CHAPTER II 
BIG REDDY, STRATEGIST 
OU may talk about environment all you 
please, and doubtless most you say will be 
true; but there’s a lot in heredity, just the same. 
There.is no question in my mind, for instance, but 
Big Reddy, the fox who very nearly gave most of 
our dogs nervous prostration, inherited his humor 
as well as his fearlessness from his father, who, to 
my certain knowledge, was a wag; and a good 
deal of his peculiar cunning and his bravery—for 
he could be brave as a dog—from his mother. 
? 
As for “ prenatal influences,” of course he was 
born in a den in my sugar grove, not four hun- 
dred yards from the barns (and, I might add, the 
chicken coops), which may have explained his 
complete ease and comfort near the haunts of 
men and dogs. I suppose, however, it is only 
fair to state that my barns are not in a village, 
but out in the open country, close to the big 
woods. I don’t want you to think Big Reddy 
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