The Possum 151 



Before the roasting comes the catching, 

 consequently the possum-hunt. Black men 

 are incomparably the best hunters — perhaps 

 through the inherited aptitude of many gen- 

 erations. Joe always went with Dan and 

 Little Mose. Other black fellows went along, 

 but only those two were essential. Dan 

 could out-chop, out-climb and out-halloo 

 anything of his inches in the county. Little 

 Mose's distinction was that he owned Wrong, 

 the very prince of possum dogs. 



Nose makes the possum dog. He may be 

 of any breed, or all, or none. A setter or 

 pointer which develops the possum nose is 

 hard to beat, but ruined for work after birds. 

 The very best dogs are mongrels of wholly in- 

 distinguishable antecedents. Some few have 

 rough wiry coats hinting of terrier blood, others 

 jaws of bulldog pattern, and still others ears 

 and legs that bespeak a remote hound cross. 

 A simple yellow cur may turn out an ideal 

 possum dog — so may a fice, especially a 

 bench-legged fice. But, whatever the breed, 

 the fact is indisputable — no litter, however 

 big it may be, was ever known to hold more 

 than one real possum dog. 



Wrong was proof enough of that. Except 

 when the two were hunting, you could scarcely 

 distinguish him from his litter-brother Right, 

 whose name had turned out to be severely 



