THE NEWFOUNDLAND RETRIEVER. 221 
pointed head, small, smooth ears, medium height, compact 
shape, muscular, short limbs, wavy, long, glossy coat of 
black or red, not curled, and the wonderful activity, 
strength, and even speed for which the race is famous. 
When they are of the pure breed, they require little 
breaking and no severity. The water, in the most bitter 
storm or the severest cold, seems to be native to them. 
They literally delight and revel in deep snow, wallowing 
in it as if for pleasure. As to education, they require only 
to be shown a few times what they are desired to do, 
before they will acquire, and once acquired, never forget 
it more; and as friends and companions, they are better 
even than as servants to man; their gratitude, love, inde- 
fatigable desire to please, cannot be surpassed by that of 
any living being, brute or human; and their fidelity, 
attachment, truth and devotion, alone of any I have ever 
seen or proved, defies time and change, is unaltered by 
unkindness, and survives even the grave. 
