Aja& 19, 1886.J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



71 



she lias not been seen on the bench since, I fear her beaux 

 yeux were left in the infirmary. She was mated to Eclipse, 

 and when a beatitiful litter was born her oAvucr's heart was 

 gladdened, and the "geuid" man was comforted in his con- 

 science for the purchase x:ioney. About this time a friend 

 rendered him "a good tuj n," and with impnlsire and laud- 

 able generosity Mr. Pirie sent Captain Phipps one of tbe 

 pups as an acknowledgment. 



The giftling grew and thrived, and unostentatiously, with- 

 out a fanfare of friendly approval and prepared press notices 

 was benched, judged and wonl Her owner had, with comi- 

 cal suggestiveness, named her Pitch Dark (Eclip,se out of 

 Matchless). She is a good-colored sable, with a coat in 

 texture, fullness, undercoat and straightness that can only 

 he called perfect. No sculptor could chisel a more collie- 

 like head and ears. The prize lists of future .shows lie at her 

 mercy. It was common expectation that .she would be 

 claimed at her catalogued price (£100) before the show closed, 

 and the only doubt was who it would be. It was Mr. Meg- 

 .son, the owiier of champion Rutland. He is the pluckiest 

 buyer of the day, and I doubt if he ever got better value for 

 his money. 



The collie rage bas not yet abated, and it i.s quite prob- 

 able that Mr. Megson's presence in the breed has something 

 to do with keeping up the prices. He oflfered Mr. Bissell 

 £350 for Pitch Dark's grandsire, champion Charlemagne, but 

 it was refused. 



Writing of collies reminds me that I have an inquiry lying 

 by me from Mr. Clarence Bryant, of Hartford, U. S. A., who 

 says he owns a collie by a dog nahied Ben Ledi, hy champion 

 Chance. Being desirous of extending the pedigree, Mr. Bry- 

 ant says that he wrote to the breeder of Ben Ledi, a certain 

 Mr. C. D. Nairn, "but for some reason the letter was re- 

 turned," Mr. Bryant remembei-s I have referred to Chance 

 in mj; notes, and asks me to "put him on the right track." 



I will try. Chance appears m Vol. VII. of the K. C. S. B. 

 under the number 9,419. O^^nier, Mr. A. Patrick^ Narrow- 



fate, St. Alnwick; color, black and white. Pedigree un- 

 nown. Second prize. Blay- 

 don-on-Tyne. This entry is the 

 only time that Chance appears 

 in the K. C, S. B., and this is 

 in 1880, by which time, as 

 stated, Chance had won one 

 prize. If he ever won prizes at 

 shows held under K. C. rules 

 after 1880 he should have been 

 entered in subsequent volumes 

 of the Stud Book. In A^ol. XII. 

 there is an entry of Chance HI. , 

 the property of Mr. C. D. 

 Nairn, Morton Hoiise, Loth- 

 lanbum, Midlothian. Pedi- 



free, by Chance (9,419) out of 

 llink Bonny. In 1884, I think 

 it was, Chance, under two 

 judges (Mr. Panmtire Gordon 

 was one of them), at Edinburgh 

 beat some of the best dogs of 

 the breed— Eclipse, Cocksie, 

 etc. The award was ridicu- 

 lous, as Chance at his best was 

 never up to that form. Apart 

 from the deplorable lack of 

 judgment displayed, rumors 

 of awkward import bearing 

 upon the machinations of a 

 certain exhibitor were met 

 with throughout the town, and 

 even found expression in 

 anonymous letters. 



Not long after this show it 

 was announced that Mr. Pan- 

 mure Grordon had purchased 

 champion Chance, as he was 

 called, at a high figure — some 

 such fabulous price as £200 

 was given out for the gobe- 

 ■mouches to swallow. Mr. Gor- 

 don probably felt he was called 

 upon to back up his opinion 

 and chose this manner of eat- 

 ing his award. 



Mr. Panmure G-ordon exhib- 

 ited champion Chance at 

 Brighton in June last year, 

 "not for competition," but 

 simply for advertisement, 

 judging from the character 

 of the entry, which occupied 

 nearly a whole page of the 

 catalogue. It began by giv- 

 ing Chance a pedigree of the 

 Jack out of Jill style; but 



even this was better than nothing at all, and it was the 

 latter I have shown he had in the official stud book. This 

 is it: "Chance, by Rover out of Jess (!), is a most beau- 

 tiful black and white; a splendid head, full of collie charac- 

 ter; the smallest and best carried eai-s of any collie living. 

 (That's modest!) He has an immense lonrj frill (the italics 

 are not mine), grand heavy coat, tail carried to perfection, 

 well-built body, powei-ful loins, rare quarters, perfect legs 

 and feet. He is also one of the best working collies in Scot- 

 land." One seems to hear the voice of a cheap-jack bawling 

 this out and concludino': "Now then, ladies and gentlemen, 

 likewise you blokes and blokesses, not forgetting little miss 

 in the perambulator there, whaat price shall we say this 

 loti" 



But he continues, "Winner of sixty-nine first and second 

 prizes, including the following"— and then follows a list of 

 tin-pot shows such as Glanton, Netherton, Comhill, etc. 

 Upon this he gives a list of successful progeny. 



Well, the southern collie fanciers were pleased to see the 

 dog, for his triumphant career had been carefully confined 

 to the north. He Avas just a fair collie and nothing more, 

 not by many points a first-rater. What Chance is worth is 

 of no account to his owner, who is a wealthy man and can 

 afford to please his fancy. 



Other sufferers will enjoy Mr. Bryant's, "for some reason 

 the letter was returned." The reason is all to plain, Mr. C. 

 D. Nairn had fied— "goned avay in de evigkeit/' and for 

 manifold reasons, Men entendu, had left no instructions for 

 forwarding his letters. He was what I heard an Italian 

 organ-grinder describe a passer-by, who under the pretense 

 of stroking his monkey's head took the halfpenny out of its 

 mouth, "Ee vart you call vim 'wrong 'unl' 



I am much afraid I have not acknowledged a letter I re- 

 ceived, I dare not say how long ago, from the Secretary and 

 Treasurer of the American English Beagle Club. The contents 

 have satisfied and pleased me. 1 have some beagle notes in 

 one of - my commonplace books, I will look them up and 

 work them into one of my letters. This means of expressing 

 my thanks and interest vdW, I know, please the Secretary. 



With regard to the bulldog Tom Ball, Mr. Wm. Graham's 

 statements regarding price, etc. , are perfectly correct. Fur- 

 ther than that I don't believe any statement made by Mr, 

 Graham in a dog transaction could ever be described other- 

 wise. To most exceptional opportunities for hunting up 

 good dogs he adds the capacity of knowing them when he 

 seesone. InthisparticularinstancelamawarethatTom Ball's 

 owner refused several offers of £100, asked one man £300 and 

 later on rigidly stuck out for £150. When I in a previous 

 letter said"^ Tom Ball could be bought for £100 I was not 

 speaking "without the book," Mr. liyell probably changed 



his mind. After the cheap enormous advertisement he ob- 

 tained by his clan-trap challenge and subsequent match 

 with Rustic Ki iig the value of Tom Ball naturally assumed 

 a different aspect and not even that most persistent of hard 

 bargain drivers, Mr. W. Graham, could get him for a hun- 

 dred. 



On my last visit to the great "methropolis" I was dined by 

 a doggj^ denizen of the masher's domain. After a perfect 

 little meal at the Roman's and a fair share of "boy'^ (lam 

 getting on well in this argot), we walked down the Strand to 

 the Gaiety to .see Miss E. Farren in "Little Jack Shepard." 

 As we entered our box the curta.in rang up on Act II. and the 

 chorus sang: 



LiUibuloro! Lillibulero! 

 Since tlit:- time is growing sliorter, 



Lillibiilero! Jjillibulerol 

 For the Icing who's over the water. 

 I stepped baclv, jyicked up ray hat, took in with a glance 

 the distance to the door of the box, when — "IIulloo, where 

 are you off to?" recalled my presence of mind and I dropped 

 into a corner chair, conscious of a pair of eyes ciiriously and 

 suspiciously fix ed upon Lillibuleeo. 



MASTIFF CHARACTER. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



As a mastiff lover and ma.stift" keeper, I am no tyro, 

 though as a breeder and exhibitor I am not entitled to being 

 calJed "an old hand." My first specimen was anji}hing but 

 a prize winner. She had some doubtful sort of lame pedi- 

 gree, ^vhiclr by liook or by crook managed to work itself up 

 to Old Turk, center of rotation of all .suchlike canme ex- 

 tracts. Turk, like Brigham Young, could not deny the 

 claim of paternity, no matter M^here the call or application 

 proceeded from. This bitch, which then I considered a 

 clincher, had a very fair body aiul very bad head. The 



f greatest feature of her legs was their wonderfully semicircu- 

 ar appearance, but she had a big heart, and "Love being 

 blind," as she was attached to me I loved her. Distemper 



THE DEERHOUND BITCH "WANDA." Owned by Mr. John E. Thayer, Lancaster, Mass. 



extinguished this first flame. "Away from sight, to mem- 

 ory dear," proved true for once. Her loving and generous 

 nature had gained my heart to the breed, and I set to work 

 to find one in her place. The ball was set rolling and I fol- 

 lowed it up. I wanted to know more about the mastiff, and 

 got every obtainable work and information on the subject. 

 This, however, had to come by dip bits and fragments, as no 

 general work had ever been puWished in connection with 

 this breed. The blank struck me, and I resolved to fill up 

 the deficiency. For ten years or more I had now been en- 

 gaged on this task, gleaning and gathering up materials for 

 the sake of making my noble friends known in their true 

 and national light by a work on the "Old English Mastiff," 

 when a few weeks ago I noticed an advertisement announc- 

 ing a "History of the Mastiff," by M. B. Wynn. I knew this 

 gentleman's name from his letters and articles on the sub- 

 lect, and deeming him far more competent than poor self, I 

 lowered my colors to him and hailed the happy event. He, 

 not I, was the man for the work. I at once bundled up my 

 snips and scraps, and resolved to shelve them till further 

 news. 



Wr. Wynn's book has now appeared and I have it here 

 before me. The criticism of the work I leave to better 

 judges, satisfying myself with admiring a great deal the 

 author's patience, zeal and deep research; but it has one 

 great defect to my mind; its utter absence of soul, that is, 

 want of appreciation of the mastiff's noble character. 



When reading up for my omti work, it struck me all round 

 that whereas every writer give.s credit to the mastiff for his 

 courage and gentleness, and that every mouth that knows 

 him never tarries in praise of him, no one has ever widely 

 gone into the subject ot his social character. "Stonehenge" 

 is the only one Avho has deigned or dared to say a few words 

 for him. In my manuscript notes I possess a number of 

 facts showing his grand and noble disposition, which in my 

 work I had arranged under the heading of a "Forgotten 

 Chapter." As Mr. Wynn's book— much as we value it— also 

 remains silent on this point, and as I am not now likely to 

 produce any of my efforts before the public, may I ask you, 

 dear sir, to give space in your columns to this chapter of mine? 



My whole volume was, by kind permission, to be dedicated 

 to my good and much valued friend, Dr. J. Sidney Turner, 

 of wide-famed mastiff reputation, and I would beg to be 

 allowed that I might now offer this solitary chapter to him 

 instead of that whole volume. 



THE FORGOTTEN CHAPTER— HIS CHARACTER. 



"Do now call away that big brute! People ought to be 

 ashamed of themselves to bring out such ferocious beasts. 

 They ought to leave them chained up at homel" Those and 

 many other equally as tender expressions have time after 



time assailed me and other mastiff lovers, when about the 

 streets with one or more individuals of the noble breed. 

 It is curious to notice how every old and young maid will 

 anxiously call her half-bred pug or King Charles to her, 

 and hurriedly snatching up the waddling muff, raise it high 

 up in her arms or closely press it to her bosom. 



Being a bit of a philanthropi-st, as well as a staunch up- 

 holder of the rules and intentions of the Huma,ne Society, 

 1 never fail to warn these timid and injudicious persons 

 against giving expression to their fears and anxiety in that 

 fashion, Init rather to leave their little companions alone, 

 calling upon my long-standing experience and their own, 

 to show that big dogs hardly ever bite little ones. And this 

 is almost universally the case with the pure bred English 

 raa.stiff. 



I had prefixed this chapter by the motto Fortiter 

 et leniter, "bi-ave yet gentle," andno words or sentence could 

 be more correctly expressive of the mastiff's character than 

 that well known armorial legend. 



I have kept not a few mastiffs, and I never yet had one in 

 my possession that was dangerous to any member of my 

 household, or to any ordinary visitor of the family. We have 

 certainly had them .such that they would not have given up 

 the things of the house to the nightly bui-glar, or even that 

 it would not have been very safe and prudent for a stranger 

 to come by himself and take a stroll in the yard where they 

 were housed and let loose for exercise. But then, what 

 would be the use of any dog if every fresh comer might prowl 

 about bis master's premises as he liked? Dogs and children 

 are the best judges of man's character, hut a mastiff, let us 

 say a dog in general, does not always find it convenient to 

 apply his power of discernnient at every given moment, and 

 vnil at times punish a vagrant innocent for a vagrant vaga- 

 bond; but between doing his diity indiscriminately of position 

 or rank, and biting persons all round, there lies a vast field 

 of difl'erence. What 1 contend is that the mastiff is not the 

 "beastly brute" that is of no use except for biting people, 

 worrying cattle and killing cats, that, on the contrary, he is 

 man's noble and loving com- 

 panion, generous life and 

 property protector, a helpful 

 friend m need, and a faithful 

 and ready servant at all times. 



I had a thoroughbred mas- 

 tiff bitch, not exactly an ex- 

 ception, who died three years 

 ago. She was one of the 

 truest and most disinterested 

 friends I can boast of, either 

 among the higher or lower 

 order of creation. Her name 

 was Vera, and as she had such 

 very decided views concerning 

 any unlawful attempts to seri- 

 ou.sly meddle with herself or 

 master, I had dubbed her Vera 

 Sassulitch. She came from 

 Penshurst, in Kent, where 

 many a good one was bred, and 

 proved so far blue-blooded 

 that her sister of the same lit- 

 ter, Sybil, took first prize in 

 her class at the summer Palace 

 Show, in 1879, and an extra 



Erize as the best puppy of any 

 reed in the whole exhibition. 

 No judge ever pronounced 

 sentence of assent or dissent on 

 Vera's physical points, for her 

 master most jealously wished 

 to keep her entirely to his own 

 unbiassed aiipreciation; and 

 till her sad last breathing hour 

 she remained a free lance. She 

 was, however, a very fair spe- 

 cimen of the breed. 



Children tised to ride on her 

 back, pull her about by tail 

 and ears, drag her along roped 

 and collared, she never made 

 an attempt to injure them in 

 the slightest degree. I do not 

 say that she did always follow 

 her little tyrants, or would 

 guarantee them a secure- seat 

 on her saddle, but she never bit 

 or snapped (though she would 

 at times growl them a bit out 

 of the way when mischief went 

 too far), no matter how much 

 provocation she received from 

 them. 



You will say: "Vera was 

 an exception." I think not. 

 About the same time, I knew in my immediate neighbor- 

 hood, Blythe House, Tulse Hill, Brixton, another mastiff 

 bitch. She bore the distinguished name of Bess, Every day 

 her master's children sat on her back and drove and rode her 

 round the lawn. Spills, of course, plenty, but bites or even 

 snarls, none. Ask mastiff men whether this surprises them. 

 I feel sure that they will say "no." 



I am here, of course, talking of the "pure breed," not of 

 the cross-cur or mongrel mastiff", for the reliance on whose 

 temper you cannot any more depend than you can vouch for 

 his correct bodily points and markings, but the pure bred 

 English mastiff' is in old as well as in young age, the to-be- 

 trusted playmate of childhood. In this he differs from the 

 St. Bernard and Newfoundland, who, though first-rate 

 nurses and guardians in the spring of life, get grumpj^, 

 cranky and quarrelsome, and cannot be relied upon as they 

 get on in years. 



Some six years ago, a little niece of mine between four and 

 five years of age, used constantly to be sent down the coun- 

 try to me, and frequently to stay with me for several days at 

 a stretch. Ha-ping no regular nurse to look after and bother 

 her, she took to Vera and Vera to her. Whenever you 

 wanted the child you had only to whistle for the dog, they 

 were sure to make their appearance together. One time that 

 no answer came to my call I made for the kennels, and there, 

 indeed, on the boarded floor lay the pair of truants. The 

 dog was awake and wistfully looked wagging her tail, while 

 "Baby" had fallen asleep, mth her fair curly head and fresh 

 i-uby cheeks on the brute's flank, holding a hind leg with 

 her little bare arms. Vera, the ever ready to welcome me, 

 did not stir from her apartment on this occasion, deeming, 

 I expect, that a move on her part would disturb the inno- 

 cent little sleeper. Many and many are the times that I 

 have witnessed the dog on the lawn gnawing a bone, and all 

 the while the child tramping on and about her, tressing gar- 

 lands of daisies, and squatting in front of the beast's grind- 

 ing jaws and placing a crown of flowers on her friend's head. 

 Woe to the grown up visitor or to any living adult, barring 

 self and keeper, who would have dared to approach and 

 handle her like that when she was picking her bone! Then 

 you should have seen the animal with a whole swarm of 

 children about her. Didn't she cock her tail and give paw 

 after paw right and left all around, until I wondered that 

 she did not get tired of the game. Once, and only once, did 

 I hear of a misimderstandiug between the two friends. 

 "'Tiaie love never runs .smooth" all the way, and specks will 

 pass before the sun on the brightest days. I was just leav- 

 ing my library, when the child came up with a pair of pink 



pouting lips, half -swollen eyes, and a* most decided eait. 

 Maratje", isaid I, "where is Vera, and what is the matfer?" 



