TH'E REFERENDUM 



37* 



ruins the puppy. I have never yet seen a 

 puppy treated in this manner that did not 

 become a confirmed "tailer." That is, he will 

 follow the old dog all over the field, and 

 never think of hunting for himself. And when 

 the old dog is put up, the puppy will not hunt. 

 Instead he will wait for the old dog. If the 

 old dog is not allowed to lead the puppy fur- 

 ther, the pupil has to learn to range inde- 

 pendently, which takes him just as long as 

 though the old dog had not been used. Fol- 

 lowing his education further, after he has 

 learned to hunt independently and becomes a 

 good dog when w.orked alone, if he is by pur- 

 pose or accident dropped in the field with his 

 old leader, he will immediately assume a sec- 

 ondary attitude and allow the old dog to do 

 all the work. I believe that the worst, and 

 certainly the most aggravating, habit a dog 

 can acquire is that of "tailing." When you go 

 out with a friend and his dog, and find your 

 dog following the other dog all over the field, 

 you want to do something desperate. Nine 

 times out ,of ten this fault is acquired by al- 

 lowing a puppy to follow an old dog. The 

 favorite way of teaching a puppy to range is 

 to take him to a field and allow him to find 

 for himself that he can find game by simply 

 going out and looking for it. It will not take 

 long. At first the puppy will stay close by 

 you, but a lark or ground bird will soon be 

 flushed, and the puppy will give chase. Let 

 him go. After running it a little way he will 

 probably flush another, and sometimes in a 

 single evening a puppy will be ranging all 

 over his field. Then check him, and you will 

 have a hunter that will go all the time, and 

 never wait for another dog. Many dogs have 

 been spoiled by being hunted with an older 

 dog. Even such a famous dog as old Cham- 

 pion Gath was broken with Champion Sue, 

 and never so long as he lived could be in- 

 duced to show his best against Sue. She prac- 

 tically taught him how to hunt, and he always 

 remembered her as his superior. Although he 

 could easily defeat dogs that in turn could 

 easily defeat Sue, he seldom failed to accord 

 her the honors of the day. His winning over 

 her was a rare piece of luck and strategy. I 

 would not take the time to notice this little 

 error, but I once spent a year each on two dogs 

 to get them over the habit of "tailing" that I 

 got them into by allowing them to hunt with 

 an old dog, and my words may save some 

 one a similar experience. 



John Franklin. 



AN ALLEGORICAL INTERLOCUTION. 

 Editor Recreation : 



There were two men talking earnestly to- 

 gether the other day in a hotel corridor. They 

 seemed to much in earnest that they attracted 

 my attention. I did not intrude upon them, 

 or disturb their colloquy, but being near by I 

 merely happened to overhear them. 



One of them said he had met, a year or 



two ago, a very eccentric character in an Af- 

 rican province, where there were a few Euro- 

 peans, to which group the eccentric person 

 belonged. The individual in question seemed 

 sane and exceptionally intelligent, and he 

 lived, under much difficulty, in a distinctly 

 civilized way. The place was near dense for- 

 ests, and away from any large village even, 

 and was subject to some invasion by an oc- 

 casional Lion or Tiger. 



"What did he do about this?" asked the 

 other. 



"Why, that is the funny part of the story. 

 He always headed off the Lion and never suf- 

 fered from him. But when the Tiger was 

 seen coming he simply did nothing." 



"Well, why didn't he drive him off, too?" 



"It seems that where he lived no one had 

 ever thought of that. His father lived there 

 a little while, at an earlier day, and his fa- 

 ther's father also before his father did. But 

 neither of them disturbed the Tiger. Each 

 drove away the Lion whenever that wild beast 

 came, but neither ever thought it was possible 

 to drive away the Tiger. I was even told that 

 others who were scattered about in that prov- 

 ince did in just this way. Having got used 

 to the custom, it went on. And no one of 

 the newer comers tried to change it." 



"But didn't the Tiger damage the stock on 

 the place and sometimes injure the family?" 



"Always. As often as he came there was 

 either loss of property, personal injury, or 

 loss of life." 



"And they knew he would prove such a 

 scourge without fail?" 



"They knew that." 



"And. still used no stratagem or defence 

 against him ?" 



"That is precisely true. It happened that 

 the particular devices which drove the Lion 

 off successfully could not for some reason be 

 applied to the Tiger." 



"And were the persons owning the houses 

 and farms attacked never able to invent some 

 way to get rid of this beast also?" 



"So far as an}^ record is shown they were 

 not; and, what was worse, they sat supinely 

 down and did not even try. For generations 

 it had been accepted as a foregone conclusion 

 that the Tiger must rage and have his way, 

 and he invariably did." 



"Perhaps I am wrong, though, in calling 

 the person I met, who represents this class, 

 eccentric — for humanity in all countries, civ- 

 ilized or barbarous, seems just as eccentric — 

 though in a different way. 



"How so?" 



"If you have lived through the recent heat- 

 ed terms, I should suppose you could guess." 



''Perhaps that's the reason I am unable to 

 guess, for I confess the answer does not oc- 

 cur to me. You know, excessive heat weak- 

 ens the mind and often preciptates insanity. 

 Perhaps it has reduced my mental force, as 

 extreme heat is equivalent to a fit of illness 

 with me. So I must pass your conundrum." 



