to terrible storms in 1812 and the great number of requisitions 

 that were made on the dogs, it became necessary to employ the females, 



