222 DOGS AND DOG LOVERS 



had one attractive physical quality ; he was 

 perfectly sweet and clean ; indeed his adoring 

 family compared his scent to that of new mown 

 hay ; he had also a smooth head, which was com- 

 pared, by one enthusiastic admirer, to a putting- 

 green. He had the attractive and not very common 

 quality of grinning — tucking up his lips and show- 

 ing the teeth, but producing the effect of a smile, 

 and expressing a shy and apologetic frame of mind. 



Pat lived with a bad tempered Scotch terrier 

 called Whisk, whom I liked for his strong, character 

 and intellectual acquirements, but I had no great 

 affection for him. He could not bear being 

 spoken to or even looked at while he ate his dinner, 

 and would growl with his mouth full, in a terrific 

 manner, if so disturbed. In the same ferocious 

 spirit he would growl and snap if his basket was 

 accidentally kicked when he was dozing in the 

 evening, and however much we apologised he 

 would take each expression of regret as a fresh 

 insult, and answer them all with growls, which 

 gradually died away in sleep. 



We only once had a big dog, and he was not a 

 success though he was an agreeable person. We 

 bought him and his brother, two very fat mastiff 

 puppies, at North Berwick, and brought them 

 south. The one pleasant incident in the journey 

 was the question of a German in Edinburgh station : 

 " Madam, who are these dogs ? " We gave away 

 one and kept the other, who bore the magnificent 

 name of Tantallon, soon abbreviated into Tan. 

 He had many friendly habits, but they were on too 

 lar^e a scale for domestic life. He had, for instance. 



