282 
FOREST « AND STREAM. 
[March 28, 1903. 
'h$ Mmnet 
Fixtures. 
March 26-28.— Chicago.— Show of Chicago Kennel Club. 
March 30-3L— St. Louis.— Show of St. Louis Collie Club. 
March 31-April 3.— Buffalo, N. Y.— Show of Buffalo Kennel Club. 
April 1-4.— New Orleans, La.— Show of Southwestern Kennel 
Club. 
April 1-4.— Victoria, B. C— Show of Victoria Kennel Club. 
April 8-11.— Atlantic City, N. J.— Show of Atlantic City Kennel 
Club. 
May 29-30.— Hempstead, L. I.— Open air show of Ladies' Kennel 
Association of America. 
Nov. 3-6.— New York.— Annual show of Latiies' Kennel Associa- 
tion of America. 
Canine Ele8:ks and Epitaphs. 
I -■ — ■ 
XXXV.— Souter Johnny's Death. 
From the Jacksonport, Mo., "Cash Book," May, 1882. 
At his home in Jackson, on Saturday, May 13, 1882, of poison, 
deal by some unknown person, died Souter John, a dog. In his 
death, a young Rodman Irish setter of the finest blood and fairest 
promise has been taken off. It would have been hard to find any- 
where a dog to match Souter John before the gun. His sight, his 
nose and his hearing were perfection; his action superb, and his 
endurance wonderful. For these qualities, together with his 
obedience and sagacity, his beauty of form and graceful move- 
ment, his master, Mr. Thomas McFarland, prized him as a 
jewel, and besides, he was admired and caressed by every sports- 
man who knew him. Souter John was whelped at Edgar, Neb., 
May 22, 1880, and w^as brought to Jackson when seven months old. 
He leaves behind him his brother, Tarn O'Shanter, and his aged 
father, Shidy, to mourn his untimely death. 
Come doggies all, baith old an' nimble, 
Wha hunt the paitrick in the bramble, "~ 
Or cottontail, 
An' ilka puppy quit his gambol. 
To weep an' wail. if 
Let ilka tail now drag the ground, 
. An' ilka doggie stand around j 
Where Johnny's dead. 
An' howl an' howl wi' mournful sound 
Aboon his head. f 
All ye wha like the fields to scour 
Wi' gun an' dog for mony an hour 
In chill October, 
When frosts hae nipp'd the weed an' flower. 
Come an' look sober. , 
For John, the prince of every setter, 
Lies stiff an' cold down in the gutter. 
To hunt na mair; 
Than him na kennel kept a better 
Onywhere. 
Ah, Tarn, your brother Souter John, 
Maybe you think's a-hunting gone 
Just for to-day; 
But, Tam, the trail puir Johnny's on 
Leads far away. 
Vile wretch wha dealt the poison! Surel> 
He canna go to hell too early; 
For him sae mean 
Old Hornie's fires are blazing clearly. 
An' pretty keen. 
Ye Fates wha fill the hazy breezes 
Wi' foul contagion an' diseases 
To pester man, 
An' ilka ake an' cramp that squeezes, 
Do all ye can. 
To mix all your ills in hellish jumble. 
An' mak' a curse an' let it tumble 
Upon his pate. 
Lord, hear this prayer, sincere an' humble, 
An' grant it straight. Robin. 
Donald. 
Mr. George Batten's orange and white setter, Donald, 
died at Duncannon, Barnwell, S. C, February 23. He was 
nearly ten years old, and for nine years had been his mas- 
ter's constant companion. He died on one of these annual 
visits to South Carolina. • , ■ . • u n 
He was a knightly gentleman among his kind, with all 
the inherited virtues of the blue blood that coursed 
through his veins, and not a mongrel meanness had dark- 
ened any moment of his life. Brave, yet gentle, honest 
and true as sunshine, faithful and unselfish, nursing no 
rancor and unforgetting every kindness of word or caress, 
one might imagine that some human soul had been given 
him, that by the penance of such service as he could give 
some sin— some wrong of cruel measure— might be 
bleached and expiated. r ■ i 
To the master he was better far than chattel— a friend 
in more than the word implies in human uses He could, 
it seemed, read the varying moods that vexed or pleased 
the busy brain of his captain of industry, and his silent 
sympathy or glad rejoicing manifested a love that knew 
no weakening, but that grew with greater swiftness than 
his years heaped up its evidences. To the little ones oi 
the master's family he was a guardian above and beyond 
any temptation of bribery, with never a whisper of fear 
nor a thought of cowardice, and a teacher, too, of perfect 
.self-sacrifice and patient and loving service ; and childish 
eyes were dim and wet with tears when they ^yere told 
that Donald would never again walk or play with them. 
It was his destiny to have a home close to the heart of a 
throbbing, busy metropolis, but how gladly when the 
autumn days brought the time of his annual outing would 
he speed from the cramped quarters of city to the broad 
fields of the sunny South, and give free play to his won- 
drous knowledge of the craft of bird life. No phantom 
covey ever eluded the almost supernatural instinct whica 
guided him aright ; whether it was beneath some deserted 
c?bin, as once he proved the reality of the wily birds to 
the chagrin of his baffled comrades, or among the brown 
leaves of some friendly tree. There was a very not of 
happiness in his heart and soft brown eyes when the 
master, following him afield, had brought to earth the 
swift-flving quail, and refreshed his quivering nostrils 
with a whiflf of its fresh fragrance. 
And death was very good to come to him there amidst 
the soepes of his happy hupting days, in his ripe old age. 
On the sward at "Duncannon," in the comfort and 
warmth of the noonday sunshine, with the whistle of the 
quail echoing from the far-ofif fields, he passed into the 
dreamless sleep. And as the night shades fell he was laid 
to rest upon a bed of rustling leaves ; boughs of evergreen 
strewn above, and the kindly soil heaped upon the worn 
out faithful friend. 
There, at the base of a mighty holly tree, brave with 
its coronal of scarlet berries and unfading leaves, Donald 
rests in his long Christmas slumber. And not soon will 
that touching scene be forgotten by the mourners there : 
the master, who shall never again hear him "Bay deep- 
mouth'd welcome" home; the fair and gracious mistress 
of "Duncannon ;" the sable sextons, or the writer. And 
thither shall the writer make many pilgrimages with 
Byron, the grandson of that peerless grandsire ; the one 
to pay honor to the memory of a loving friend ; the other 
(let us hope) to draw such inspiration from the scene 
as will make him, at home and afield a worthy scion of 
the grand "old man." P. M. Buckingham. 
Barnwell. S. C. 
Many have made the mistake of imagining that they 
have a perfect right to appropriate as their own a dog 
that is not licensed and that is found at large, but such 
is not the case, and its actual owner can recover it, or 
its market value, if it cannot be producedj in an action at 
law. 
In a general way it may be said that as a whole the dog 
license laws are beneficial to the owners of these animals, 
since they recognize and protect their rights in them. — 
A. K. C. Gazette. 
The Dog and the Law. 
A BRIEF review of how the dog has been regarded by 
the law in the State of Massachusetts may perhaps be 
of interest with the reader, as well as contain sugges- 
tions of profit with him. And the first distinction 
under the statutes of this State worthy of note is that 
drawn between the owner and the keeper of a dog. 
It has been decided on more occasions than one that 
the keeper, and not the owner, of a dog is liable for 
neglect to keep him properly collared, licensed and re- 
strained, provided the keeper and owner are not one and 
the same person. 
The justice and fairness of such a ruling is apparent 
at the first glance. How shall the owner of a dog which 
he has entrusted to the charge of another, know that he 
is being properly cared for? The law excuses him from 
this responsibilit}', as well as assists him in holding one 
commissioned with the care of his animal responsible for 
this attention. 
As to the license itself, some interesting decisions have 
been handed down by the court. One is to the efifect 
that if one purchases an unlicensed dog after the 30th 
of April in any year, the limit of the time allowed for 
taking out a license, he is not liable to any penalty for 
neglecting to have him licensed and numbered until the 
same day and month in the following year. Doubtless the 
same would hold good as to puppies born after the_ re- 
quired date of licensing. 
Another decision worthy of note is as to the nature of 
the license. The court on this occasion said that "A 
license to keep a yellow and white dog named Dime will 
not authorize the keeping of a black Newfoundland dog 
named Nigg," the difficulty being that the description 
is an essential part of the license, so that it would be- 
come void in case one dog dies and another is purchased 
in its place, the license being not to keep a dog, but a cer- 
tain dog, numbered and described. . 
When a dog may be regarded as "being at large," and 
not under the control of its owner, is a question which 
has received much attention in our courts. One ruling 
is to the efifect that he is still at large if he be loose and 
following the person who has charge of him, through 
the streets of a town, at such a distance that he cannot 
exercise control over him which will prevent his doing 
mischief. A dog at play with its owner's son, upon the 
owner's land, has been held to be not at large, and a con- 
stable or other person who pursues him while on the land 
and shoots him is liable for the damage he thus causes. 
As a general thing the owner of a dog is liable for 
the injury which he may inflict to one's person or prop- 
erty, but not if he venture wilfully within his reach, 
knowing him to be savage, or madden or tease him. 
Grown people are supposed to exercise more caution in 
these matters than children. The court has said, "The 
owner of a dog which has inflicted an injury on a child 
cannot exempt himself from the Jiability imposed by 
statute because it appears that the child did not act with 
the discretion and judgment of a person of mature years, 
but he is liable if the child was bitten while using such 
care as is usual with children of its age." 
In order to recover damages from the owner of a dog 
it is not necessary to prove that he was aware of the vicious 
character of the animal, or that the dog was accustomed 
to bite, or had been known to bite on former occasions. 
One of the cases decided bearing upon the liability of 
the owner of a dog for injuries done to property must 
surely prove of interest with every owner of a dog. It 
is, in substance, that when two or more dogs together, 
belonging to different persons, inflict injury upon the 
property of another, each owner can be held responsible 
only for the wrong done by his own dog, and cannot be 
held accountable for that of any of the others. 
This case dates back to the year 1838. Some dogs had 
been worrying and killing sheep, and the owner of thein 
brought suit against the owner of one of the dogs for 
the full amount of the damage. But the court held that 
it was only justice that "he should be held liable for the 
damage done by his dog alone, and not by the dog of 
another." 
In still another case it was decided that if a dog owned 
in this State strays into another State, and there bites 
a person, its keeper cannot be held liable for the injury. 
This seems almost without just reason at first thought, 
but with further consideration the line of reasoning be- 
comes evident. The plaintifif brought suit, relying on the 
law of Massachusetts for his justification, but the law of 
the place where a wrong is committed determiries its 
penalty, and as the accident happened in New Hampshire, 
and no evidence was offered as to what the law of this 
State was as to injuries inflicted by stray dogs, the action 
could not be maintained. 
A case of much more recent decision contains a warn- 
ing which every owner of a dog should take well to 
heart. It affirms that if a statute exists requiring dogs to 
be equipped with a collar, even though licensed, a dog 
cannot be allowed to roam about without a collar, and an 
officer who finds one thus is justified in shooting it, even 
though he knows at the time that it is licensed. This, 
perhaps, may seem harsh at first, but it is simply fulfilljp^ 
the requiremeBt of law^ ^ 
— ® — 
The Cruise of Tainui. 
BY L. E. MARSH, TORONTO. 
Winner of First Prize in Forest and Stream" Cruising 
Competition* 
Another day's drift! At noon we passed Thirty Mile 
Point Light, and at 5.30 we were two miles off Oak 
Orchard. At dark we made the piers and tied up. Oak 
Orchard piers, like Olcott piers, extend straight out 
into the lake from a creek. There is good shelter from 
everything except a blow from the north. 
We found the place as flat as dishwater, and after a 
couple of hours' strolling and stumbling about in the 
darkness — the village boasts of two hotels, three houses 
and a candy shop, where you can buy shoelaces and 
fishing tackle — we serenaded the sad sea wavesi with a 
few popular songs, and the combined music of a clario- 
net, a mouth organ, a dinner bell and a fish horn, and 
then turned in. 
In the morning — Wednesday, July 30 — half the crew 
spent an hour trying to locate bread and eggs and were 
soundly rated by the Skipper when they got back because 
in. their absence a breeze had sprung up which he was 
not able to take advantage of. After a hasty breakfast 
we started. But a mile out the breeze hauled dead ahead 
and dropped light. After bucking about for an hour 
we quit the game and headed back for the harbor. With 
the wind aft we jogged along at a neat clip. The breeze 
freshened just as we reached the piers and we headed 
down shore again. 
Again we doddled along all day, with the wind light, 
off shore, and so far ahead that the crew had to lie to 
leeward, and an instant's inattention at the helm set all 
her duds a-shaking. At noon Canadian, of Hamilton, 
a 35-footer ; Naomi, of the same port, a 30- foot yawl ; 
Vesta, of Toronto, a 25-footer, and Merrythought and 
Vreda, two of the first-class cutters of the Toronto fleet, 
passed us running free. 
At 4.30 P. M. the entire crew deserted the ship. She 
was two miles off shore and only 18 miles from Oak ■ 
Orchard. We rowed to terra firma and spent a couple 
of hours roaming around. A collection of raspberry 
bushes, a cherry tree and an old yacht occupied us, and 
a few impromptu races straightened our cramped lirnb§. 
Away in the ofifing lay our little craft as silent and im- 
movable as "a painted ship upon a painted ocean." In 
the gathering dusk she looked as big as a coal schooner. 
W^hen we returned to the craft, for lack of something 
else to do, we turned to and scrubbed her down from 
water-line to cabin top. 
Another night's drift! At midnight we had passed 
Braddock's Point Light, which was only six miles away 
at dusk. At 3 o'clock the Skipper roused me out. He 
pointed out a light over the bows. 
"That's the Genesee Light," he said. I steered for that 
light. I sang and whistled and held her bow for the 
twinkling point. A little squall came down, and the 
light which had been dodging me assiduously the last 
liour, seemed to tower above the mast head, and the 
black shore streak appeared on both sides of the craft. 
T rubbed my eyes but there was the light and there was 
the shore. 
"Hey, Bill," I roared, "what in thunder is this?" 
Skipper Bill bumped his head hard a couple of times 
before he reached the cabin hatch. He poked his head 
over the cabin top, gazed a second, and then fell all over 
himself, and me too, in an eager dive for the stick. 
"Ease those sheets," he shouted, and he yanked the 
tiller hard up. and we hustled for the open sea again. 
When well off shore we sighted Charlotte lights, still six 
miles ahead. 
The light I had been steering for was an arc light on 
a summer resort hotel piazza, and I would have landed 
the craft and her sleeping crew up against the hotel regis- 
ter had the Skipper not tumbled up when he did._ 
The Genesee lights disappeared in the gray light of 
the dawn and still we drifted. At ten o'clock we were 
in Charlotte harbor. After a lively afternoon and even- 
ing in Charlotte a very tired crew sought their bunks in 
a rainstorm. 
In the morning— J^riday. Aug. i— we paid a visit to 
the new clubhouse of the Rochester Yacht Club, and at 
eleven o'clock, in spite of a theatening sky, we stood out 
on a compass course, due north, for Presque Isle Bay, 
across the lake. Just outside the harbor a neat little rain 
squall came down to bid us bon voyage. Just to be 
sociable we tied in a couple of tucks, but the wind shifted 
from abeam to a point or two aft and soon the Skipper 
was shouting for more canvas. He got it, and soon the 
shore line disappeared. Out in midlake we passed drift- 
ing logs and limbs — evidences of a storm on the Canadian 
sh^re— and during the afternoon the wind gradually 
hauled ahead. First it came from the northwest. There 
was no sleeping below to-day. We hung out upon the 
weather rail while the little hooker chased along, her 
lee covering board awash, and a big white bone in her 
teeth. I tell you we enjoyed that day's work, following, 
as it did, a week of miserable drifting. In early evening 
we were plunging along in a good lump of a sea and the 
wind shifted a bit more north. For awhile we laid a 
course a couple of points east of north. Then the wiiid 
came out of the northeast, and we went about and laid 
our true course again. It looked dirty, but we lugged all 
our canvas. One by one the h'ghts along the Prince 
Edward shore appeared— Scotch Bonnet, Weller's Bay— 
and Presque Isle cluster right ahead. At ten o'clock the 
vj.'ii?,d sjiiftjcd off shore ao4 commenpeii} "fan otit." Wp 
