xml record header identifier oai:www.uflib.ufl.edu.ufdc:UF0008406500001datestamp 2008-12-05setSpec [UFDC_OAI_SET]metadata oai_dc:dc xmlns:oai_dc http:www.openarchives.orgOAI2.0oai_dc xmlns:dc http:purl.orgdcelements1.1 xmlns:xsi http:www.w3.org2001XMLSchema-instance xsi:schemaLocation http:www.openarchives.orgOAI2.0oai_dc.xsd dc:title An American dog abroad, and the foreign dogs he metdc:creator Humphrey, Frank PopeAlpha Publishing Company. ( Contributor )dc:subject Dogs -- Juvenile fiction.Human-animal relationships -- Juvenile fiction.Queens -- Juvenile fiction.Courts and courtiers -- Juvenile fiction.Castles -- Juvenile fiction.Juvenile fiction. -- Great BritainBldn -- 1896.dc:publisher Alpha Publishing Companydc:date 1896.dc:type Bookdc:format 249 p. : ill., ports. ; 19 cm.dc:identifier http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/ufdc/?b=UF00084065&v=00001002231938 (aleph)30716561 (oclc)ALH2326 (notis)dc:source University of Floridadc:language English
- __ FRANK POPE MUMPHREY |
Vaamon W. Coly
prom
Qurtie Rome Lares ne
HIN
THE PHOTOGRAPH SPOT GAVE TONY.
See page 265.
AN AMERICAN DOG
ABROAD,
And the Foreign Dogs He Met
By
FRANK POPE HUMPHREY
Author of ‘““A New England Cactus,†‘The Queen’s Home
at Balmoral,’ etc.
Illustrations
from photographs of the real dogs, their
home: s and their friends,
BOSTON
ALPHA PUBLISHING COMPANY
1896
Copyright, 1896
by
ALPHA PUBLISHING COMPANY
All rights reserved
To
My dear little English friends
Walter and Kitty
These chronicles of Tony
are affectionately
dedicated.
CHAPTER.
He
If.
II.
IV.
Wo
VI.
VII.
VIII.
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
My Voyage . 15
I Meet the Queen’s Dog Spot 20
Wallace, My Noble Highland Friend 26
I cee the Queen and Her Dogs Off to Windsor, 44
I Visit Edinburgh Castle 60
With Peter in a Game Preserve 76
I Take Tea with Belle Plowright 100
The Princely Dogs and Kennels of Sandring-
ham 122
My Christmas at Bickling Hall . 144
Gipsy Ragamuflin and the Wake 161
A Duke and Rigolette : 179
I Am Present at a Deer-Hunt, Exmoor 197
With Robin in a Wherry on the Broads 216
I Visit Warwick Castle and the North War-
wickshire Pack 237
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE.
The Photograph Spot Gave Tony . 2 ; . Frontis
Tony Taking Observations from a Port Hole of the
Cephalonia 15
Portrait of Wallace 29
The Home of Wallace 38
Stag: Painting by Landseer 387
The Queen’s Highland Attendant 47
The Queen’s Indian Secretary 51
Mons Meg 60
Portrait of Scott 65
The Edinburgh Castle Parade Ground 67
The Regalia of Scotland 71
Peter and His Little Master 79
Pheasant’s Eggs in Nest 83
Young Pheasants in the Nest ; 89
The Old Market Cross at Peter’s Gate 95
Belle Plowright 108
Belle Plowright’s Cottage : mpl ON
The Old Norman Church Where Belle and Ty Met.
(Built A. D. 1100) : : 5 epee eli
West Front of Sandringham House (the Prince of
Wales's Norfolk Home) 125
Sandringham Kennels with Perla at Her Gate 129
The Future King : : : 133
Family Group with Plumpy, Gummy and Huffy 139
11
12 ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE.
Bickling Hall, Home of Dacca 147
Portrait of Dacca 153
The Family Were at Afternoon Tea 168
Sandy, Fuz and Pickles 181
Rigolette’s Promenade Coat : ; s . 190
Traveling Coat, Showing Pocket and Railway Ticket 191
“ At Home ’’ Coat with Laced Collar, Showing Pocket
and Handkerchief . 192
The Collar or Necklace, with Turquoise and Silver
Bells 194
Cesar and Brutus ; : ‘ 5 ; en Oo)
Great Tower at Windsor Castle Where the Jack-
daws Live 203
Balmoral Castle, Showing Main Entrance 207
The Bagpiper . 211
The Volunteer Going Up the River 217
Portrait of Robin . 221
Horning Village, Where the Children Sing John Bar-
leycorn 225
Wroxham, Queen of the Broads . 231
Warwick Castle : : 239
Sweetlips and Some Others of the Pack 243
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
I.
MY VOYAGI
1c)
HEN I am naughty
my master calls me
“Anthony!?? When I am
good, which is most times,
he says “Tony.†So though
my real name is Anthony, if I should
put it at the head of this true account of my
travels, nobody would know it was I, and I
wish everybody to know the traveler and
writer is I.
My master and I set out on our travels in
June. We took a stateroom on board the
S. S. Cephalonia, from Boston. At least my
master took a stateroom which I was to share,
15
16 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
with all the privileges. But there was a
woman in the cabin who objected to dogs.
T have observed that almost everyhere
there is a woman who objects to dogs. They
say dogs bite their ankles.
But I don't bite. T wish everyone to know
in this first chapter of my travels that I don’t
bite. [Tama well-bred pug.
By great good luck, the Objector was seasick
for three days and could not leave her berth;
and each of those days I had a good run in
the saloon, where I received a good deal of
attention.
But at the end of three days, the Objector
to dogs was able to go on deck. Our state-
room was by the foot of the gangway, and I
ass followed be-
saw her goup. The steward
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 17
At night, after the Objector had gone
below, my master took me for a stroll on deck,
and again in the early morning. I liked the
morning stroll best. There were always boys
on deck then. And from their conversation,
I concluded there were objectors to boys on
board, also. But all the objectors slept late,
and we had the deck to ourselves.
One morning we saw whales spouting.
singular fashion! I should not wish to take
in water and spout it out of a hole in my head!
Another morning we saw an iceberg. The
ice I had always seen before was white. But
this was pink and blue and green and red!
Truly, I advise every dog to travel and see
the wonders of the sea!
I saw nothing else to bark at, except a
small vessel that passed near us one day, I
saw it from the round window in our state-
room, Which was just big enough to put my
head out of.
There was a small dog of the spaniel family
on board the vessel. He returned my bark
18 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
with great cordiality. “Any objectors to
dogs on your ship?†I asked.
“Not one!†said he.
The Objector had overheard our conversa-
tion from her place on deck, and I heard her
say, “There’s that dog again! I thought he
was to be confined for the rest of the voyage.â€
Cruel Objector! after being shut up herself
three days in a stuffy stateroom, why wish
me to be shut up in one the whole voyage?
But I had a lovely revenge! The last day
my master took me on deck. He wished me
to see the coast of Ireland. But I was much
more pleased with the white seagulls flying
about the ship. So was my Objector.
“Sweet creatures!†said she. And then
she scowled at me. And at that moment the
Cephalonia began to roll.
With the first lurch, over went the Ob-
jector; and her cushions, and pink box of
sweets, and biscuits, and something to drink
in a flask, and book, and bag of valuables, and
sun umbrella, and fan, all began to roll down
the slope of the deck towards the water.
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 19 °
Had I been a dog of less good-breeding, I
should have sat still on my haunches and let
them roll. But I do not take revenge in that
unhandsome fashion. I sprang forward and
seized the bag of valuables just as it was going
over to the fishes. I then made a snatch at
the pink box of sweets. But at that instant
the ship rolled in the opposite direction, and
everything went down the gangway, except
the Objector; she was seized by the passing
steward.
There were diamonds and gold pins in the
bag of valuables, and the Objector sent me a
large vanilla sweet, for my pains. I hate
vanilla. But my master said, “Tony, good
fellow!†in that pleased voice of his, which
was better to me than all the sweets in the
pink box.
IL.
I MEET THE QUEEN’S DOG SPOT.
NY dog who has money may travel. But
a every dog that travels may not see a
queen. But I have seen one, and the way of
it was this.
J was one day waiting with my master be-
side the River Dee, where a stone bridge
crosses. On that bridge I met a genteel little
dog. We at once made acquaintance, and I
learned his name was Spot. He was a pretty
fellow, friendly and social.
Ile lived just over the bridge, he said. is
house was called Balmoral Castle. I per-
ceived it had a high tower with a clock on it.
A red flag streamed from the top.
“That is my mistress’s flag,†said Spot, “and
it is always flying when we are here.â€
“And who may your mistress be, Spot?†I
asked.
20
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 21
“The Queen of Great Britain, Tony,â€
said he.
At that I was taken aback. But I was not
going to let Spot see that I was. So I said,
“Indeed!†as though queens were an everyday
sight with me. “And I suppose she puts on
her crown every morning when she gets up.â€
But I saw in an instant I had made a mis-
take, and betrayed my ignorance. Pre-
tenders are always doing that.
“Crown!†exclaimed Spot, but too well-
bred to smile. “I should think not! but you
can see for yourself, for here she comes.â€
At that instant a man on a big horse
dashed across the bridge. “That’s her out-
rider,†says Spot. “Now comes her carriage.â€
That, too, dashed by, drawn by two gray
horses. She did not wear a crown. She wore
a black straw hat. J was disappointed, and
said so. I also observed a look of surprise on
her face when she saw us. ;
“To tell the truth,†said Spot, “I’ve no busi-
ness here.â€
“Then youve run away?†I said.
lo
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
bo
‘Well, not exactly. I just stepped out
through a break in the hedge, for a short
walk. Come through the break and see our
place. We mustn’t show ourselves,†contin-
ued Spot. “If we do, you'll be driven off and
I shall be shut up.†So we promenaded—
I will not say skulked
along in the sbrub-
bery.
I learned that Spot’s mistress is uncom-
monly fond of her dogs. They walk out with
her, they sit with her, they travel with her.
Every morning they are washed and combed,
and their hair is carefully parted down the
middle of their backs, before they are brought
to her sitting-room.
“Look at that scarlet monster! IT hate him?
said Spot suddenly.
J peeped from the shrubbery and saw a tall
footman in a red coat.
“My mistress’s footinen are all over six feet
long,†said Spot. “low I should like to bite
his big calves! Sometimes,†he went on,
“when I have been washed and combed till I
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. .23
fairly smart, and then just take a little roll
on the gravel to cool the smart, and that foot-
man boxes me, I wish I were an unwashed cur
living in a dirty hut.â€
“But think, Spot!†said I, “you have for mis-
tress the Queen of Great Britain!â€
“True,†replied Spot. “And I love her.
She pats me with her royal hand It is a
pretty hand and has pretty rings on it.â€
“J admire your home, Spot,†Lsaid. “What
smooth green lawns to frolic over! what high
hills to scamper up! and, can I believe my
nose? do I smell deer?†,
“You do. Lots of ’em. My mistress had
a pet one once. It butted us dogs, and we
chased it, and didn’t it run! ki-yi! Mistress
didwt like that. She wants us to be consider-
ate like herself. But how can a dog be con-
siderate with deer running away right before
his nose?â€
“Tt is the misfortune of human beings that,
however kind they may be, they cannot enter
exactly into a dog’s feelings,†I remarked.
24 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
i retired as I had entered, through the
break in the hedge. “Come to-morrow at
eleven and you shall see my mistress in her
garden chair,†said Spot. And he pointed
out the shrubbery where I was to wait.
“or,†said he, “I must be in attendance upon
her and cannot meet you, and if the policeman
sees you he’ll nab you, Tony.â€
At the hour named I was there. The gar-
den chair was drawn by a sleek donkey.
The man that led the donkey wore a short
plaid petticoat.
Spot cast an eye towards the shrubbery
where I was and barked, “How dye do!â€
But I dared not respond so much as by a single
wag of my tail, for I remembered the police-
man.
“What is Spot barking at?†asked his
mistress,
“Nothing, your Majesty,†replied the man
in the little petticoat.
As though a dog ever barks at nothing!
But what can you expect of a man in a
petticoat?
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 25
P. 8. J afterwards learned that the little
petticoat is called a kilt. It is a part of the
ancient Highland dress. Again, I advise all
dogs to travel and see the wonders of the
world.
P. P. S. Spot gave me his photograph
taken with his mistress and other members
of the family. The gentleman at her right
hand wears the ancient Highland dress.
Other photographs were given me, which will
appear in these travels.
Il.
WALLACE, MY NOBLE HIGHLAND FRIEND.
Y master paints; not houses and fences,
but pictures, and he is always looking
for what he calls “subjects.†So we went on
from Balmoral into the hills for “subjects.â€
My master went pony-back, and we had a
boy, Kenneth, who also went pony-back.
Sometimes I trotted and sometimes I rode be-
hind my master or Kenneth.
When we came to a “subject†we got off the
ponies and Ixenneth put up a tent. My
master and I slept in the tent at night, but .
Kenneth slept on a pile of heather outside.
One night he asked me if I would sleep on his
feet to keep them warm. I felt I could not re-
fuse such a request, but I awoke in the middle
of the night as cold and stiff as a piece of
frozen meat.
I made off into the tent and snuggled beside
26
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 27
my master. I felt a little anxious about Ken-
neth’s feet. But I heard him at daybreak
stepping briskly about and singing, so I knew
he was all right.
For some days I made no acquaintances.
But on the fifth day I met with Wallace, who
belongs to the Collie family. The Collie
family is a superior family. I do not think I
met with a better-bred dog than Wallace in
allmy travels. Iam sure that at times when
he visited us, he was hunery; for he and
his master lived entirely on oatmeal porridge,
which I hate. And he was never ereedy.
When my master offered him a choice bit, he
accepted it, but not with indecent laste.
And Kenneth might set his kettle of Savory
soup right before his nose and he would not
so much as sniff at it.
He invited me to his house.
Well, I was surprised! From his grand
manner I expected to see another castle. But
here it is, you can see it for yourself. My mas-
ter photographed it.
28 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
However, the sight of it taught me one les-
son; to consider what a dog is, and not what
kind of a house he lives in.
“Aren’t you ever lonesome here, Wallace?â€
I asked.
“No,†replied Wallace. “I’m never lone-
some with my master and the sheep.â€
For his master is a shepherd, and wears a
shepherd’s plaid of black and white, and car-
ries a long hooked stick, which Wallace said
was a “crook.â€
“You keep pretty busy with your sheep
most times, I suppose,†said I.
“Yes, especially when the snow comes, and
the lambs.â€
“Wallace,†I said confidentially, “I should
think sometimes you would be tempted to eat
a sweet, tender little lamb.â€
At that Wallace’s long silken hair bristled;
his tail stopped wagging, and he looked at me
with eyes full of angry fire.
“If I thought you really meant that, Tony,â€
says he, “I’d take you by the scruff and shake
WALLACK,
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. bl
you till you hadn’t but just breath enough
left to live.â€
I hastened to beg pardon. “I was only
jesting,†I said. I did not dare even to hint
that a collie who had to live on oatmeal por-
ridge might be forgiven if he tasted of his
master’s lambs occasionally. But my re-
mark softened his anger.
“Oh! very well, Tony, if ’twas a jest. But
some subjects are not proper for jesting. No
honorable dog would permit himself even to
think of betraying his trust. I would give
: my life for my sheep,†says he, “but T would
not take theirs if I were starving.â€
We did not speak for a few moments, while
Watlace smoothed down his hair. Then he
began to wave his beautiful tail slowly to and
fro, and I knew he had got over his anger.
“T did shake a dirty cur by the scruff, once,
Tony,†he said, smiling. “Ile was worrying
one of my master’s lambs. I just picked him
up and shook him and then dropped him into
the river. He could swim, but he didn’t
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
scramble out my side. He never worried
lambs again. Such tykes are a disgrace to
our race, Tony.â€
“Tyke†is Scotch for a mangy dog.
Wallace was pleased to say, when we
parted, that he had enjoyed our acquaintance,
that I was a good fellow and he hoped to meet
me again, all which made me proud.
Then my master, and I, and Kenneth and
the ponies, went on further up the valley of
the Dee, and into the hills. The carriage road
stopped, and we took a bridle path. We
came out at last into the sweetest glen! It
lad hills all about, and a brown stream run-
ning through it, and tall firs and juniper
bushes. Its name is Glen Feshie.
“Tiere we are!†said my master, “and here
they are!â€
I looked around. “They†were a little en-
campment of tumble-down huts built of wood
and turf.
“Up with the tent, Kenneth, and make
THE HOME OF WALLACE.
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 35
coffee,†said my master. And there we
stayed. And every night after supper my
master sat in the door of one of these huts,
and smoked and smoked, with his thinking-
capon. ITlay at his feet, and the stars winked
at us through the chinks in the turf thatch.
There was a painting of a stag on the chim-
ney piece.
“Do you know who painted that, Tony?â€
asked my master one day. “His name was
Landseer. He was a great painter. He
painted deer. And he came here and lived in
these huts so as to study them. He was a
great lover of dogs and painted them, too.â€
Deer were as thick in that glen as spatters!
One day a noble stag came close to us. He
was a “royal†and had ten points to his ant-
lers. Ile did not see us, but he lifted his
handsome head and sniffed. “Hist, Tony!
lie low! he smells us,†whispered my master.
That very instant he saw us! and with a toss
of those splendid antlers off he went in long
leaps up the elen, and over to the brown
36 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD,
stream. Did I bark at him? NotI! I just
felt small! and what a jolly thing to paint
them as Mr. Landseer did!
One night a robin sang on a juniper bush
in the twilight. Kenneth had washed up, and
was sitting with us. “Shall I tell you a story
about Cock Robin, sir?†he asked.
“Yes, by all means,†replied my master.
And Kenneth told this:
[He told it in Scotch, but I shall translate
it for the benefit of such of my readers as have
not traveled, and are therefore not familiar
with Scotch. ]
THE MARRIAGE OF COCK ROBIN AND JENNY WREN,
TTow it Came About,
There was an old gray Pussy-cat and she
went away down a waterside and there she
saw a wee Robin Redbreast hopping on a
briar bush. And gray Pussy-cat says,
“Where are you going, wee Robin?†And
wee Robin says, “I’m going away to the King
STAG PAINTING —BY LANDSEER.
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 39
to sing to him a song this good Christmas
morning.†And gray Pussy-cat says, “Come
here, wee Robin, and [ll let you see a bonnie
white ring round my neck.†But wee Robin
says, “No! no! old gray Pussy-cat, no! no!
Ye worry the wee mousies, but ye’ll no worry
me!†So wee Robin flew away till he came
to a thorny dyke, and there he saw a gray
greedy Hawk sitting. And the gray greedy
Hawk says, “Where are you going, wee
Robin?†And wee Robin says, “’m going
away to the King to sing to him a song this
good Christmas morning.†And gray greedy
Ilawk says, “Come here, wee Robin, and VU
let you see a bonnie feather in my wing.â€
But wee Robin says, “No! no! gray greedy
Hawk; no! no! Ye pluck all the linnets, but
yell no pluck me!†So wee Robin flew away
till he came to a cleft in a crag, and there he
saw sly Tod Lowrie sitting.
[The fox is called Tod Lowrie in Scotland. ]
And sly Tod Lowrie says, “Where are you
going, wee Robin?†And wee Robin says,
40 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
“Pin going away to the King to sing to hima
song this good Christmas morning.†And
sly Tod Lowrie says, “Come here, wee Robin,
and V’ll let ye see a bonnie spot on the tip of
my tail.†And wee Robin says, “No, no! sly
Tod Lowrie, no, no! Ye worry the wee lam-
mies, but ye’ no worry me.†So wee Robin
flew away till he came to a bonnie brookside,
and there he saw awee Laddiesitting. And the
wee Laddie says, “Where are you going, wee
Robin?†And wee Robin says, “’m going
away to the Ising to sing to him a song this
good Christmas morning.†And the wee Lad-
die says, “Come here, wee Robin, and Vl give
‘you a good bit of oat cake out of my pouch.â€
But wee Robinsays, “No, no, wee Laddie, no, no!
Ye trap the goldfinches, but ye’ll no trap me.â€
So wee Robin flew away till he came to the
Iking, and there he sat on a window sill and
sang the King a bonnie song. And the King
says to the Queen, “What shall we give to
wee Robin for,singing us this bonnie song?â€
And the Queen says to the King, “I think we’ll
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. - 41
give him Jenny Wren to be his wife.†So
Cock Robin and Jenny Wren were married,
and the King and the Queen and all the Court
danced at the wedding. Then they flew away
home to their own waterside and hopped on a
briar bush.
“Tt’s a capital story, Kenneth,†said my
master. “And is it out of your own head?â€
“No,†said Kenneth. “It came out of a big-
ger head than mine, sir. Robbie Burns’ head,
sir.â€
Every morning Kenneth sang, sometimes
one song, sometimes another. But he seemed
to be very fond of this one:
Send a horse to the water, yell no make him
drink;
Send a fool to a college, ye’ll no make him
think;
Send a crow to the singing, and still he will
Crow 3
For they’ve none of them got rummel-gump-
tion, ay, no!
And to this day I don’t know what rummel-
42 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
gumption means. Tye tried to ask my mas-
ter. But the word is beyond even my lin-
guistic powers.
But one morning while it was yet quite
dark, I heard Kenneth roaring out:
Up in the morning’s not for me,
Up in the morning airly;
When a’ the hills are covered with snow,
I’m sure it’s winter fairly.
Cold blows the wind from east to west,
The drift is driving sairly;
So cold and shrill I hear the blast,
Tm sure it’s winter fairly.
I put my head out of the tent. All the glen
was white, and the snow was falling in great
flakes!
“We must break camp,†says ny master.
And we did. We hurried down the valley.
Thad time to say “how-d’y-do†and “good-byeâ€
to Wallace in passing.
“T?’s a fine country youre leaving, Tony,â€
said Wallace.
“There’s no doubt of it,’ said I. “But the
country my master is in, that’s the fine coun-
try for me!â€
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 43
We said “good-bye†to Kenneth, too. He
sniffed, but quickly dried his eyes to count the
shillings my master gave him. Kenneth is
saving his shillings to go to college. He is
going to be a “meenister,†he says. The last
I heard of him he was roaring out:
For they’ve none of them got rummel-gump-
tion, ay, no!
P. S.—I wish to explain just here about my
name. The printer-man has put in a letter
that does not belong to it. My name is An-
tony, not Anthony. Jam named for the great
Roman soldier, Mare Antony. That is the
way he spelt his name. I hope my readers
will bear this important fact in mind.
IV.
I SEE THE QUEEN AND HER DOGS OFF TO WINDSOR.
S we came down the valley of the Dee,
A and to the stone bridge at Balmoral, I
looked about if, by chance, I might see
Spot. There he was! and he greeted me with
great cordiality.
“Youre just in time,†said he. “We leaye
to-morrow for Windsor, bag and baggage.
The Castle is in such confusion Dye just
stepped out for a little quiet.â€
“We leave to-morrow, too,†I replied.
“At eleven?â€
“No, at four.â€
“Then you can see us off,†said he. “It’s
worth seeing. But I'll just say ‘good-bye’ to
you here, Tony, I can’t do that at the station.â€
All the next forenoon the “bag and bag-
gage†was coming down to the station from
Balmoral. It came in fourgons.
44
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 45
is a great covered baggage van with a door
behind for the luggage to get in and out.
Each fourgon was full of big portmanteaux,
little portmanteaux, Gladstone bags, dress-
ing-cases, hat boxes, dress baskets, tin trunks,
big American trunks and little leather Eng-
lish trunks. These were all dumped upon the
station platform, and two of the tall scarlet
footmen sorted them.
At quarter to two my master and I went to
the station square to see the Queen off. The
whole town was there also to see the Queen
off. Iwas at once greeted by a large, impos-
ine mastiff.
“I infer you have come to see ler Majesty
off,†said he. “It is a sight that custom can-
not stale.†And I saw at once that this was
the most learned dog I had ever met.
“Do you reside at Ballater?†I asked in my
best English.
“T do,†he replied. “I reside with the
schoolmaster, and my name is Plato.â€
“And mine is Mare Antony,†I said. For I
46 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
felt that “Tony†was no name for my present
dignified company.
“T presume, Mare Antony,†said he, “that
this is the first time you have witnessed Her
Majesty’s departure from the Highlands.â€
saiiise
“I have witnessed it twice a year for ten
years,†said he.
I made a rapid calculation, for I am rather
good at arithmetic. “Two times ten is
twenty.â€
“Then, Plato,†said I aloud, “vowve wit-
nessed it twenty times.â€
He looked at me approvingly. “Ay,†said
he, “and I can give you all the information
you desire.â€
We sat down on our haunches.
“Do you perceive that red carpet spread
from the door of the station across the plat-
form to the line?†he asked.
[The English call the “track†the “line.†|
“That red carpet is always spread for the
feet of Royalty. If you or I, Mare Antony,
THE QUEEN’S HIGHLAND ATTENDANT,
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 49
or any of these town folk, should venture to
step upon it, we should be driven off by six
policemen in plain clothes. That is why it
is so dangerous for a dog to venture. When
a policeman wears his blue clothes and hel-
met hat and badge, you know him, and can get
out of his way. But how can you tell him in
plain clothes? When the policemen protect
Royalty, they always wear plain clothes.
“And,†he added, “no dog or anybody else
is allowed in the station except those that are
going on the Queen’s train.â€
“Then she has a train to herself,†I re-
marked.
“Certainly.â€
The carriages began to arrive, and I
learned the value of my new acquaintance.
Ie knew everybody.
“That,†said he, “is Dr. Reid, Her Majesty’s
medical man. That is Sir Henry Ponsonby,
ler Majesty’s private secretary. That
dark man in the white turban is Abdul
Kkavim, her Indian secretary. There are two
50 AN AVERICAN DOG ABROAD.
ladies-in-waiting. There are Her Majesty’s
personal maids, Mrs. MacDonald and Eliza-
beth Stewart. Those superior-looking men
are valets. That Indian in a long white
gown and blue sash and white turban is Her
Majesty’s Indian attendant. Her Highland
attendant will ride in the rumble of her
carriage.â€
A closed carriage drove up. It was drawn
by four horses. Two postilions in scarlet
were on two of the horses.
“That is the Royal baby, Prince Donald,â€
said Plato. The nurse stepped out with
Prince Donald in her arms.
“It erows awfully interesting,†I remarked.
“It will be more so,†replied he. “Do you
observe the high flag staff over our heads?
When the Queen’s carriage comes in sight
over the bridge there, the royal standard will
be run up that staff.â€
Just then I heard music and the tramp,
tramp of many feet.
“The Queen’s Guard of Honor,†said Plato.
OTARY.
CRE
EN’S INDIAN SE
THE QuE
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 53
And a company of soldiers marched into the
square at a quickstep. They all wore the lit-
tle petticoats called kilts, and pink and white
plaid stockings, and scarlet jackets, and a pile
of feathers on their heads. They stopped and
stood in a straight line.
“Ah, here she comes! the Queen of Eng-
land and Empress of India,†and Plato was on
his feet in an instant. I also sprang to my
feet. For it is not etiquette to sit in the
presence of royalty. The royal standard flew
up the staff. It is red and has lions and a
harp on it.
Two outriders dashed into the square.
Then came Her Majesty’s open carriage. It
was drawn by four beautiful gray horses.
The Queen-ISmpress bowed, and every man
took off his hat. But the women kept theirs
on. The Queen did not wear a black hat this
time. She wore a black bonnet. On the seat
opposite her sat a lady with a pink rose
in her bonnet.
“That,†said Plato, “is the Princess Bea-
b+ AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
trice of Battenberg, and those are two of her
children, Prince Alexander and Princess
liva.
“Observe the guard salute,†said Plato. I
observed. Each soldier dropped the end of
his musket on the ground with a sharp rattle.
Their pretty flag dipped. A strain of music
was played. “That is saluting the Queen,â€
he added.
Then the Indian attendant in the long
white gown and blue sash came to the car-
riage steps; and the Highland attendant
came down from the rumble; and the two
helped Her Majesty to alight.
It surprised me to see she was lame and
walked with a stick. She walked along the
red carpet and was helped into her carriage.
[Here again I must explain that the Eng-
lish do not say “car,†but “carriage.â€]
Presently the train began to move.
“But where are Spot and the other dogs?â€
I demanded of Plato.
“Observe the Queen’s carriage as it passes,â€
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. DE
ot
he replied. I did. In the front compart-
ment a sable collie was looking from the win-
dow. “That,†said Plato, “is Her Majesty’s
favorite collie. His name has escaped me.
Me travels in the compartment with the High-
land and Indian attendants. A door commu-
nicates with Her Majesty’s sitting room.â€
At a window of the sitting room I saw the
Queen sitting in a large easy chair.
“The Queens carriage moves without the
least movement,†said Plato. I suppose he
meant that it does not shake about.
In the next carriage I saw the Princess
Beatrice’s childven looking out of the win-
dows. They had already got their hats off
and were smiling.
“But where is Spot?†I demanded again.
“Tle is locked up in a dog basket in the lug-
gage yan,†replied Plato.
“So that’s the way royal dogs travel, is it?â€
Texclaimed impetuously. “Vm glad ’m nota
royal dog.â€
“There are compensations in every sphere
0G AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
of life,’ remarked Plato. “The basket is
lined and he is very comfortable.â€
The train disappeared up the line—eleven
carriages in all and two engines. The Royal
Standard came down the staff. The guard
marched away to the music of “The Girl I
Left Behind Me.†That was what Plato said
it was. I asked if he knew the name of the
girl that was left behind, and he said, “No.â€
it was one of the few things he didn’t know.
He turned to go.
“Warewell, Mare Antony,†said he. “Yimust
now return to the discharge of my manifold
duties. Be good and happy! Farewell!â€
and he waved his tail with a patronizing air.
I felt relieved when he turned the corner and
disappeared.
“And now, Tony,†said my master, “we'll
pack and start. Thank goodness, it don’t
take eleven cars and two engines to move us /â€
He packed his portmanteau in five minutes.
He put his extra boots on top of his best shirt.
He jammed them in, and [ heard the starched
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 57
linen crack. “There, now we’re ready, Tony.â€
And he bought a third-class ticket.
The first part of the way we were alone, and
I had the freedom of the compartment. But
at Dinnet, a large fat man was evidently pre-
paring to enter.
“Pll wrap you in my plaid, Tony, for it is
rather cool, and put you up on the rack. For
that man isan Objector. It’ll be comfortable
up there. Only don’t wriggle, or yow’ll
fall off.â€
We could always tell an Objector. And I
generally slipped quietly under the seat when
one was present. It was kind of my mas-
ter to wrap me up, for my constitution is
rather delicate. The pug family are delicate.
Prom their high breeding, T suppose. But
not to fall off! that was easier said than done.
For this was not the Queen’s train, and its
jolts and flings were awful. I tried to keep
still. The attempt was fruitless. T felt amy-
self going. T gasped, but T dropped, straight
down upon the Objectors hat. Luckily ny
58 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
weight jammed it well over his eyes. For be-
fore he recovered his sight my master had
re-wrapped me and tucked me behind him.
“JT beg your pardon,†said he to the Objector.
“My parcel slipped from the rack. The way
this train jolts is disgraceful.â€
The Objector growled and smoothed out
his hat. I saw him through an opening in
the plaid. Ue got off at a place called Kirk-
caldy. Two sweet young women and two
small boys got in. They were not Objectors,
and my master shortly unwrapped me and I
looked from the window. We were on a
bridge. Far, far below I saw the water shine
in the moonlight.
“That is the Firth of Forth,†said my mas-
ter. “And what is a Firth?†I asked. “An
arm of the sea,†said he. So droll that the sea
should have an arm! I asked him if it had
more than one arm. And he said, “Oh, yes,
hundreds, I should think.â€
And below twinkled the lights in a great
ship. Jor we were far, far above the tops of
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 59
its masts. And down the Firth towards the
sea twinkled hundreds of lights on the two
shores.
“This is the great Forth bridge, one of the
highest and longest in the world,†said my
master.
“And did it grow itself?†I asked.
“No, men built it as they build steamships.â€
“You men can build anything,†said I, “and
we poor dogs nothing.â€
“But you are the true and faithful friend of
man; and to be true and faithful is better
than to build great bridges and steamships.â€
And my master patted me in just the way I
like.
v.
I VISIT EDINBURGH CASTLE.
DOG generally has but onemaster. But
a Scott, the dog I met at Edinburgh
Castle, has hundreds of masters. And no
one need think this a traveler’s “tale,†as they
say over here.
British dogs
don’t say, “It’s
a lie,’ but “It’s
a tale,†which
is more polite.
MONS MEG. Seott be-
longs to a regiment of soldiers. They live
at the Castle. We met at the Castle parade-
ground where his masters were standing in
straight lines, and marching about. “Drill,â€
Scott called it. They all wore kilts like the
Queen’s donkey-man.
My master was to lunch with the officers,
GO
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 61
and so Scott invited me to lunch with him and
go over the Castle. We went through a
great stone gate with a house on top, then
up a passage and through another stone gate.
Here we stopped to look at Mons Meg. You
may think from her name Mons Meg is a
woman. But she’s a gun.
“Pye had many a nap inside of her,†says
Scott.
“But weren’t you afraid she’d shoot?†I
asked.
“Oh, no!†said Scott, “she burst three hun-
dred years ago and can’t shoot.â€
Then we went up a stair and came out on
the battlements at the very top of the Castle.
We looked down five hundred feet. The
people walking about down there looked like
dolls, and the dogs like Colorado beetles. We
could see mountains anda great river. Truly
every dog who travels should visit Edinburgh
and the great Castle.
“Ti’s a fine view,†T said.
“Tis very well,†replied Scott, as though he
62 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
were used to seeing things. So I thought I
would let him know I had seen things too.
“’m an American and have crossed the
great Atlantic Ocean,†said I.
“Ah? said he without changing counte-
nance the least bit. “I’ve crossed two oceans
and traveled on three continents.â€
At that I stopped. He said that of course
wherever his masters went he went. He had
been in India and seen tigers, and men riding
on elephants as common as horses.
“Perhaps youve heard of the Heeliex of
Lucknow?†he asked.
“Ts it a med’cine?†said I, for I had taken
“Baxter’s Relief.â€
“Med’cine!†and he was surprised. But he
explained at once.
“Lucknow isatown in India. It hasa wall
round it. And once there were a lot of Eng-
lish folk in it, men and women and children.
And outside the wall were the Indian soldiers
trying to get in to kill them; for there was a
rebellion.
SCOTT.
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 65
“And every day the English folk hoped the
British soldiers would come to their relief,
But days and days went by and nobody came
to help them. And they were discouraged.
And then one day'a Scotch girl said, ‘Listen!
I hear the pipes coming’ And they listened,
but could not hear anything.
“Then she put her ears to the ground and
said, ‘They are coming, for I hear the tramp,
tramp of the soldiers’ feet.’ Then in a minute
the rest heard. They heard the pipes sound-
ing louder and louder; and the tramp, tramp
coming nearer and nearer. The Indian rebels
heard too, and turned tail and ran away.
And pretty soon up came my regiment,†says
Scott, cocking his ears proudly, “and they
marched in with the pipes playing, “The
Campbells are coming, O, ho! O, ho? and the
English folk and little children were safe.
And that was the Relief of Lucknow.â€
“Pipes!†said I.
“Yes, didu’t you ever see the pipes?â€
“Pye seen them. My master smokes one.
But I never heard them.â€
66 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
At that moment a singular noise broke out
on the parade-ground.
“That’s ’em! that’s the kind o’ pipe I mean.
Bagpipes; it’s splendid music,†said Scott.
I did not think it polite to say I did not
admire the music. But I did not. I only
asked, “Did you go to the Relief of Lucknow,
Scott?â€
“T did not. But the other dog did.â€
“What other dog?â€
“One that belonged to the regiment before
me. When the regiment dog dies they
always get another right away. They can’t
get on without a dog. Down there is where
they’re buried when they die.â€
I looked down and saw several small green
mounds near the Castle wall just below. At
the head of each mound was a small stone;
- and flowers were planted about.
“They put the dog’s name on the stone, and
the countries where he went with his mas-
ters,†said Scott. “There are folks who bury
their dogs anyhow; in a muck heap or any-
where. But my masters aren’t that kind.â€
TUE EDINBURGH CASTLE PARADE GROUND.
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 69
I was pleased to hear that; and pleased to
see the little green mounds, with the stones
and flowers,
We looked down at them some time. Iam
sure when I die, my master—but I will not
talk of that now.
“Tam named for a man that believed in
burying a dead dog decently,†said Scott.
“He lived over there,†and he pointed with
his nose to the housetops in Castle Street.
“He had a dog named Camp, and he buried
him over there in the garden. He buried him
himself and sent word to some folks that he
couldmt come to their dinner-party that night
because of the death of a ‘dear old friend.’
That’s a master after a dog’s heart! his name
—you may have heard of him—was Walter
Scott.
“Camp belonged to my family; the bull-
terrier family,†Scott went on to say. “IIe
was a handsome dog. We're rather a hand-
some family,†said he, perking up his nose.
I fear Scott’s military life has made him
vain,
70 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
We went up to the Half-Moon Battery. I
expect it is called Half-Moon Battery be-
cause it is shaped like half the moon. Each
gun has a little door to look out of.
And then Scott took me to the Crown Room.
The crown is pretty, but it did not sparkle so
much as I expected. It is an old crown.
Nobody wears it now. It is kept under glass
to look at. And there is a jeweled sceptre
for the King to carry in his hand, and a sword.
But nobody ever carries them now.
“The Scotch are very proud of their crown,â€
said Scott. “A part of it belonged to Robert
Bruce’s crown. No doubt youve heard of
Robert Bruce.â€
I had not. But I said nothing, as Scott
seemed to think I had. Perhaps I should
have said “No.†It is not quite honest, I
think, to make folks believe you know a thing
when you don’t, just by saying nothing.
We were lying on the Bomb Battery, where
Mons Meg is, when Scott said that. The best
view is from there and we were tired after our
AND
A OP SCOTL
THE REGALI
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 73
tramp about the Castle. For it isa big place,
and Scott showed me everything, Queen Mar-
garet’s Chapel, and everything; and the bar-
racks and the officers’ quarters.
“TI suppose yow’ll not be about here on the
Queen’s birthday?†said Scott.
“When is that?†I asked.
“May 24th.â€
“Oh, no! but why do you ask?â€
“Because if you were, you’d see something
very pretty,†said Scott. “On that day at
noon the Castle is manned in honor of Her
Majesty.â€
And I did see it. For at that time my mas-
ter made a flying visit to Edinburgh to look
at pictures. Wesaw it froma seat in Princes
Street Gardens. And this was the way it
was.
All the soldiers stood along the battle-
ments of the Castle, and their scarlet jackets
Showed above the gray walls like big red
blots. Then the great guns on the Half-Moon
Battery began to fire the salute. Bang! bang!
v4 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
bang! bang! bang! bang! bang! Just seven
guns. And at every lang! the fire flashed
from the little decors, and the black smoke
belched out in a great cloud, and the thunder
of them rolled and rolled, over the town, and
over the mountain called Arthur’s Seat, and
way down over the blue waters of the Firth of
Forth to the Sea. Then the hundreds of sol-
diers on the battlements gave three mighty
cheers. Then they all fired their muskets,
-but one after the other, beginning at the end
and running all along the line, just as quick
as could be—crack! crack! crack! crack! and
each musket sent up a little flash of fire, and
a tiny puff of gray-white smoke. Oh, it was
pretty, as Scott said. And then the regi-
mental band played the first strain of “God
Save the Queen.†And the tune is the same
as “America.†Only the English sing “God
Save our gracious Queen,†and we sing “My
Country, ’tis of Thee.â€
Then seven more big guns were fired, fol-
lowed again by three mighty cheers, and
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. rf
ol
these by the musketry, crack! crack! all along
the battlements, and then another strain of
“God Save the Queen.†Then the seven big
guns a third time, and the cheers and muskets
and the strain of music. It took a good deal
longer to do than I am writing it. You will
observe thatseven guns were fired three times,
and that makes twenty-one big guns, and
twenty-one guns is the Royal Salute.
After it was all over my master said, “And
now, Tony, as this is your birthday too
[though Iam sure I hadn’t thought of it] we'll
go down Leith Walk and get some short bread
and Edinburgh rock.†Ido love short breads
and rock! The sky was a bright blue and the
sun was warm. “The Queen and J have fine
weather for our birthday,†I said.
IT must add that before I left Scott that day,
I owned up that I had never heard of Robert
Bruce. And then he told me a brave story
about him. I’m always glad and happy when
T’ve owned up.
VI.
WITH PETER IN A GAME PRESERVE.
Y master was asked to shoot in the East
M Country in November. And we went
down
The East Country in England is flat as a
dog biscuit. I saw it from the window of the
railway compartment. For I generally ride
with my master. There is a dog compart-
ment. But it has no window. As though a
dog when he travels doesn’t want to see the
country!
This East Country is called the Fen Country.
Master says it was all water once. I expect
my travels will make me very learned!
Every place we travel to I make a particu-
lar friend. Inthe East Country, it was Peter.
He is a Scotch terrier, and belongs to a very
small boy. Such lots of pheasants and rab-
bits and hares and partridges live here! “It
G6
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
-T
-T
must be great fun to chase ’em, Peter,†said I.
“Chase ’em!†exclaimed Peter, “well, I
don’t.â€
“Don’t chase ’em! and why not?†I asked.
I always improve every opportunity to chase
everything I can.
“No, not if I know what is good for myself!
Why, the keepers would shoot me if they
caught me chasing ’em.â€
“And who may the keepers be?†I asked.
“The men who take care of the pheasants
and rabbits. They always carry guns to
shoot vermin. They call us dogs vermin!â€
“But don’t you ever chase ’em, Peter? now
tell me true.â€
“Well,†said Peter, and he spoke low in my
ear, “I do once in awhile; I really can’t help
it, you know. It’s such fun to see ’em run.â€
We were resting in the shade near a small
wood full of underbrush.
“Do you see that board on the gate? Just
read what it says.â€
Tread:
-V
w
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED
AND
Docs wit BE SHOT.
I did not know what “Trespassers will be
prosecuted†meant. But I knew what “Dogs
will be shot†meant, and my tail dropped
between my legs. “Cruel keepers!†I ex-
claimed.
At that instant, a hare dashed into the
woods, and forgetting that dogs were shot in
there, we dashed in after it. How the long-
legged beast did run! and we after him, leap-
ing and jumping over the bushes and
ki-yi-ying!
Up flew the cock pheasants, screaming, and
the hen pheasants cackled, and the little
brown partridges took wing, and more hares
started and the most learned dog’s arithmetic
could not have counted the rabbits! but on
every side their white tails twinkled in a way
that drove us frantic.
“Ki-yi-yil†yelled Peter, and “Ki-yi-yi!â€
yelled I.
PETER AND HIS LIETLE MASTER.
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 81
But our fun was short. Other sounds were
heard; a trampling of bushes, and a man’s
voice shouting, “There are the rascals, shoot
*em! shoot ’em!â€
There was no doubt as to who were meant
by “the rascals,’ and in another second,
“Bang! bang!†went a couple of guns, and the
leaves and twigs flew all about us.
“There’s no time to waste, follow me,†said
Peter, and he made a dash into a deep dry
ditch, and I after him, and our legs played a
pretty tune for a few moments.
We came out upon an open heath where
bracken grew; and Peter stopped. “We’re
safe here,†said he. “his is public property
and the keepers cai’t shoot us here.â€
We lay down upon the cool bracken and
my tongue lolled out of my mouth, for I am
easily blown. “That was a narrow squeak,
Peter,†said I.
“Tt was so, and no mistake,†replied Peter.
“But Pve had narrower. Tve been peppered
twice.â€
82 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
“Peppered! and what may that be?â€
“The keepers load their guns with little
round shot and fire it into you. It don’t kill,
but it fills you with little holes that smart.â€
On our way home we met no end of rabbits,
and put up a covey of partridges right under
our noses. But we did not chase them. We
only looked mournfully at each other and
shook our heads.
I just stepped inside Peter’s gate to say
“Good-bye†“Yowll call again before you
leave the parish,†said Peter.
“T shall be very pleased to,†I replied, for I
thought it an uncommonly pretty place and I
liked Peter. And just then whiz-z-z! and
rattle, rattle, rattle! and into the gate and
down the drive dashed a donkey car chock
full of children and nurses.
“Whoa!†shouted a small boy, and nurse
pulled in the donkey just in the nick of time.
For I was so taken by surprise I hadn’t pres-
ence of mind to get out of the way and was
just under the wheel. “Jenny will run when
PHEASANTS’ EGGS IN NEST.
OU
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. §
she’s coming home,†said the small boy, whose
name was Walter.
“Oh! oh! there’s Peter and a new dog!
Tum to me, New Dog,†and the sweetest little
English maid held out both her arms, and I
jumped up over the wheel, and into them, and
licked her face all over in a minute.
Nurse shrieked: “Nasty dog! he’ll bite her!
he’ll bite her! throw him out! throw him out!â€
I really felt hurt that she should think I
could do such a thing. Hearing nurse’s cry,
the dear “marmee†came hurrying out. I
instantly sat up before her and crossed my
fore paws as my master has taught me to beg
pardon, and she patted my head with the
ereatest cordiality. “Oh, no, nurse,†she said,
“he’s only kissing Miss Witty. He doesn’t
bite. Lle’s a friend of Peter and is very wel-
come.†I knew in an instant she loved dogs
and was no Objector.
“Ah, Peter, Peter!’ she said, looking re-
proachfully at him, “f know youve been
poaching again.†Fer that is what they call
86 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD,
it when a dog does a little hunting on his own
account. “Yowll come to some bad end, ’m
afraid, if you dowt stop.†And Peter dropped
his head and tail. “Well, well, Peter,†said
she, “never mind. Yowre a pretty good
doggie if you do poach. Only don’t let the
keepers see you.†And Peter jumped straight
up five feet and kissed her cheek. Peter is
uncommonly light in the legs. Our hearts
were light, too, and together we dashed over
the lawn. But alas! there were croquet
_ hoops stuck in it, and I stumbled against one
and rolled over in a disgraceful fashion just
as I was thinking what a fine exhibition of
my grace and agility I was making.
“Pride will have a fall,†said the familiar
voice of my master. Je was just coming in
at the churchyard gate.
“Were you the two scamps the keepers were
after?†said he, looking severely at Peter and
me. I expect we looked guilty, and I began
to think we should never hear the last of that
poaching,
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 87
He held up a brace of plump partridges
which he said were, with the dear “marmee’sâ€
leave, for the nursery dinner-table. Tle shot
them himself.
“Oh!†thinks I to myself, “so yowve been
poaching!†But he hadn’t. He was a man,
and had been invited to shoot. And that
makes the difference. And I hope I shall be
able to understand the difference by and by,
if I try hard enough.
“Tea is weddy,†said the sweet little Eng-
lish maid. “Lum up to the nursewy, Peter-
and new doggie, and have some tea.â€
We looked to the dear “marmee†for per-
mission. “Yes, go,†she said. “The new
dog’s name is Tony, dearie.â€
We followed the children through the long
passages and up the stairs to the roomiest,
sunniest nursery. There was a tall fender to
keep you from falling into the fire, and a tea-
kettle was singing like a cricket upon the hob.
There waswt even a sliver of fine furniture,
and nobody said “Get off that!†when Peter
88 ‘AN AWERICAN DOG ABROAD.
and I jumped into a chair or sat down on a
settle. It was delightful. Ido so hate furni-
ture too fine for my use! My master never
hasany. “It’s share and share with you and
me, Tony,†le says.
The nurse, too, was friendly, now she had
found out I meant well.
A big horse stood against the nursery wall.
It looked so spirited I thought it was a live
horse at first. Butit was of wood and rocked.
And the little maid said, “I’ve learned to
mount; look, Tony,†and up she went like a
bird on nurse’s hand. “Daddy says I shall
have a real live pony soon to ride.â€
After tea Peter showed me the night
nursery with the little beds. “And really,
Peter,†said I, “I almost envy you your charm-
ing home and children.â€
“Now,†said Peter confidentially as we
parted, “you come round to-morrow about
eleven and we'll see the great shoot.â€
I had no difficulty in coming round. I
feared my master would object, so I did not
YOUNG PHEASANTS IN NEST.
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 91
tell him. He was off himself to the great
shoot, he said, and as dogs were not allowed,
he must leave me behind. The instant he left
I started to find Peter.
“Meet me,†he had said, “at the old market
cross by our gate.†And there I found him.
“But how will you manage, Peter?†Lasked.
“My master left me behind because they don’t
want dogs.†But I was to learn that Peter
was a dog of resources. He shook back his
hair, shut one eve and winked the other vio-
lently. He tried to put his paw to the side
of his nose, but in doing so tumbled over back-
wards. “Youll see,†said he, recovering him-
self. “There’s more’n one way to skin a cat.â€
Though I couldn’t see what a cat had to do
with it.
We took a roundabout course. I am not
sure we did not skulk. We stopped at last in
the brown bracken under a group of trees.
From there we looked over a heathy common
with woods on three sides. “They’ll be along
pretty soon,†says Peter, “They shoot all
"92 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
they can in one cover, and then move on to
another. See what a wide nice path they’ve
had cut through the bracken for them. They
dowt have to tear their hair and scratch their
noses pushing through the scrub.â€
Presently we saw them.
walked alone in front. “That’s the Prince,â€
said Peter. “And that boy is carrying the
stool for him to sit on when he shoots; and
that man carries his guns and loads them. Oh,
its shooting made easy!†said Peter scorn-
fully. Im afraid Peter’s poaching is making
him bitter. And when I said so to my master,
he replied that there was “an element of pro:
found philosophy in my remark,†which made
me think of Plato.
We had caught glimpses all the way of men
who Peter said were the beaters—the men
that drive in the game to be shot. And we
had caught sight of the game too. Such
beauties as the cock pheasants are! with their
scarlet cheeks and white necklaces, and
feathers like rainbows. And now we saw
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 93
more beaters, with loaders, and men to pick
up the game, and a cart to put it in. And
there was a plump pony. “That pony,†said
Peter, “is for the Prince to ride on when he is
tired. Oh, yes! if yow’re a dog doing a little
sporting, yow’re peppered! But if youre a
man anda prince, you have a pony to ride, and
a stool to sit on, and somebody to load your
gun. That pony’s name is Warwick. Tm
familiar with him.â€
We saw the shooters range themselves in a
line. The Prince sat down on his stool. We
were not near enough to see the shooting
plain, and Iwas glad. Though as Peter says,
“You must kill things before you eat them,
Folks kill chickens and little lambs and
ducks; and why not pheasants and rabbits?
They are capital eating.†And that’s so.
Nothing better than a pheasant’s breast or a
rabbit’s leg.
“And the Prince,†said Peter, “is generous
with his game. IIe’ll give lots to poor folks;
a brace of pheasants here, a hare there. And
94 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
all the poor folks he gives them to don’t live
in cottages. There’s poor folks in palaces.â€
I was surprised to hear Peter say that.
And when I repeated the remark to my mas-
ter, he said Peter was an “observer†and had
a “Socratic brain,†whatever that may be. I
wonder if he was chaffing me!
“Now,†said Peter, “it isn’t all shooting.
Do you see that tent away down the road?â€
It stood on a wide grassy border as wide as a
field. “We can’t get down there to look at
it, for that man there is a policeman, though
he is in plain clothes. J know him, for ’m
acquainted with the policemen in these parts.
But that tent is where the shooters will eat
their lunch.†Peter smacked his chops.
“Ts a pity we can’t have the scraps.â€
“Scraps!†exclaimed. “I don’t eat scraps.
I share with my master.â€
“Oh, but such scraps!’ saidhe. “Such game,
such pastries and jellies and sweets! Oh, my!â€
“Ta, there they are now!†said he. “The
Princess driving herself and her ladies. They
THE OLD MARKET CROSS AT PETER’S GATE.
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 97
always come to the lunch. Ob, it is a jolly
time!â€
The ladies all wore such bright dresses and
gay fol-de-rols, they made a picture with the
tent and green grass and trees. And the
shooters all walked down to the tent, the
Prince leading the way.
And the beaters and pickers-up went off
another way to their lunch. They sat on the
ground to eat it, and Mrs. Appleblossom of
the Bluebell Jun brought it in her cart; bread
and meat and beer. Peter didn’t say any-
thing about their scraps.
On our way back we came to a little
thatched cottage in a small garden. And
there was a rabbit sitting in the door. She
had a blue collar on, and was shaking as if
with cold. J expected Peter to make a run
ather. Buthedidv’t. He even stopped con-
siderately at the gate.
“Mistress Bunny,†said he, “don’t shake so.
Grannie won’t let them shoot you.â€
“T know that,†replied Mistress Bunny in a
98 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
weak and trembling voice. “But the sound
of their guns makes me remember how near
they did come to shooting me once.â€
And Peter told me how one day when there
was a grand shoot, Grannie Brown was sitting
in her door there reading her Bible, when this
rabbit, then young and small, ran up to her
all a-tremble and wet with sweat, and just
slipped under the edge of her petticoat and
hid. Grannie didn’t scream nor tumble over
as some women do when even so small a beast
as a mouse comes near. But she picked up
Bunny and soothed her, and had her into her
cottage, and there she has lived ever since.
She has a fine warm burrow in the garden,
and stays indoors when she likes, and is as
happy as the day is long—except on shooting
days. Then she remembers her own past
peril, and thinks, too, of her many relatives
who are probably being shot. Tor the Bunny
Family is a large one.
At our final parting, and we had more than
one jolly run together before that, I said to
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 99
Peter: “My dear friend, I have one bit of ad-
vice to offer you. Quit poaching. It may be
right and it may be wrong. But its effect
upon your morals is bad. It embitters your
disposition. Itmayleadtoyourdeath. You
may be peppered once too often. And con-
sider the grief of the sweet little maid, of the
young master, and the dear ‘marmee,’ should
such a thing happen.â€
But alas, I fear! I fear! habit is so strong,
and poaching so fascinating.
P.S. (of @ later date).—I have hesitated in
deference to the tender feelings of my readers,
whether or not to make the following
statement. But truth must out. My fears
were justified. Peter fell a victim to his love
of poaching not many mouths after our part-
ing. It was during the nesting season, when
keepers keep a sharp lookout, for the hedges
are full of nests, and the nests are full of the
pretty smoke-colored pheasants’ eggs. But
I spare my readers the details.
VII.
I TAKE TEA WITH BELLE PLOWRIGHT.
Y master sketched no end of churches
M in the English East Country. And I
always stayed by at such times. For the mar-
tins that live about the church porches and
towers are excellent eating. They tumble
out of their nests when young and tender, and
break their necks. I was feasting on some
the day I met that charming dog, Belle Plow-
right. She also had come over to the church
to lunch off martins.
“Come down to four o’clock tea this after-
noon, Tony,†said Belle, and I went.
Belle’s cottage is made of little reddish
stones. My master noticed the little stones.
So did I after he mentioned them. “TIinglish
cottages grow out of the soil,†said he. So I
suppose they must, as he said it. But I
100
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 101
never saw any growing. All I’ve seen are
grown up.
“What nonsense is this you are writing,
Tony?†says my master. I did not know that
he was looking over my shoulder and reading
every word. “I do not mean,†says he, “that
they grow up like cabbages. But they
are built of material that comes out of the
ground they stand on. Belle’s cottage and
all the cottages of this village are built of
carstones that are quarried right here. And
have you forgotten the gay little Deeside cot-
tages built of Deeside’s own bright-colored
eranite? And by and by, Tony, PH show you
a whole Oxford village built of its own pretty
yellow stone. When the English folk did not
have much stone handy, but plenty of oak
trees, they made their cottages of strong oak
timber, and filled in between the timbers with
rubble. That’s what I mean, Tony.â€
And I hope everybody that reads this will
understand what my master means. As for
myself, I fear my small head will never hold
102 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
all the things Tam learning. But I am deter-
mined that, even if it bursts with information,
I will not be like some traveled dogs I know;
they might as well have traveled with muz-
zles over their eyes and ears.
Belle received me at the nasturtium porch.
She is a white fox-terrier with yellow spots.
She was most cordial. “I love all things
American,†said she, which surprised me.
English dogs don’t generally love all things
American. I was about to speak when she
jumped up with a yell. “Rats! rats!†she
shrieked, and disappeared round the cottage.
I followed.
She was digging under a barrel of milk.
Her fore feet flew, and the dirt flew, and the
hole grew deeper, till she almost disappeared,
when — “Belle! Belle! yowll be killed!â€
shrieked a voice, and a woman dashed up,
seized Belle’s hind legs and pulled her out.
And at that instant over went the heavy
barrel, and had Belle’s back been under its
sharp edge I shudder to think what would
have happened.
PLOWRIGHT,
CLL
BE
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 105
Belle quickly recovered her breath spent in
digging. She turned to her rescuer. “This,
Tony,†said she, “is my American friend. We
have lived together a twelvemonth.†Eng-
lish East Country dogs do not say “a year.â€
They say “a twelvemonth.â€
“T have shared her tea and jam. Once
when there was a mouse in her bedroom I
slept upon her bed all night. And for her
sake I love all things American. And now
we'll go to tea.†And I perceived we were to
take it with the American friend.
“Sugar, Tony?†asked Belle.
“Yes; eight lumps,†I replied, and thus
sweetened, I managed to swallow a cupful.
Nothing has surprised me more than the
quantity of tea English dogs drink.
My master photographed Belle’s cottage.
The American friend stood in the nasturtium
porch. She held Belle and her son Jack in
leash. Other members of the family were
present; a white cat with one blue eye and
called “Bluetâ€; her other eye is yellow.
106 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
Beyond the wide marshes at the back of the
cottage is a sea my master says he “loves.â€
It is called “The Wash.†“Three hundred
years ago, Tony,†said he, “my Pilgrim
Pathers sailed out of The Wash to help found
our great Republic.â€
“And IT suppose my Pilgrim Fathers were
there too,†I remarked.
“T never heard that they were not, Tony,â€
said my master pleasantly.
After tea we lay down upon the bricks in
the nasturtium porch and Belle told me
briefly the story of her life.
“T have not always lived in this humble cot-
tage, Tony,†she said. “I have seen better
days. I lived once ina beautiful great house.
I could roam from room to room all day
and then not visit them all.â€
I really could not see the advantage of liv-
ing in a house so big you couldn’t visit it all
in one day, but I said nothing.
She went on. “My young master was a
sweet blue-eyed laddie. I was his constant
BELLE 5S COTTAGE
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 109
companion. I was not called ‘Belle’ in those
days. I was ‘Trix.’ My first grief was when
my laddie was sent to school at Eton. For he
was not allowed to take me. I expect school,
Tony, is for boys what the kennel is for dogs.
And it must not be made too pleasant.
“I had a sorry time during his absence.
There was an Objector in that family. Per-
haps you may chance to have met with an Ob-
jector in your extensive travels, Tony.â€
I was about to make use of a bit of slang
for the first time in my life and say, “You bet!â€
But I restrained myself in time from that vul-
garity. I only said, “I have, Belle, and I can
understand the situation.â€
Belle went on. “That Objector harried me
whenever I came into her presence. I had
had, as I have intimated, the run of the house.
The silk cushions in the drawing room were
mine to lie on when I pleased. But if she
I draw a veil over
caught me on one
what followed, Tony. My feelings were per-
petually hurt; my tail constantly between my
110 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
legs, She was the head housemaid, and was
what we dogs call a ‘vixen,’
“Had the dear mistress, my Lady, been at
home, I could doubtless have made my plaint
to her and been protected. For though a
stately lady, she was kind, and loved my lad-
die dearly, and loved what he loved. But she
had taken the time of my laddie’s absence to
visit a foreign country. For she was a widow
and he her only child.
“The holidays brought back my blue-eyed
laddie. Ah, happy holidays! happy to him,
but far happier to me. We roamed together
through park and field. We fished. We
trapped pigeons. We played cricket. We
had a course of hare and hounds. My
laddie was hare and together we seat-
tered the bits of paper. I slept as hereto-
fore on his bed at night, from which I had
been routed with ignominy by the Objector,
during his absence. I do not know which
was worst, her sharp tongue or her heavy
hand. But that was past. And alas! the
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 1j1
holidays also were fast passing; and I re-
solved not to be left behind again.
“On the day my dear laddie went back to
Eton, I bade him good-bye. I saw him into
the pony carriage, for my Lady herself was
to drive him to the station. They started and
I took a rapid cut across the park also to the
station. J arrived at about the same time as
they, but I kept out of sight. A crowd of
people were moying about the platform. IT
saw a large collie chained.
“ “Are you going to take this train?’ I asked.
“
“And so am I, and shall be glad of your
company, [ said.
““TTave you a ticket? he asked.
“As Thad never traveled on the line I had
never heard of a ticket. I asked him what it
was. Ile explained. He said the guard
would put me out if he found me traveling
without a ticket. He said, too, that I must
buy my ticket. And [ had no money. But
in those days, Tony, [had plenty of pluck, and
112 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
was not to be turned from my purpose by so
slight an obstacle as want of money. And
the thought of the Objector, and what I
should have to go through if I went back,
spurred me on. And, Tony, it was not all
selfishness, for I did love my laddie dearly,
and could not bear to be parted from him a
second time.
“As I was considering what to do, I saw a
policeman approaching. A porter, too, lifted
his foot to kick me. Iran. I saw an open
door in a compartment. I did not stop to see
further. I knew nothing about first and
third class. I dashed in and under a deep
seat. It had acurtain beforeit. I hoped all
was right and that the guard would not see
me. The train moved on. I lay quietly but
was too anxious to sleep. I trusted to find
my laddie when the train should stop. And
he would be as glad to see me, I knew, as I
was to see him.
“The train moved on and on. I began to
think it never would stop. But at last it
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 113
stood still. I waited for the people to leave
the compartment, and then I made a dash out.
I found myself in a maze of lines, carriages,
engines, trucks, platforms, waiting rooms,
cloak rooms, booking offices, heaps of lug-
gage, porters hurrying, bootblacks hurrying,
newsboys hurrying, hundreds of passengers
hurrying, and a great glass roof over them all.
What was I to do? how to find my laddie?
“I stood still to reflect. A man stumbled
over me. Another tried to grab me. A
porter shouted, ‘Nab that dog? Iran.
Tran, terror seized me. I dashed down a line.
T van through a tunnel black and full of
smoke. I came out ona street. I crossed a
bridge. Boys shouted after me and threw
sticks and things. A flint struck me sharply
and cut me. I felt the blood flow, but still I
ran. IT erew faint. I fell
“Tt was a quiet street where I fell. On one
side was a tall red-brick house with wide
steps. I had fallen just at the bottom of
those steps. As I lay panting, and all athirst,
114 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
and thinking I was about to die, two of my
kinsfolk came up, two white and tan fox ter-
riers. They did not passme by. They looked
at me. They licked my wound compassion-
ately. It was bleeding profusely.
“
we'll tell them at the Hospital. They can
help her.†And at that they went up the wide
steps and began to bark at the closed door.
Almost instantly the porter opened it. Ie
spoke gruffly. at first. ‘Get out? said he,
‘and not come barking here a-disturbing of
our patients.’
“But the two would not get out. They
stopped barking, but they whined, and ran
part way down to where I lay and back again,
jumping up to the porter’s hand, and inviting
him to come to me.
“So yowre brought a patient, eh? said he.
‘Well, come along.’ Te lifted me gently and
carried me in, and a man he called ‘Surgeon’
touched my wound tenderly and dressed it. I
licked his kind hand when he had done, and he
THE OLD NORMAN CHURCI! WHERE BELLE AND TONY MET.
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 117
patted myhead. ‘And nowmy doggie, said he,
‘you can go back to your master.†But alas!
where was my master, my dear laddie?
“The porter let me out and I found my two
friends and kinsfolk awaiting me. The name
of one was ‘Buttons,’ of the other ‘Taps.’ ‘We
live on this street, they said. ‘That is how
we happened to know about the Hospital.
And now come and lunch with us.’
“T accepted their kind invitation gladly. I
had eaten but little breakfast and nothing
since, and was faint with hunger as well as
loss of blood. We had an excellent lunch
served by a neat-handed maid named Phillis,
who did not object to my presence. They
would have persuaded me to remain with
them. The family, they said, were fond of
dogs.
“There are five of us now,’ said ‘Taps,’ ‘one
for each bed in the family, and my little mis-
tress would not object to another on her bed
o’ nights, [ know.’
“But I longed to find my dear laddie, and
118 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
felt that every moment in which I was not
searching for him was lost. So I bade them
good-bye with many thanks and moved on.
“Of all my wanderings by day and night,
Tony, it would be too long a tale to tell you.
I must have wandered many, many miles. I
was hungry. I was footsore. I was tired.
And O, Tony, I was broken-hearted. Tor
though I wandered so far and searched so dili-
gently, I never found my dear laddie. And
one night when I felt that nothing was left
me but to lie down by the hedge and die, a
trap passed in the moonlight. There’s a kind
Providence, Tony, watches over dogs as well
as men; that counts the sparrows when they
fall, and feeds the ravens. And it must have
been that kind Providence that whispered in
my ear to follow that trap. It was moving
slowly, so I had little difficulty in keeping up.
It stopped at this cottage. As the driver
stepped out I went up and licked his hand.
‘What strange doggie is this? he said. But
he did not drive me away. Seeing that I was
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 119
a stranger and homeless, he took mein. And
here I have lived ever since. I have every
comfort, and I love my dear master. But O,
Tony, I do so long sometimes to see again my
dear blue-eyed laddie!â€
Belle ceased. I licked her ear sympa-
thetically. But I did not speak. Her
thoughts were evidently traveling far away,
and I respected her mood. Not so that rascal
of a Jack. He had more than once rudely
broken in upon Belle’s narrative, and amused
himself by making sudden runs upon us
round the corner. He now burst upon us
again.
“[ shall be truly glad, Jack,†said Belle,
“when they take you to the kennels. He is
going,†turning to me, “to the Sandringham
Kennels to be taught obedience and good
manners. Ile does not come the instant he
is called. Tle does not mind when spoken to.
Ile jumps up and dirties ladies’ gowns with
his muddy feet. Tle interrupts conversations.
Tle will take the best chair. In short, he is a
rude dog and needs the whip.â€
120 AN AVERICAN DOG ABROAD.
Jack dropped his tail. I ventured to re-
monstrate. “Ife is young yet, Belle. Age
will steady him.â€
“TTe needs the whip,†said she. “Ile is a
spoiled dog.â€
“Well, I don’t care. Tl have a good time
while I can,†said Jack. And he made a dart
at Bluet straight through the auriculas and
broke off the finest.
Belle sighed. “There, Tony, you see!
Nothing but the kennels and whip will tame
him.â€
“T don’t care,†said Jack again. “I was
kissed by a real Princess once.â€
“And yowll never get over it,’ remarked
Belle. “Te’s as pleased as Punch over that.â€
“Tlow was it, Jackie?†Iasked. “Ilow did
it happen?â€
“It was when I was young and small,†re-
plied Jack. “Mother Belle was asleep on the
Shavings in master’s shop and I was taking
an airing beside the hedge outside the gate.
Two ladies came by. One was tall and slen-
AN AVERICAN DOG ABROAD. ith
der and had bright eyes. When she saw me,
she stopped. ‘What a sweet little dog? she
said. Then she stooped and took me up with
her gloved hands, and held me so I looked
straight into her bright eyes.
“«) you darling! she said, and then gave
me a little shake, and kissed me exactly on
that white streak in the middle of my fore-
head. Then she set me down with a gentle
pat.
“¢And do you know who it is that has kissed
you?’ asked the other lady. ‘The Princess of
Wales,’ said she.â€
“And Iam sure, Jackie,†said I, “you ought
to be as pleased as six Punches!â€
Punch is a man who prints a newspaper.
Though I dowt know why he should be
pleased.
P. S.—Master says perhaps it’s the Punch
who travels and shakes his wife and throws
the baby out of the window. And TI don’t see
why he should be pleased. But it is a com-
mon saving in Hngland, “As pleased as
Punch.â€
VIIL
THE PRINCELY DOGS AND KENNELS OF
SANDRINGHAM.
WO things made me wish to visit Sand-
T ringham; I wanted to see thé kennels
where Jack was going to be trained, and I
wished to see the place where the Princess
who kissed him lived. We went over a great
heath before we came to Sandringham Gate
House; a heath chock full of rabbits that
scampered—how they did scamper, ki-yi!
“They’re Royal rabbits; you are not tochase
them, Tony,†said my master.
I like Sandringham UHall. [All great
houses in Norfolk are called “Halls.â€] It is
a lovely house for dogs with its great sunny
windows. And there is plenty of room to
scamper round the outside without running
down flower beds. I noticed that parts of it
are built of the pretty brown-red carstone like
122
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 123
3elle Plowright’s cottage. The Princess
loves it. The heaths about it make her think
of her girlhood’s country, Denmark. On one
of the gables is a sundial that tells the time of
day, my master says. But it can tell time
only when the sun shines. And so somebody
has cut this in the stone of the sundial:
Let others tell of storms and showers,
Pll only count your sunny hours.
And above the sundial is this line:
My Time isin Thy Hand.
I rememberthese especially, because thereis
a stone in the foundation of the house just
there, which my master pointed out. It says
on the stone that it was put there to “the
memory of
DEAR OLD ROVER,
Who was the constant companion for many
vears of IT. R. H. the Princess of Wales.â€
HW. R. UW. means Her Royal Tighness; and
124 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
H. kh. H. loves dogs as they deserve to be
loved. Rover lies under the flowers in the
border.
There are dogs that live always in the ken-
nels, and there are dogs that have the run of
the house. One of the house dogs is from
China and his name is Plumpy. I found
Plumpy a sociable dog of agreeable manners.
He took me about to what he thought would
interest me. He speaks English with a
marked accent. But he does not talk Pigeon
English like some Chinese.
We walked down first to pay our respects to
our kin at the kennels. As we drew near we
heard the dogs all baying, and that’s what I
call music. Plumpy pointed out to me
another little stone among the flowers at the
back of the kennels. This is tothe memory of
BEATTIE,
“a favorite dog†of H. R. Tl. the Prince of
Wales. H. R. H. means here “J/is Royal
Highness.â€
on emery
WEST FRONT OF SANDRINGHAM HOUSE.
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 127
“Pve seen folks laugh at that story,†said
Plumpy. “‘Oh, ho! ho! a grave-stone over a
dog? â€
The very day before, the old man that minds
the cows on the Common was talking to my
master about his faithful dog, Rose. “And,
sir,†says he, “a good dog is better than a bad
man, sit.â€
T told Plumpythat and hewas pleased. “And
yet,†said he, “they’ll stick wp a stone over a
bad man and laugh if anybody puts one over
a faithful dog.â€
We walked along the flagged path by the
kennels, and stopped at every gate. Each
family of dogs has its kennel; the terriers
have theirs; the mastiffs theirs; the collies
theirs, and so on.
large white Siberian. Plumpy introduced
her as “Perla.†Perla comes from a land of
snow and ice, and finds the climate of Eng-
land warm, sometimes too warm. When the
sun is hot she retires within to her straw.
But she likes to sit at her gate and ex-
128 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
change the time o’ day with the passers-by.
In the course of the year there are many
passers-by. Perla has seen much distin-
guished company. The Czar of all the Rus-
sias has patted her head. Eastern magnates
have treated her to taffy. IXings and queens
have exchanged “How Wy’ do†with her.
“And as to Lords and Ladies,†said she,
“theyre as plenty about here as dog
biscuit.â€
We rambled along in sweet paths, and came
toastream witha bridge. Suddenly Plumpy
stopped. “Here he comes!†said he. “Tere
comes our future King!â€
Tlooked around. Isaw only a bonnie baby
in his carriage and his nurse trundling him.
Tlove babies when they don’t pull my tail.
“A king!†Texclaimed. “Oh, yes, they’re all
kings or queens. They rule the house.â€
But Plumpy said quite serious: “’m not
joking, Tony. He'll be a real king. He is
Prince Edward now. Some day he’ll be—
wait, let me reckon. Edward I, he was a
SANDRINGHAM KENNELS WITH PERLA AT HER GATE.
From copyright photograph by Frederick W. Ralph, Dersingham, Norfolk, England; by permission.
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 131
ereat king. Edward II, he wasn’t so much.
Edward III, he fought the Scotch and licked
’em. Edward IV, he wasa gay gallant. Hd-
ward V, he was smothered in the tower. Ed-
ward VI, he died at sixteen. Edward VII,
ah, now I have it; that’s what he’ll be, Ed-
ward VII, of England.â€
“Yowve made good use of your time,
Plumpy, since you’ve been in England,†I said
admiringly, and immediately resolved to turn
my attention to English history.
“And over there is where he lives. It is
called York Ifouse,†and Plumpy pointed over
the bridge. “Ilis father lives there. Te’s a
future king, too; and up to the Great House
there’s another future king.â€
“There’s a good supply,†said I.
We went on and the future Edward VII
said, “Goo-goo-ah—br-r-r!†as we passed.
Tfe’ll make a bonnie king.
“Perhaps youw’ll like to visit the stables,
Tony,†said Plumpy.
And as I like a good horse, T said “Yes.â€
132 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
“That lake over there is where our Princess
skates in the winter. She loves it. She
skated at home in Denmark when she was a
girl. It is a pretty lake near the house.â€
We entered the stable court. Opposite the
gate on atall tower is a clock to tell the horses
the time. For there is everything for their
comfort and convenience. All around the
court are the stalls and loose boxes. I ob-
served that the walls and floors were tiled,
and everything was neat and sweet.
I saw “Warwick,†the fat shooting pony,
and the beautiful Hungarian horses, and the
white carriage horses, and the Princess’s fa-
vorite saddle horses, “Viva†and “Marky.â€
[Whatever Princesses may be at Sandring-
ham, one is always spoken of as the or our
Princess—the dear mistress, the beloved Prin-
cess of Wales. |
“And here,’ said Plumpy, “are our Prin-
cess’s Six ponies—Belle, Beau, Huffy, Bena,
Mite and Puffy.†They were all munching
their corn and all were blanketed. On HWuf-
THE FUTURE KING.
From copyright photograph by Frederick W. Ralph, Dersingham,
Norfolk, England; by permission,
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 135
fy’s blanketed back a tiger-cat was cosily
curled fast asleep.
“Our Princess thinks no end of her ponies
and horses,†said Plumpy. “She’s good to
them. She will not have her horses driven
with the bearing rein. No, she will not have
it. And when she’s a-visiting she will nothave
it. Once she was visiting and was driven out
with horses that had the bearing rein, and she
objected, and the master said to his coachman,
‘No bearing reins while the Princess is here.’ â€
The more I hear of this gentle lady, the
more I love her.
“She would not have a trap set to catch the
wild things that trouble the rabbits and
pheasants, if she had her way,†said Plumpy.
“No, she’d rather let the rabbits and pheas-
ants take their chance like other folks. Once
a little dog of hers wandered off, and all the
keepers were ordered to take up their traps
instantly, so he would not be caught in any
of them. But one keeper disobeyed, and the
poor little doggie came home with one foot
1386 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
gone. And our Princess was in a way
about it.â€
“And I wish our American boys that set
horrid traps, and catch poor pussies in them
would learn a lesson from her, Plumpy,†I
remarked.
I should think there were forty horses in
the stables. All the hunters were in the pad-
dock feeding; and “There are lots of horses at
Wolferton,†said Plumpy. “Our master, the
Prince, raises lots of horses, and he’s a great
farmer, Tony.â€
I can never put down all I see at a place.
The printer would never find room enough.
So I must select.
Plumpy said there were miles of green-
houses and garden walks, and I have no doubt
he is a truthful dog. The gardens certainly
look big, and the peaches and grapes are “lus-
cious,†my master says. I have no doubt of
that either. But I have no taste for fruits—
except candied fruits. I can eat no end of
those.
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 1387
We trotted down through the gardens to
the gate that leads to the cow barns and the
Princess’s dairy. For she calls it hers, and
she loves to go there and make butter her own
self. It is a pretty dairy. The front doors
stood wide open, and I was going straight in
when I saw an awfully tall bird right in front
of the doors, and I stopped.
“Ts dead and stuffed, Tony,†said Plumpy.
“T?’s a stork. I expect our Princess likes it
because there are storks, [ understand, in her
Denmark home. They build their nests on
the housetops and bring the babies.â€
“How singular!†I remarked, and walked
fearlessly in by the big bird. Here are the
pans of delicious milk standing upon marble
slabs. JIfow I did long to have a lick at the
yellow cream! “If we behave properly per-
haps we shall get a taste,†said Plumpy.
The walls are blue tiles. I like blue. I
often wear a blue ribbon to my collar.
In the centre stands a marble table with
pretty drinking vessels of sparkling glass
ce
138 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
upon it and strawberry sets like leaves of
ereen strawberries with white blossoms on
them. I expect I have an eye for color, be-
cause IJ am an artist’s dog. And how those
lovely drinking cups of many colors did
sparkle! I expect the Princess comes here
to eat strawberries and cream, and drink
milk.
And there is another room where the cream
is churned, and the churn goes like a cradle,
swing, swing. All about this room are little
pottery cows and goats and hares. They
stand on brackets. And there are brass-
bound milk cans, and the flat tin boxes for the
butter pats.
“Tt do take a sight of cream for the House,â€
said the good-natured dairy-woman. “And
Mis’ A—she have cream, and Mis’ B—shehave
cream, but here’s a sup for you and your
friend, Plumpy.â€
Wasivt that cream good!
And there is still another room—the snug-
gest, sweetest room! “This,†says Plumpy,
FAMILY GROUP, WITH PLUMPY, GUMMY AND HUFFY.
From copyright photograph by Frederick W. Ralph, Dersingham, Norfolk, England;
by permission,
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 141
“is our Princess’s tea-room. She loves to come
here and make tea for her particular friends.
She butters and cuts her own thin bread-and-
butter. Oh, she likes it. She likes simple,
homely ways.â€
“So do I, Plumpy!†I exclaimed. “What’s
the use of fuss and feathers, anyway ?â€
The walls of the tea-room are all over china,
and here is my favorite blue again, blue
Danish pottery, my master says. My master
likes this room too. The blue pottery is over
the chimney-piece and there is a portrait on a
plaque of the master as Ilenry VIII, and
another portrait on a plaque of the mistress:
in a dress of the same time. “Perhaps,†says
Plumpy, “as Lady Jane Seymour, or Anne
3oleyn.†Really, I must coach on English
history. “he Princess looks fine in any
dress,†says Plumpy. Ilow he does love that
mistress of his!
And there are little cabinets full of china,
and pretty paneled walls, and an oriel win-
dow with cushions on its seat, and a little
142 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
veranda outside to take the air of an even-
ing. I should like exactly just such a room
myself. It is so snug.
Then we saw the cows milked; such droll
little Kerry cows, not much taller than a mas-
tiff! and Jerseys with heads like the deer up
Glen Feshie!
“T shouid like your photograph, Plumpy,â€
I said at parting. “Most of my English
friends are so good as to give me theirs.â€
“I have none taken alone,†replied Plumpy.
“But I can give you one of a family group I
amin. It was taken some time ago.â€
“That will be still better,†I said. And I
was pleased when I saw it, and ’m sure my
readers will be.
Plumpy sits at the extreme left of the pho-
tograph. The fox terrier standing up is
“Gummy,†and the charming Pomeranian is
“Tuffy.†These last two, I regret to say, are
now dead. But there are wise men and women
who think there is another life for dogs as
well as for men. That dear friend of dogs,
Dr. John Brown of Edinburgh, thought so.
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 143
So did another beloved friend, the Sir Walter
Scott of whom Scott spoke at Edinburgh
Castle. So, also, did Mrs. Somerville, who
I understand was distinguished in what is
called science. And my master is sure of it.
The gentleman in the group is the Duke of
York. At his right sits that gentle lady, his
mother, the Princess of Wales. Behind her
stands her eldest daughter, the Duchess of
Fife. At the extreme right is the second
daughter, Victoria, and she who sits upon the
floor, hugged by Plumpy, and caressing Gum-
my, is the baby of the family, Maud, now
twenty-six.
P. S.—A word as to Jack’s experiences at
the Sandringham Kennels. He kept up his
reputation for naughtiness to the last. He
utterly refused to enter any portion of the ken-
nels. And he was finally decoyed into an
empty hen house. Upon him the door was
shut, and his master left him howling. After
three months he was sent home, transformed
into an obedient, well-mannered dog, the
pride of his mother, Belle.
IX.
MY CHRISTMAS AT BICKLING HALL.
\ A 7% all helped stir the Christmas pud-
ding; Miss Julia, and the pretty still-
room maid Polly, and my Lady, and the baby,
and my master, and Dacca and I and
everybody.
My master and I had been invited for the
Christmas holidays to Bickling Hall, and I
overate on pudding. But it was so stuffed
with spices and raisins and currants and
sugar and candied peel and almonds, it was
irresistible! Cook boiled the puddings the
greater part of two days, and said they ought
not to disagree with a baby. And perhaps
they wouldn’t with a baby, but they did
with me.
And there were mince pies! not great flat
pies big enough forasmal! dog blanket, butthe
dearest little round flaky pies, baked in patty-
144
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 145
pans, with scalloped edges, and making just a
comfortable mouthful. Roast goose I do not
eat. It disagrees with me.
On Christmas eve there was a ball, and the
village folk were invited, and all the men and
maids, and Dacca and I. Dacca said it was
an old story with him. He had kept Christ-
mas at Bickling Hall since puppyhood, and if
I would excuse him he would curl up in a
corner and sleep; I might wake him at mince
pie time. I chose to stay awake and look on,
as it was the first ball I had ever attended.
Miss Julia danced first with the village cob-
bler. And the cobbler’s great feet plunged
about, and came down upon my tail and the
butler’s toes. I did not yelp, but the butler
did. I remembered where I was, and that I
might be turned out if I made a disturbance.
So when the butler drew in his feet, | drew
in my tail, what there is of it.
Round and round whirled Miss Julia and
the cobbler. Faster and faster played the
fiddles, and Miss Julia’s cheeks grew pink, and
146 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
her yellow hair flew all about her face like
Dacca’s silk locks. TIler feet skipped faster
and faster and faster, when—off went one
little satin slipper half across the ballroom!
I made a dart to fetch it, but Miss Julia was
there before me and had it on again, and was
off with the cobbler, laughing.
Then the butler took out my Lady. And off
they went whirling, like tops. How they can
do it and not fall dizzy and tumble down, I
can’t think.
My master was dancing with the pretty
stillroom maid Polly, and was for taking out
Miss Julia after she had done dancing with °
the cobbler. But Miss Julia said “no.†IIe
must take out Mrs. Muddiman who keeps the
Black Horse Inn. And she was going to
dance with Jack Maycock, the ploughman.
She had danced with Jack every Christmas
since they were children. And there was
Jack grinning and all ready. And said the
butler, “He do know no more how to dance
than his horses,†which was true. And how
BICKLING HALL, HOME OF DACCA,
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 149
Miss Julia managed to keep him going with-
out his falling on all-fours, Dacca and I could
not think. For Dacca had waked by this
time. And my master must have had trouble
to keep Mrs. Muddiman of the Black Horse
going. For “she weighs tweuty stone if she
weighs a pourd,†said the butler.
Then we went to supper, and Polly, the
pretty stillroom maid, fetched Dacca and me
each a mince pie. Really, Ido not know which
I grew fondest of that Christmas week, Miss
Julia or the pretty stillroom maid Polly.
For on Christmas morning I had followed to
church and my master was for sending me
back. But Miss Julia said she knew I should
not misbehave, and took me in and put me on
the cushion beside herself, and patted me
whenever the organ threatened to be too
much for my nerves.
IT asked Dacca who he was named for, and
he said, “ior the ship that carried my young
master Edward to India. I was born the day
he sailed.â€
150 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
We were all at tea in the servants’ hall the
day after Christmas. For Dacca always
makes it a point to be present at kitchen tea
instead of drawing-room tea when Miss Julia
is out; and Miss Julia was out. The sun had
set, but it was not yet dark, though candles
were lighted on the tea table.
Polly, the pretty stillroom maid, had gone
to fetch a cake of her own making. “For
Polly have a tidy hand at cake-making, she
have,†said the cook. And everybody was
eager to taste Polly’s cake, and each sipped
his tea and waited, while Phillis, Miss Julia’s
maid, gave me a sup from her own saucer.
Suddenly we heard a scream. Everybody
jumped. Then a second scream, and pretty
Polly burst in at the door, fell into the nearest
chair, and fainted. Her head fell back and
her arms dropped by her side. Theodore, one
of the footmen, turned pale, but the butler
was calm and begged us all to be calm.
We all hurried to Polly. Theodore rubbed
one of her limp hands, and Dacca and I licked
AN AMBRICGAN DOG ABROAD. 151
the other. For we do love pretty Polly! One
of the maids loosened her gown; a second
bathed her forehead with water; a third
held a burnt feather under her nose; a fourth
said she would go for Miss Julia’s vinaigrette;
and the butler waved a large serviette over
us to create a current of “hair.†That was
what he said; but Dacca said he meant “air.â€
“Te isn’t an educated man,†said Dacca, “and
he sometimes puts an H in when it isn’t
needed.â€
Pretty Polly soon began to revive. She
moved and opened her eyes. We waited
anxiously to hear her speak, to learn what bad
given her such a turn,
“Pell us, Polly; what was it?†asked
Theodore.
“Rats!†said Polly faintly, and shut her eyes
again.
At that word each maid gave what the cook
called a “seritch,†and skipped into the near-
est chair. The butler again begged us to be
-aln.
152 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
As soon as Polly was fully revived, she told
us the particulars. She was in the pantry
humming to herself,
Will you buy any tape
Or lace for your cape
My dainty duck, my dear—a?
and without a “thought of the nasty beasts,â€
and had just lifted the cake so _ beauti-
fully iced, from a shelf, when she heard a
rustie in the ivy at the open window, and look-
ing up saw two huge rats, as big as cats, gaz-
ing in at her.
She dropped the cake and fled. She was
sure they jumped in and made chase after
her. But the butler said “pooh!†to that, and
to their being as big as cats. They would be
much more likely to remain behind and eat up
the cake we had all counted on. And at that
he said he would go and see. AII the maids
shrieked and entreated him not to venture.
But again he begged them to be calm, took a
large steel poker from the fender, invited
Dacca and me to accompany him, and pro-
ceeded courageously to the pantry.
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 15
The cake lay on the floor as it had dropped.
Not even the ice was broken. The rats, like
pretty Polly, had fled. We brought back the
cake in triumph. Pretty Polly, now entirely
recovered, cut it. Dacca and I each had a
liberal cut.
“Tt is my hopinion,†said the butler, as he
munched his, “if the rats are becoming so
plenty as to climb up the ivy into the pantries,
a rat-hunt had better be horganized.â€
[If you look at that sentence carefully, you
will see that the butler wasted two H’s in it;
and it is a pity to waste anything so precious
as letters. ]
And that was how it happened, through
pretty Polly meeting the rats, that we had a
‘at-hunt the very next day at the big barns.
“It is really great fun,’ said Dacca.
“Though of course I can’t rat. The terriers
do that. But I am always present. We
have several rat-hunts during the year, and
it is an entertainment I never tire of.â€
There were two terriers, Tussle and Venus,
156 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
present, and six ferrets. I do not wish to
speak evil of others. But ferrets, to say the
least, are not agreeable beasts. They are not
bad just to lookat. Their fur, a mixed brown
and white, is pretty, and their form is really
genteel—as slender as that of a fine lady.
And they can climb with grace.
But such teeth as they have, and such tem-
pers! They seize their victim by the throat
and suck his blood! A keeper was bitten
through the hand by one of them that day.
The keeper was holding it carelessly. For
you must seize a ferret by the back of its
neck, and clasp it round firmly with your
hand; then it can’t bite. Their eyes are a
bright red! truly dreadful eyes. I really
felt pity on the rats, when I saw that these
beasts with the sharp teeth and red eyes were
to be sent into their underground habitations.
For these great English rats live in drains
and burrows.
The holes at one end of the drains were
stopped up, and the ferrets put in at the other
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 157
end. No chance for the rats to escape, you
see.
Then we all stood about and waited. The
men held up huge sticks ready to strike.
Master Herbert, who was home from Eton for
the holidays, had a stake too. He considered
ratting as “jolly fun†as Dacca did.
We were all awfully excited, and that is
the truth. Tussle and Venus stood on three
legs apiece, and trembled all over. I could
hear my own heart beat, though I was a mere
spectator.
Presently we heard faint squeals from
below. “Theyre at ’em,†said Master ITer-
bert. Then louder squeals, a sound of seuf-
fling, a rush, and out ran a score of rats, big
and little, escaping from the ferrets only to
fall under the stakes, and into the mouths of
the terriers, who dispatched them in a
twinkling.
Dacea told me there are men who make a
business of ratting. “They go about with
their ferrets and dogs, and a mangy lot their
158 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
dogs generally are,†said he, “such as a well-
connected, well-bred dog like you and me,
Tony, would not demean himself by speak-
ing to.â€
Tam not sure of that, though. I have never
seen the dog yet I would not speak to. Dacca
seems a little high in his notions. T’m afraid
he would look down on Ragamuffin, a friend
of whom I give an account later on.
Dacca is the only political dog I have met
with so far in my travels. I have met royal
dogs, herd dogs, military dogs, fancy dogs—
by fancy dogs, I mean dogs bred for shows—
sporting dogs, and Iimyself am an artistic dog.
But Dacca is the sole political dog among nLy
acquaintances,
And why, indeed, should a dog trouble him-
self about politics? '
Me hasw’t any particular country. His
master is his country and his governor, his
president and his king. What my master is,
Iam proud to be, an American.
But Dacca, while he is proud, doubtless, to
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 159
be an Englishman, aspires to more. He can-
not vote, because dogs do not vote in England.
Though perhaps they may. For I heard an
exceedingly stout, red-faced old gentleman
say in the drawing-room one day, that he
thought things would yet come to that pass.
And Miss Julia tweaked Dacca’s and my ears,
and said if they did, she had no doubt we two
dogs would vote the right ticket. Though I
believe she said “ballot,“ not “ticket.â€
T understand that Dacca is what they call
a tory;a tory dog. Though what that means
I do not know exactly. I only know he is <
good fellow. And as to high notions, it is
better to have high notions than low ones.
You offer Dacca the choicest of sweets, say
a chocolate cream or a bit of rock, and tell
him that Wr. Gladstone sent it to him, and he
will refuse to take it. He will turn his head
away and elevate his nose scornfully. But
just say “Lord Salisbury sent you this choco-
late cream, Dacea,†and presto! it is into his
mouth and down his throat in a twinkling!
160 AN AMERICAN . DOG ABROAD.
and that, I understand, is being a tory dog;—
he prefers Lord Salisbury’s chocolate cream
to Mr. Gladstone’s. It is droll! Now to me
a chocolate cream is a chocolate cream, who-
ever is So good as to send it to me.
“Presto!†is what the sleight-of-hand man
says when he turns the six eggs in a hat into
a rabbit as quick as you can think. I saw
him do it in the drawing-room one night. I
saw him put in the eggs, and I saw him take
out the rabbit by the ears. It squealed, so I
know it was alive. And he turned the hat
bottom up, so there were noeges. It was sin-
gular! Now if he had turned the eggs into
chickens or crows, I could understand it, be-
cause chickens and crows come out of eggs.
But how can anybody change eggs into
rabbits?
Xx
GIPSY RAGAMUFFIN AND THE WAKE.
fears are folks living over here in Eng-
land who carry their houses about with
them. They are called gipsies.
horse or donkey draws their house, and they
live in it all the time, and look out of the door.
It goes slow, and gives you time to see things.
And though you are traveling, you are always
at home, which is droll.
And when you come to an agreeable spot
you stop, and your wife gathers sticks and
makes a fire, and puts one end of an iron half-
circle into the ground and hanes your tea-
kettle on the other end over the fire, if it is
afternoon tea-time. Or your broth kettle if
it is dinner-time.
Ragamuffin, the gipsy Skye terrier, told me
all about it, for he travels in his house. He
was trying to capture a hedgehog when I
161
162 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
made his acquaintance. Now I had once
tried to capture a hedgehog, so I stopped to
see how he came out. My hedgehog was trot-
ting along on four legs when I caught sight of
him, and had a dear little snout like a pig’s.
But the instant I stepped up to say, “How d’ye
do†the four legs and snout disappeared, and
the hedgehog turned into a round ball of
prickles—“quills,†my master called them—
that pricked my nose. So I said, “Look out,
Ragamuffin, or you'll get the nose-bleed!â€
“Not I!†says Ragamuffin. “I think I know
how to catch hedgehogs by this time.†And
in another instant he had the round prickly
beast between his teeth, and was trotting off
with it.
I followed. We went through a bit of
woods, and a pleasant lane with primroses on
the banks and hawthorn blossoms in the
hedge, and came to a waste bit of woodside,
and there were two gipsy houses. The
family were ateafternoon tea, and a lean horse
and donkey were grazing on the common
near by.
THE FAMILY WERE AT AFTERNOON TEA.
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 165
Ragamuffin dropped the hedgehog at the
gipsy grandmother's feet. She was smoking
a pipe. Then he turned to me and said, “We
gipsies think a hedgehog a dainty morsel.
We shall have it for supper to-night, and if
yowll stop, Tony, you shall have some.â€
My master said he should like nothing bet-
ter. He would “take a study,†and have a
“crack†with the gipsies, which means a
“talk.â€
When supper-time came, I watched the
preparation of the hedgehog. It was carefully
Wrapped about with wet clay, and then
covered up in the hot ashes, and the fire piled
above it, to roast. When it was done the clay
was peeled off, and all the prickles came with
it, and there was the hedgehog roasted to a
turn! It was delicious! my mouth waters
now when I think of it, and so does my mas-
ter’s, he says.
Ragamuffin took me over the houses and
showed me the beds at one end, just like
steamer beds; and the “kitchener†where they
166 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
cook when it storms so they can’t cook out
doors; and the lamp fastened up; and the
clock fastened up; and everything fastened
up, so as not to jolt down when the house is
traveling. Jt was just as snug!
“And, dear master,†I said, “why can’t we be
gipsies and travel all about in our own house,
and eat hedgehogs? I shouldn’t care one
mite to live for always at Balmoral with Spot,
or Edinburgh Castle with Scott, or even with
dear Miss Julia at Bickling Hall, Surrey.
But I should never get tired of being a gipsy
dog, if you’d be the gipsy, dear master.â€
“Well, Tony,†says he, “perhaps we will try
it some day.â€
“Good-bye, Ragamuffin,†I said when we
parted. “I expect we shall never mect
again.†But we did. It was a good while
after; and it was at a Wake.
Some folks called it a “Fair.†But my mas:
ter says “Wake.†So I say “Wake.â€
The Wake was on the village green in front
of the Lion and Unicorn Inn. There were tents
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 167
and booths and caravans, and a great noise.
It was very confusing at first. I was stand-
ing still trying to collect myself when a voice
spoke in my ear, “How d’y do, Tony.†I
turned and saw Ragamuffin.
“Ha, Ragamuffin, is it you?†said I. “And
how did you get here?†For it was as much
as a hundred miles from where we parted.
“In the way of business, Tony,†said he.
“Business!†I exclaimed, for I thought
Ragamuffin only lived for pleasure.
“Yes, business,†said he. “When we met
before, Tony, it was a holiday. Now we’re all
here and at work.â€
“You dowt mean,†I said, “that Granny, and
Mopsa, and Nick, and Robin, and Meg, and
Nance, and Flitters, and the Governor and the
traveling house are all here!â€
“Yes, all here, and all at work. Just now
I’m free, and Pll take you round if you like,
Tony.â€
Of course I liked.
“TTere’s Nance,†said Ragamuffin. “She
*tends to the cocoanuts.â€
168 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
Nance Was as gay as a peacock. She had
onared gown; a purple and yellow and black
kerchief around her neck; a tall hat with long
yellow and red feathers; and gold earrings
almost as long as my foreleg, dangling from
her ears. She also had on the neatest of yel-
low boots and scarlet stockings, though when
I saw her before she was barefoot.
Beside her stood a basket of balls. And
against a canvas opposite, but at some dis-
tance, were pegs stuck in the ground. A
cocoanut was stuck on each peg. You paida
penny, and then you rolled a ball towards the
pegs. If it hit a peg hard enough to knock
off a cocoanut, that cocoanut was yours.
And this was what Nance kept saying:
“One penny a bowl, gen’l’men, and you have
all you knock down. lit’em hard, and crack
"em open, and see their quality. No rotten
cocoanuts, gen’’men. A penny a bowl, and
two for every cocoanut you knock down. AT
bad cocoanuts changed.â€
Robin stood by the pegs. By his side was
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 169
a great basket of cocoanuts. When a cocoa-
nut was knocked off, he stuck on another.
Robin was gay too. He wore a scarlet waist-
coat with great silver buttons; green cordu-
roy breeches, and a purple velvet jacket
trimmed with gold cord. I admired him.
He had dressed his thick black hair in flat
curls all around his forehead. And when he
saw me and my master, he grinned and pulled
the curl that hung in the middle.
The Governor—that was the gipsy father
—attended to the shooting gallery. The
shooting gallery was a long hole, and when
you shot into it a bell jingled if you hit the
right spot. Then you had a cigar if you were
aman, and a stick of rock if you were a girl.
Flitters loaded the guns to shoot. IF litters
wore pink and was all over spangles. You
paid a penny to shoot. The gallery was all
red and gilt and was splendid.
“A Wake is awfully interesting, Raga-
muffin,†I said.
My master had a try at the cocoanuts and
170 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
shooting gallery for old acquaintance’s sake, ~
he said.
“We are very proud of Nick’s invention,â€
said Ragamuffin. “Ile made it himself.
Tere it is.â€
It was a small painted cottage in front, but
when you went behind you saw only a tall
rough box. Things generally at the Wake
looked better in front than behind. In the
centre of the door was a round white spot.
Over it was a door plate that said in big black
letters:
Mrs. H. Q. P. TT. Z. A DIsriINGUISHED
VISITOR FROM
|
|
CHICAGO, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
1
“Well, Tony,†said my master, “I think we
must call on our distinguished country-
woman. Nick, how shall we get in? I don’t
see any bell-pull.â€
Nick grinned. “Throw one of these balls,
aur, at the round white spot. That’s the bell-
pull, zur.â€
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 171
“For a penny, I suppose,†and my master
took a ball from the basket, threw it and hit
the white spot. The door swung slowly open,
and out stepped such a queer woman. I was
alarmedand retreated behindmy master. Her
cheeks were red as the paint on the shooting
gallery. TIler eyes were as big as Robin’s but-
tons, wide-open and black. I observed they
did not wink. She was awfully tall. Her
gown was blue, and she wore a red kerchief,
and a white cap with wide ruffles that flapped
in the wind.
She came slowly towards us on a board
which made a path from the door. Tfer walk
was queer. Iler gown was so long I could
not see her feet. She did not speak nor take
notice. She kept her arms crossed. She
drew nearer, and I was just on the point of
rushing away with a howl—I really could not
help it—when she paused. She stood still a
moment, then began to back. She backed
down the board,and hereyes were truly awful.
She backed into the door. It shut and I
breathed freer.
12 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD,
“You needn’t have been frightened,†said
Ragamuffin. “She isn’t alive. She’s made
up and goes on little wheels.â€
“Well done, Nick! you are an inventor,â€
said my master.
A bell jingled in a tent near by. “That’s
for me,†said Ragamuffin. “Come and see me
dance the skirt dance.â€
I did not know what the skirt dance was,
but I followed closely at Ragamuffin’s heels,
and my master followed me. “We'll call it
‘Ragamuffin’s Benefit, †he said, and he gave
the man at the tent door a shilling.
The audience was small. But if it had
been large, the seats would have broken down
they were so rickety. There were only four
little apple-cheeked girls, a stout old woman,
and we two. While we waited, my master
gave the little apple-cheeked girls some
sweets. They all got up, curtsied, and said
“Thank you, sir.†When they sat down the
rickety seat creaked.
Then Ragamuffin came out from behind a
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 173
screen. He walked on two legs. Now I can
walk on two legs a step or two. But not like
Ragamuffin, oh, no! He held up his skirt gen-
teelly with his fore paws. Ie bowed to us
and began. I was surprised. I could not
have believed it was in Ragamuffin to take
such pretty, mincing steps! and he held out
his skirt each side so wide and so fine and
curtsied, and danced on one leg with the ut-
most grace. I was truly charmed; and so
were the little apple-cheeked girls. When
my master clapped his hands, they clapped
theirs; And when he called out “Braya,
Ragamuffin!†they said “Brava! too,
But the stout old woman shook her head
doubtfully, and said it didn’t seem ‘atralâ€
to see a dog dance.
There seemed no end to Ragamuffin’s skirt.
It kept spreading wider and wider. My mas-
ter said it was an “accordion skirt.†My
master does know about everything. And
perhaps I shall if I travel enough, And
Ragamuffin curtsied and whirled, and tossed
his silken locks and Lo was charmed.
174 AN AMERICAN . DOG ABROAD.
Afterwards, when Ragamuffin had taken
off his accordion skirt and come out again, I
said to him, “You can’t earn much, Raga-
muffin, The little apple-cheeked girls were
half price and that is two pennies, and the old
woman was one penny. So if it hadn’t been
for master and me, you would have had only
three pence.â€
“But I dance every hour of the day and
evening, Tony,†he said, “and so it counts up.
Some days I earn as much as half a crown.â€
[Half a crown English money is sixty cents
American money.]
Master said he thought Ragamuffin must
need some refreshment after his exertions,
and he bought us each a Banbury cake from
a booth. A Banbury cake is a little, oblong,
flaky pie filled with a sweet mess, savory and
agreeable. They are made at Banb ury, where
the old woman lives who rides on a white
horse, and wears rines on her fingers and
bells on her toes, and so has music whereyer
she goes.
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD, 175
He treated us to ice cream, too. I do love
ice cream. But I do not get much of it in my
travels.. The ice cream at the Wake was ina
little red cart. A man dipped it out into ’a’-
penny—which means half-penny—glasses,
and you licked it up with your tongue. For
he could not afford spoons at that price. I
saw the four little apple-cheeked girls with a
glass apiece, and they licked it, too.
There were two giddy-go-rounds at the
Wake. One had horses to ride on, and one
had boats that rose and fell when they went
round just as boats do at sea. It gave me
qualms only to look at them, and nothing
would have persuaded me to get into one.
Inside of the middle of the giddy-go-rounds
were bands that played themselves. The
music was dreadful. I expect I have no ear
for music.
The woman who owned the horse giddy-go-
round invited us into her traveling house. It
was a charming van. It was painted white
outside, picked out with blue and pink, and it
176 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
had white lace curtains at the windows; and
china vases and figures on the chimney piece;
and pictures and mirrors on the walls; and
smart silk curtains to the beds, and a velvet
carpet. But it wasn’t a bit snugger than
Ragamuffin’s house, only finer. An old white-
haired woman sat in a silk easy chair. She
was holding a puppy because it was fright-
ened and cried. She said she was born in a
traveling house and had lived in one all her
life. She was seventy-five years old.
My master is good. He gave those four
little apple-cheeked girls two rides apiece on
the horse giddy-go-round and two swings in
the flying boats. Then he had them each
bowl for cocoanuts till they had one apiece,
and treated them to ’a’-penny buns till they
could not eat another morsel. Their names
were: Victoria May Brown, Beatrice Victoria
Smith, Alice Victoria Scattergood and Vie-
toria Deborah Bussey. Lots of little English
and Scotch girls are named for the good
Queen.
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 177
There was a fat woman in one tent. We
saw about everything, but master said he
must draw the line somewhere, and he drew
it at the fat woman, and the calf with two
heads and seven legs. What can a calf want
of two heads and seven legs!
Neither did we go in to see the dreadful
cannibal, Riziah Paziah. A placard outside
the tent said he could bite through a shank
bone. And there was a shank bone hung be-
side the placard to show how he could bite.
“But we've no shank bones to spare,†said
my master.
Every hour, for about twenty minutes,
Ragamuffin went to dance the skirt dance.
And I went with him. The doorkeeper said
that shilling would take me in the whole
night, and I never tired of seeing Ragamuffin
dance that skirt dance. It was so pretty,
and so droll!
“When this Wake is over we shall go to the
great Coventry Fair, and then to the War-
wick Mop,†said Ragamuffin.
178 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
Master says “Wake,†and “Fair,†and “Mopâ€
all mean the same thing!
It was one o’clock before we went to bed
in our room at the Lion and Unicorn. But I
could not sleep. The lights of the Wake made
our room bright as day, almost; and the vil-
lage lads and lassies were dancing Sir Roger
de Coverley right under the windows. And I
was wishing that I, too, had a “business†and
could earn money like Ragamuffin. At last
I told my master so.
“Silly doggie!†said he. “Yowre worth a
mint of gold to me.. You are my faithful com-
panion. You cheer my days, that’s your busi-
ness. Go to sleep, little doggie!â€
Iwas comforted. As I dozed off I thought
I heard my master say something like this:
“They also serve who only stand and wait.â€
The Wake lasted four days, and I calcu-
lated that Ragamuffin danced the skirt dance
a good many more than fifty times!
XI.
A DUKE AND RIGOLETTE,
le was a March morning. I was sniffing
along beside a hawthorn hedge. The yel-
low daffodils were nodding in the wind, and
a lark was singing inthe sky. I had just had
a short run after a squirrel with a very bushy
tail. I had driven him up a tree, and felt
friendly to all the world of animals and men.
I was preparing to take a roll on the grass to
ease my back, when a man came up behind,
and a whip cracked about my ears; and “Get
out of this!†he said.
My master never struck me in all my life,
and I do not take that thing from anybody
else. I flew at the man and seized his trou-
sers-leg. Thad no intention of biting him, for
I do not bite. In the first place I am too well-
bred. In the second place, the taste of ankle
is not agreeable to me. So I seized his trou-
179
180 AN AMERICAN. DOG ABROAD.
sers-leg and held on with a grip. He tried to
hit me again, but I dodged, and he couldn’t.
Then he tried to shake me off, but I held on
and growled. “Jake!†he shouted at last.
“Come here, you rascal, and take off this dog
before he bites.†I saw asecond man coming
and knew it was time to run.
Tran. I came upon a dog peeping through
the hedge from the other side. He was rolling
over and laughing so he could hardly speak.
“Oh! oh! it was such fun to see you! and
wasn’t he frightened? and how did you dare?â€
“Dare!†I exclaimed. “Why, yes,†said he.
“Flow did you dare to seize the Duke’s trou-
sers-leg?â€
“Duke! and what’s a Duke?†I asked. It
sounded uncommonly like duck; but of course
J had never seen a duck in trousers. Though
T should not be surprised to see one, after the
queer things I have seen. “And where did
you come from, not to know what a Duke is?â€
says he. “From the United States of Amer-
ical’ says I. “Oh, the United States!†said he.
SANDY, FUZ AND PICKLES,
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 183
“Phat accounts for it. You don’t have Dukes
in your country, I believe.â€
“Well, he’s nothing but a man is he?†I re-
plied, rather more tartly than was polite, for
I did not like his tone exactly. “Oh, but a
Duke’s bigger than common men,†said he.
“This one isn’t,†replied I; “he isn’t even so
long as the Queen’s footmen.†For T had ob-
served that he was short and lean.
“Oh! oh!’ shrieked that dog again. And he
laughed so he tumbled over. “J like that!
nothing but a man? why, of course he’s a
manl?? “Then why shouldn’t I bite him if he
hits me?†I asked. “Because he is the great
Duke of Nowhere.†(That is not the real
name, but for “obvious reasons,†as my
master says, I can’t give the true one.)
“Dukes can flog you and you can’t bite back,â€
said he. “Well, he won't flog me,†I replied.
“Oh, you just come home with me. My
name’s Barney and I like you.†And Barney
ervinned like a Cheshire cat. The cats that
live over here in Cheshire grin.
1s4+ AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
Barney introduced me to his family: Judy,
Tiny, Fidget, Meg and Totsie, and the pup-
pies, Pickles, Sandy, Buz and Fuz. They be-
longed to the Dandie Dinmonts, an old Scotch
family first heard of sixty years ago. I have
photographs of several of Barney’s family. In
one the mistress holds Sandy and Fuz each
under an arm. Young Master Lynn holds
Pickles. He tried to hold Buz also. But “Buz
bunked†said Master Lynn. “Bunked†is Eng-
lish school-boy for “backed out.†When Bar-
ney gave it to me, he said, “If you look care-
fully at the lower right-paw corner, Tony, that
white spot you see is Buz that bunked.â€
The other is what Master calls the “four-in-
hand.†It is made up of the great black re-
triever Sam (Sam can open doors and do other
things just like folks), next Barney, and then
Judy and Tiny. Master Lynn holds the reins.
“Do come again, Tony,†said Barney when I
said good-bye. “I like you. And to think of
your falling afoul of the Duke’s trousers-leg!
Oh!toh!†And the last I saw of Barney, he was
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 185
rolling over and laughing fit to split himself
and shrieking, “Oh! oh! nothing but a man! I
like that!â€
Some time after this my master and I went
into a dog show at Norwich. “I know yowll
enjoy it, Tony,†my master said, “yowll see
some fine fellows, and yowll no doubt meet
with old acquaintances as well as make new
ones.â€
T had never been to a dog show, but I had
heard of them. There was one at home once
in Boston, and I said, “How droll! do they
have man-shows, too, dear master?â€
Master laughed and said, “Not in this
world, Tony, this is a mans world. But no
doubt in the dogs’ world they have them.â€
T wonder where that dogs’ world can be!
Perhaps we shall come to it in our travels, and
if we do, and there is a man-show, I shall
enter my master, and I’m sure he’ll take first
prize.
I did see some old acquaintances, none
other than Barney together with Judy and
186 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
Tiny. Barney looked trim and fine. His
hair had been washed and combed and curled
most exquisitely. He was a very dandy of a
dog. He knew me at once and greeted me
waruily.
“Oh! oh!†he cried out as loud as he dared.
“That Duke! nothing but a man! and how you
did grip his trousers-leg! and wasn’t it fun!
Oh! oh!†But he could not roll over lest he
should disarrange his elaborate toilet.
He told me this was not his first appear-
anceatashow. “I’ve taken no end of prizes,
Tony,†he said, “gold sovereigns and silver
cups. Though my master always pockets the
sovereigns and ornaments fis dining-room
with the cups, which I camwt think quite fair.â€
I thought of the man-show in the dogs’
world, and that sometime perhaps Barney
might be able to turn the tables on his master.
“But there’s the honor, Tony. He can’t
take that and stick it up in his dining-room.
fe isn’t a Dandie-Dinmont, and you see we
belong to the best branch of that family.
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 187
There are some awfully mangy branches; per-
fect tykes of dogs!â€
So it seems that one may belong to a tip-top
family of good blood and yet be “mangy.â€
The show was fine. I was proud of my race
as I walked up and down and looked at the
noble fellows. They were from every land.
A Russian dog named “Tcherkatcrinoloris-
koff,’ a Chinese dog named “chu,†and so on.
Yes, the show was fine. But not for all the
gold sovereigns and silver cups in man’s
world would I be separated from my master
and set up for a show to be stared at and
talked over to my face.
“Perhaps you observe,†remarked Barney
in a low tone, “that Judy and Tiny are some-
what subdued in manner. The truth is !
have had to admonish them sharply. There
is a fine lady somewhere about. She has
passed our apartment several times and bids
fair to turn their heads. I think she’s French.
And, by the way, Tony, she belongs to your
framily; she’s a pug.
188 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD,
“Now its my opinion,’ he went on, “that
nature has provided a proper and sufficient
covering for us dogs, and that manufactured
coverings are a superfluity. What can be
handsomer, more becoming, more comfort-
able than our own coats when properly cared
for? To be sure we can’t change them, and
the female mind, as you must know, Tony, is
prone to change. It is bewitched by what is
new, simply because it is new. And—but
here she comes, Tony, you can see for yourself.
You can see the sort of thing Judy and Tiny
are hankering after, the thing under which
they would hide their beautiful silken coats
of nature’s own providing; a thing that grew
first on a sheep’s back or in a worm’s inside,
and was then manufactured into a coat by
men and machinery.â€
It was plain that Barney was greatly ex-
cited, and I turned with curiosity to see what
had so stirred him. A small dog was passing
accompanied by a lady. The dog was a pug
of the purest strain; with a jet black nose cor-
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 189
rectly wrinkled so as to display the whitest
of teeth, and of an elegant figure. She wore
the garment that had so aroused Barney’s ire.
I cannot say I liked it, but it excited my curi-
osity. I introduced myself as a cousin, and
we instantly became excellent friends.
_ She was a Parisian. Ber name was Rigo-
lette. “And mine is Antony,†I said, for
“Tony†seemed a little plebeian for the mouth
of so elegant a little lady.
This was her first visit to England, and she
found the climate damp.
“That coat of yours must be a great com-
fort,†I remarked.
“Ttis. But really I need my fur-lined coat,
though it is May, ‘sunny May,’ as the English
say.†And she wrinkled her nose scornfully,
displaying still more of her white teeth. I
saw that she liked to show her teeth.
“Oh, then you have more than one coat!†I
exclaimed.
“One coat!†she laughed. “How droll! but
I forget 1 am in England. We Parisian
190 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
dogs have a wardrobe, my dear Antony. We
have a coat for every occasion. The fashion
of wearing coats has apparently not yet
reached these barbaric shores. But I dare
say it willin time. Though an English dog
can never wear them with the chic of a
Parisian.
“This,†she went on, “is my promenade coat.
It is of the finest wool and was made by the
RIGOLETTE’S PROMENADE COAT.
most fashionable dog-tailor in Paris, and I
assure you, Antony, it is the very latest style,
and was greatly admired on the Boulevards.
All my coats are tailor-made.â€
Tt wasn’t bad, I own,—for a coat. In the
ribbon of the collar at one side was a cluster
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 191
of lilies-of-the-valley, “My favorite flower,
Antony,†she said. “Heliotrope is my favorite
perfume.†I observed also a pocket on the
left-hand side from out which peeped a laced
TRAVELING COAT, SHOWING POCKET AND
RAILWAY TICKET.
handkerchief. “My traveling coat,†says she,
“has two pockets; the left for my handker-
chief, the right for my railway ticket. But
perhaps, my dear Antony, you are not inter-
ested in the list of my coats?â€
“Ob, immensely!†Iveplied. “Iam an Amer-
ican, and am collecting all the information I
can in my travels. I keep a note-book and
intend to publish.â€
“Oh, do you? how interesting! Then per-
haps you would like drawings of two or three
192 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
of my coats. I sketch fairly. They will not
be works of art, but they will give an idea of
them to your readers.â€
I accepted the offer with thanks.
“T spoke of my winter coat, Antony; it is
made of the choicest Lyons velvet and is
lined with sable. My morning coat is chintz,
and I never wear it across the outer
threshold.
“Now I have a coat for ‘At Homes’ and
other full-dress occasions. This is extremely
“AT HOME’? COAT WITH LACED COLLAR, SHOWING
POCKET AND HANDKERCHIEF,
handsome and has a lace-trimmed collar. It
is always of some silk fabric, and the lace is
gold or Valenciennes. Should you visit Paris,
my dear Antony, and surely you will not pass
by in your travels, the city of all the world,
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 193
I shall hope for the pleasure of receiving you,
when you can see the styles, not of my coat
only but that of other high fashionables.
“Then of course I have a yachting coat.
That is Scotch tweed lined with the Royal
Stuart tartan. It has a hood to draw over
the head in rough weather, and I assure you,
I needed it in making the passage of the
dreadful channel that lies between our sunny
France and this gray land.
“For country wear my coat is of loose serge,
or if the weather requires it of embroidered
linen.â€
“Do you have a pocket in every one?†I
asked, for I was immensely taken with the
pockets.
cory
“Oh, yes,†she replied emphatically. he
pocket is de rigew.â€
J must remark just here that she spoke
English with a very taking accent.
“Then, Antony,†says she, taking out her
lace-trimmed handkerchief—it was real lace
and waving it gracefully so as to spread
194 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
abroad a delicate odor of heliotrope, “our
collars or necklaces are an important consid-
eration. We have a necklace for each coat.
For the yachting coat it is of plain leather
set with cairngorms. Cairngorms go natur-
ally with the tartan. For traveling my col-
lar is of the same leather mounted with brass.
THE COLLAR OR NECKLACE, WITH TURQUOISE
AND SILVER BELLS.
This collar I have on you will observe is set
with turquoise.â€
I could say with truth it was very hand-
some; and I did. From one side dropped a
row of tiny silver bells that tinkled melodi-
ously when Rigolette moved her head.
“At my ‘At Homes’ corals sometimes take
the place of bells, especially when my mis-
tress has an attack of migraine. And I have
a collar, Antony, for very special occasions,
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 195
set with rubies and diamonds. Hach collar
is tied with a ribbon matching the coat in
color.â€
I could see all the time that Judy and Tiny
were eagerly drinking in our conversation.
Barney regarded them with a severe and
even menacing air, but I could see that he
also was furtively looking at Rigolette out
of the corners of his eyes.
“Marie takes care of my wardrobe, and at-
tends to every department of my toilet. She
is my mistress’ maid, and every month I go
to the dog’s hair-dresser and chemist. I am
apt, Antony, to overeat on sweets, and if I
am. too fat, he gives me a bitter draught to
reduce my size. Ile keeps me at exactly the
same number of inches, and measures me
every time. And each month I visit the dog
dentist. He looks at my teeth and cleans
and polishes them.†And she wrinkled her
nose.
“Tt is all vastly interesting and I am
charmed to have met you,†[I said. And I
196 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
really did regret parting from the dear crea-
ture. But her mistress moved on and I saw
my master disappearing in the opposite direc-
tion. Rigolette hastily drew from her pocket
a mother-of-pearl card case and gave me her
card.
“Be sure you come and see me when you
are in Paris, my dear Antony. Aw revoir!â€
and she waved her laced handkerchief.
She vanished in the crowd and I looked at
the card. Here it is:
MADEMOISELLE RIGOLETTE
23 RUE DE NOISETTE
I shall certainly call when I am in Paris.
XII.
I AM PRESENT AT A DEER-HUNT, EXMOOR.
[" was on Exmoor, in the west of England,
that I met with the staghounds, Ceesar
and Brutus. They made me feel very small,
for they could have walked right over me, and
minded me no more than I should a mouse.
What tall legs were theirs! what slender
bodies and handsome coats! what fine, intel-
ligent heads! Iam proud of my kind when
I think of Czesar and Brutus.
We met at a deer-hunt. Great herds of
wild red deer roam over Exmoor. They often
break into a farmer’s field and eat his turnips.
The viding is rough. For Exmoor has thick
woods to push through, and steep rocky hill-
sides to scramble over, and great stretches
of heather with plenty of holes to trip up a
horse before he knows it. My master was
sketching a shaggy moorland pony standing
197
198 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
on a bare crag, and I was watching trout in
a brown pool when the hunt came up.
All the riders were booted and spurred.
And there were thirty staghounds in the pack,
everyone of them over twenty-five inches
high.
There is a huntsman, I learned, called the
“harrier,†whose office is, early on the morn-
ing of the hunt, to find the covert of a good
stag for the day’s sport. And Cesar had
been out with him that morning for that
purpose.
“We came upon a stag’s slot in Farmer
Broww’s turnip-fieldâ€â€”“slot†means a deet’s
foot-print. “We followed it until we came
to the stag’s covert. There he lies now snug.
Brutus and some of the other dogs have gone
in for him.â€
As he spoke there was a loud “Halloa!â€
The stag had broken covert, and was making
ereat leaps over the purple heather. “Good-
bye, Tony,†said Ceesar, and he was off in a
twinkling.
CLESAR
AND BRUTUS.
AN AMBPRICAN DOG ABROAD. 201
It isn’t safe to be in the track of the hunt
when the staghounds have got their blood up.
They don’t mind pulling down a small animal
like a calf, or a fullgrown man even, it is said.
And that very day they treed a curate. My
master said ’twas a curate. We found him
sitting high up in a big fir. He looked very
serious. His hat had fallen off.
“The hounds are miles away,†shouted my
master. “Youre safe to come down.†He
scrambled down, and picked up his hat. The
hounds had trampled it and it wasn’t nice.
Ilis hands were scratched with the rough tree
bark. I observed that a large piece was bit-
ten out of the skirt of his long black coat.
“T barely escaped,†said he, still trembling.
I gave his hand a friendly lick. I pitied him.
“T?’s an old pack, this Devon pack of
hounds,†said the curate after he put his hat
on. “It was here in Queen Elizabeth’s time,
more than three hundred years ago.â€
“Older than our Pilgrim Fathers, Tony,â€
remarked my master.
202 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
“If he had just stood up to us, and hadn’t
run,†said Cesar when I spoke to him about
the curate, “we wouldn’t have touched him.â€
“But,†said my master, “who could help
running away when they saw thirty such
hounds as Czesar and Brutus bearing down
upon them! J should take to the first tree just
as the curate did.â€
“The old stags are awful beasts,†said
Cesar. He told me this that night after he
had gotin. “They’ll turn another and weaker
stag out of his covert, and lie down in it them-
selves; and leave that weak stag to get away
from us hounds as best he can.
“Often and often, an old ugly stag, when
we hounds are after him, will take to a pool
or river and hide in the water, with only the
tip of his nose out enough to breathe. That
makes us lose the scent, so we can’t find him.
And then, after we’ve gone off, he comes out
and goes back on his track. And he lies
down on his feet and blows the ground to kill
the scent, too. I don’t call that fair play,â€
said Ceesar.
WINDSOR CASTLE WITH GREAT TOWER WHERE THE JACKDAWS LIVE,
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 205
“Well, I should think anything was fair
play that helped me to get away, if I were
the stag,†I said. It does make such a differ-
ence whether you look at things from the
stag’s or the hound’s point of view!
In further talk with Cesar I learned that
Exmoor was not his home. He lives at
Windsor and belongs to the Queen’s Pack.
“The Queen’s hounds are sometimes sent
down to hunt with the pack here,†he said.
“For the deer in Great Windsor Park are only
half wild, and there’s no sport in chasing
things that will not run, Tony.â€
“T can understand that, Caesar,†said I.
“Por what’s the fun of chasing a cat if she
wowt run? and Cxesar,†I went on, “Pye seen
your home, and I’ve seen Windsor Castle and
the great tower where the jackdaws live.
The man that made that tower was a thought-
ful man. He left holes all round the top for
the jackdaws to live in. I expect they have
lived there hundreds of years. And I’ve been
in the Great Park and seen the deer. Such
206 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
beauties and such lots of them! And into
the Little Park where the kennels are, and
the dairy where the Queen’s butter is made,
and the hen-house where she keeps her hens.
Oh, it is a fine large house, that hen-house! and
there is one room carpeted for the Queen
when she comes a-visiting her hens. And
the room has stuffed things under glass, that
the Queen loved when they were alive; pretty
hens and birds and a white: dove somebody
tossed into her carriage in Ireland long ago
-When she was young. And there are white
peacocks and a woman who takes care of
them all; she is called the hen-wife, I believe.
Oh, but the Queen takes good care of all her
things, her hens, her cows, her horses, her
dogs-—â€
“And her Empire,†my master says.
I don’t know about the Empire, but I do
know about the hen-house.
“And there’s another place I’ve been sent
to hunt deer quite different from Exmoor,â€
said Cesar. “There are mountains there and
BALMORAL CASTLE, SHOWING MAIN ENTRANCE.
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 209
great forests of firs, and rocks, and tumbling
streams, and bogs they call ‘moss.’ It’s
Balmoral.â€
“Oh, ’vebeen theretoo, Cesar!†I exclaimed.
“Well, upon my word, you are a traveler,â€
replied Cesar. “Then perhaps you saw the
stag dance if you’ve been there.â€
“Tve seen stags dance if that’s what you
mean. They dance fine. I saw them up
Glen Feshie. But the tame Windsor stags
can’t dance as fine as the wild Highland
stags.â€
“Oh, the stags at the stag-dance don’t dance.
They are dead; dead as Queen Anne. [That
is what the English say when they mean a
thing is dead and no mistake. And Queen
Anne has been dead as much as two hundred
years. So there’s no mistake about her.]
It’s the gillies that dance. I happened to see
it. I wasn’t invited. Dégs are not invited.
T was taking a little walk on my own account
as the best of dogs will, you know, Tony. I
wanted to see something of Balmoral besides
210 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
the kennels, and so I was abroad in the
gloaming.
“We had killed that day three splendid
stags, and they were brought and laid ina
heap on the lawn near the Queen’s entrance
to the Castle.â€
I knew the Queen’s entrance, for Spot had
pointed it out when we were skulking in the
shrubbery. It is the entrance that the Queen
uses and her invited guests. Callers that
haven’t been especially invited go to another
door. I shall send a photograph with this
paper so my readers may see the Queen’s
entrance.
“A great bonfire was kindled near the
Castle, and it burned up to the sky, and shone
upon the Castle, and it was as light as day.
And a man blew into such a droll thing that
buzzed and screamed. Spot said the thing’
was called a bagpipe, and he said the buzzing
and screaming was ‘music, â€
“Qh, then you saw Spot!†T exclaimed.
“Yes, he was prowling about in the gloam-
THE BAGPIPER,
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 213
ing too. We met under a tree called ‘Beacons-
field’s Tree’ It seems everybody that goes
to Balmoral plants a tree. Everybody that is
anybody, J mean, and Beaconsfield, I expect,
was somebody.
“Well, the bagpipe began and then all the
gillies began to dance reels round the bon-
fire.â€
“Did they wear their petticoats, Caesar?â€
“Yes, all of them, and little pouches that
jumped when they jumped. Oh, how they did
jump and stamp, and shout, and snap their
fingers! reels are a singular amusement,
Tony! But it was gay, and I did so long to
join in. But I knew they’d drive me off.
Though perhaps the kind Queen wouldy’t.
She likes to have dogs enjoy themselves as
well as folks. She came out of her entrance
to look on, and all her ladies and gentlemen
came out, and some of them fell to dancing
reels too, upon the lawn, and the bonfire
shone on them and the dancing gillies, and
the dead stags with their great antlers, and
214 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
the Queen smiled for she likes bonfires and
reels, And there was another Queen stand-
ing beside her, Spot said she was a Queen and
her name is Elizabeth. She is Queen of a
place called Roumania. She smiled too.
“They kept at it I don’t know how late; and
I couldn’t tear myself away, though I knew
the keeper’s lad was looking for ine and was
angry, for he had stayed behind to shut me
up. But Spot said, ‘I may as well be killed
for an old sheep as a lamb, now. I shall
catch it anyway.’ But I couldn’t stay it out,
for I was tired. I’d been all day stalking
deer over the roughest ground even I ever
saw; and how the gillies could stand it T can’t
think. For they had been tramping, too,
carrying guns, and provisions, and climbing
rocks, and tramping through moss. I left
them dancing, and the bonfire flaring.â€
To hear Cesar tell it was next to seeing it.
“Thank you, Cesar,†said I.
“Oh, it’s all very well, once ina way, to have
a little sport of that kind,†said he. “But the
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 215
real pleasure after all, Tony, is in the hunt
itself-—in the day’s work.â€
And I perceived that Cesar was a dog of
sense as well as of agility and skill in his pro-
fession.
SIT.
WITH ROBIN IN A WHERRY ON THE BROADS,
WHERRY is a boat. It travels on a
river. It has a big brown gail that
my master says is “picturesque.†The sail
hasn’t any boom. Perhaps I had better ex-
plain to those who have not traveled, and seen
things, that a boom is a big stick at the
vottom of a sail, and a Norfolk wherry in Eneg-
land has no boom. But it has a long gaff,
and the gaff is the stick at the top of the sail.
My master and I traveled on a Norfolk
wherry two days and two nights. It was the
Voluntecr, And at the top of the mast
was a little Welsh woman in a tall peaked
hat. She wasn’t a live woman. She was
made of iron, and told which way the wind
blew.
We sailed all the way up the Bure River.
We passed a windmill; then we passed a
216
Tas ener eae Pen : a z
THE VOLUNTEER GOING UP THE RIVER.
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 219
second windmill; then more windmills. The
windmills lift the water out of the ditches
and pour it into the river.
We met boats with white sails and full of
young men. And pretty house boats full of
pretty ladies. We passed a little boat with
a little engine. It was “dydling†the river,
Robin said. Robin was the wherry dog, and
“dydling†means “cleaning out.â€
We passed no end of boys fishing on the
banks. They caught roach and perch, pike
and eels, especially eels. T learned that Nor-
folk boys are very fond of stewed eels.
The river widens into a lake, and Robin said
that lake was called a “Broad.†Lots of birds
and fun here, Robin said. There are the
moor hens, black with orange-red beaks and
ereen toes and legs. And when Robin chases
them they dive. There were herons stand-
ing round on one leg. And swans and cyg-
nets. Robin does not dare to chase the cyg-
nets, for the mother swan is so strong she can
break your leg as easy as anything.
220 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
The river grew narrow and we came to a
bridge. I wondered how we could ever go
under it with our big sail. “Wait a bit, Tony,â€
says Robin, “and you'll see.â€
And just before we reached the bridge the
sail was dropped, and the big mast was bent
down flat, and under we went. The wherry-
man “quanted†us under with a long pole
that had a flat round end, and is called a
“quant.†JT am learning many languages in
my travels.
Then we came to another thing new and
strange. And “What is this, Robin?†I asked.
For right before us was a great box, and
above the box, higher than we, was the river.
‘Wait a bit, Tony,†says Robin, “and you'll
see.â€
We sailed into the box which just held the
wherry. There was a little water in the bot-
tom, and more water began to come in, and
we began to rise. By and by we were at the
top of the box, and there was the river, and
aman opened some gates and we sailed right
ROBIN.
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
ho
to
eo
in. It was droll, and Robin said, “That is ¢
lock, Tony.â€
Then we went under more bridges, and the
river was so narrow we could almost touch
the banks. And the horses and cattle stood
in the grass and looked at us, and the mead-
ows were all over buttercups and daisies and
marigolds.
Then the wind fell, and the wherryman got
out on the bank and pulled us with a rope.
Then we came to another lock. It was all
very interesting.
A little yellow-haired girl was playing on
the bank in one place, and she dropped her
doll into the water and began to cry. Then
Robin jumped in and picked it up and carried
it to her. Master said Robin ought to have
a medal for saving the doll’s life.
Robin lives on the wherry summer and
winter, and all the year round. Tle saved a
real little girl’s life once. But Robin did not
tell me that. The wherryman told me. She
fell in and Robin fetched her out in his mouth.
224 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
It was the wherryman’s own little girl. “And
I wouldn’t part with that dog, sir, not for any
money,†said he.
My master and I did have a happy time on
Robin’s wherry.
At the village of Horning the cottage chil-
dren came out upon the river bank and sang:
fo! John Barleycorn: Ho! John Barleycorn:
All day long I raise my song
To Old John Barleycorn.
Master gave them pennies. Kyerybody gives
them pennies, the wherryman said.
“And who is Mr. John Barleycorn?†I
asked, but Robin did not know. But my
master said, “Ie’s a famous Englishman.
He lived hundreds of years ago, and he’s alive
yet.â€
“He must be awfully old,†I remarked.
“Where does he live?â€
“Tle lives all over England. He lives there
and there and there,†and my master pointed
to the green fields about Horning.
“Oh, youre just chaffing,†I said.
HORNING VILLAGE, WHERE THE CHILDREN SING JOHN BARLEYCORN.
No
Ne
a
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
“No, upon my honor, it’s true,†replied my
master. “John’s real name is Barley, and
he is called Barley-corn because all grain is
called corn in England. He is the barley,
the great grain of England. The farmers
think no end of him, and, Tony, in the nursery
tale, “This is the House that Jack built: This
is the malt that lay in the House that Jack
built’ I expect Jack’ is John Barleycorn.
For malt comes from barley.†My master
does explain so well!
The wherryman said the Horning children
used to sing “John Barleycorn†in his great-
erandfather’s time, who guanted on the
Broads just as he does.
“And there’s a ballad about John older
even than your egreat-great-great-grand-
father,†said my master, and he told it to the
wherryman. It begins:
There were three kings unto the cast,
Three kings both great and high,
And they hare sworn a solemn oath
John Barleycorn should dic,
228 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
They took a plough and ploughed him down,
Put clods upon his head ;
And they have sworn @ solemn outh
John Barleycorn was dead.
But the cheerful spring came kindly on
And showers began to fall;
John Barleycorn got up again
And sore surprised them all.
The wherryman liked it. “John Barley-
corn,†said he, “him are the main stay of Ene-
land, sir.â€
We sailed over many Broads, but Wroxham
Broad is the prettiest. It is called “The
Queen of Broads.†But master and I did not
care for the great regatta at Wroxham.
There was too much of it. There were so
many boats and sails you could hardly see
the water. It was just a water picnic. The
wherryman told us of a snugger one up
stream. “It be in my own parish, sir,†he
said.
So we sailed on through two locks, and
came to the wherryman’s parish. Its name
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 229
is Lammas. Just there the river makes a
bend through a wide green meadow. In the
meadows stand a small gray stone church
and a village of red-tiled cottages. Near by
is the great white gabled flour-mill. All the
flour-mills on the Bay are painted white. My
master says they make him think of some-
thing in a book, “The Mill on the Floss.†Be-
side the mill is the great mill-house, all cov-
ered withivy. The river there is higher than
the meadow and there are high grassy banks
to keep the water in. The wherry was fast-
ened alongside the bank, and a plank put
across for my master’s friends who came to |
tea. Then the sports began.
First came the yacht race. Myerybody
knew everybody, and called each other by
their names, Jake or William or George. It
was a kind of family affair, my master said,
and he liked it.
And there was a shovel race. This was six
men in two boats and they rowed with great
wooden shovels, that plashed the water into
250 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
the boats and all over the men. Such fun!
and we wherry-folks clapped those men that
won. And then came a swimming match, for
all the sports were in the water because this
wasaregatta. But the drollest of all was the
pig race.
“Oh, poor piggie! do they put him into the
water?†said a little town lady who had never
seen a pig race. She was drinking tea and
eating hot buttered scones.
“Oh, but piggie likes it,†replied my master.
“Pios can swim better than I or even you,†for
the little town lady, it seems, was a famous
swimmer. “You take to water like a duck,
and so does piggie. You will see.†And she
did see.
Piggie was taken out in a boat to mid-
stream. He was in a “poke,†Robin said. I
have heard of a “pig in a poke,†and master
says “poke†is “archaic English†for “sack.â€
A man opened the poke, and out tumbled
piggie with a squeal and a great plash into
the river. And “Oh!†said the little town lady.
BROADS.
iS
AM, QUEEN OF THI
WROXE
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 233
But piggie put his snout out of the water
and began to swim valiantly, and all the
swimmers started after him, for whoever
should seize hold of him first was to have him.
He turned towards the shore, but the spec-
tators on the bank and in the boats turned
him back. Then he started up stream with
all the swimmers hurrying and panting be-
hind him. How he did swim, and how we
did cheer him! By and by he turned and
swam straight into the arms of the swimmer
that was ahead. The others stretched out
their hands. But “Te’s mine†said he, and he
held him tight with both arms. Then he let
him go and piggie swam to the bank, climbed
over it, and began to root up the turf. “See,â€
said Robin, “he isn’t one to grizzle just be-
cause he was tumbled into the river.†And
master said he was worth twenty-five shil-
lings.
I do see such amusing sports here! Once
in a field I saw six girls run fora prize. Each
carried a wooden spoon at arm’s length with
234 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
anegginit. Ifshe dropped her egg from the
spoon, she did not get a prize. This was ata
feast when the Queen’s grandson was married.
My master could hardly tear himself away
from the Broads, and I was loath to leave
Robin and the wherryman. Master never
tired sketching the wherries. “Hach mo-
ment, when they are sailing with a fair wind
through a meadow, I see some new line of
beauty. They are the gracefullest craft in
the world, Tony,†says he. I do not always
exactly understand my master, but I do love
to have him confide his thoughts to me.
“And I love the patches on their old brown
sails, Tony,†said he.
The lights on the rivers and meadows he
thinks wonderful. And I’m sure I’ve learned
enough being with him to know that.
“Morning is one of the best times to see ’em,â€
said Robin. And many a time have my
master and I with Robin turned out in the
misty morning.
For we came again and again after that
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 235
first voyage of two days and two nights, for a
second, a third, and a fourth, in the Volunteer.
The old wherryman looked upon us as mem-
bers of his family. “You must come back in
the winter, sir,†he said. He said there were
great sea-birds from the north in the winter,
on the river and Broads.
There is anothername besides“The Broadsâ€
for this part of England. It is also called
“The Land of Dumplings.†The Norfolk
dumpling is as famous in England, my master
says, as the Boston baked bean is in America.
And the dumplings are good. “You want
plenty o’ gravy with ’em, sir,†says the wherry-
man.
The Norfolk dumpling is as old as John
Barleycorn. As long ago as Queen Elizabeth
used to come a-visiting here—and she was
very fond of this part of her kingdom—it was
‘-alled “The Land of Dumplings.†TI expect
Queen Elizabeth tasted them. Not suet
dumplings. Oh, no! but “light dumplings.â€
Every night the cottage wife makes “light
236 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
dumplings†for her good man’s supper. And
every day Mrs. Wherryman made “light
dumplings†for us. I wish I had kept a reck-
oning of how many I ate. It would be so in-
teresting!
And Robin and I did try to reckon up one
day how many he had eaten in the course of
his life. “I suppose, Robin,†said I, “you’ve
eatenasmanyastwoaday. And how old are
you?â€
“Six years old last Michaelmas, Tony.â€
“And there are 365 days in one year,†said I.
“And six times 365 is—let me see. Six times
five is 30. Set down 0 and carry 3. Six
times 6 is 386, and 3 is 39. Set down 9 and
carry 8. Six times 3is 18 and 3is 21. That
makes 2,190 days. And 2 dumplings a day
will be—†but here I gave out. And master
says I had better let my readers do the sum.
“And yowve made no allowance for leap
years, Tony,†said he.
XIV.
I VISIT WARWICK CASTLE AND THE NORTH WAR-
WICKSHIRE PACK.
VERY American dog who comes to Eng-
land visits Warwick Castle. ButI never
heard one of them mention the great fireplace
in the great hall. It took my eye at once.
There is a big wood-box, to match the big fire-
place, almost as big as a man’s bedroom, I
should say.†And when the wood from that
box goes into that fireplace and is kindled, it
makes just such a ereat warm fire as I like to
stretch out before. I observed, too, that the
hearth-rug was fine and soft.
All round the hall are suits of iron clothes
that glimmer in the firelight. Men used to
wear those clothes, my master says. He calls
them “armor.†And how they got into them,
and how they walked and rode after they did
get into them, cannot think. There isa very
237
238 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
small iron suit that a boy wore. His name
was Prince Edward.
Horses wore them, too, for I saw a horse’s
suit. JI asked my master if dogs ever wore
them, and he thought not. Ihope not. Iron
muzzles are bad enough, but iron blankets
and hoods would be too much.
We saw a very tall bed with a crown on
top. And the man that showed the things
said, “Two queens have slept on that bed, sir.
Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria.â€
“Indeed!†replied my master. “And did
they sleep in it together?†and his eyes twin-
kled just as they do when he chaffs me.
“No, siz,†replied the man. “Queen Hliza-
beth died in 1603.†And I thought he looked
surprised that my master did not know.
One day when we were in Warwick we went
a long walk to the kennels where the pack of
foxhounds live.
The kennels aré as fine and comfortable as
a dog could wish. They stand in a row, mak-
ing a little dog village. Each has a little front
WARWICK CASTLE,
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 241
yard, and a gate that opens on to the walk
or street. There is plenty of soft clean straw
to lie upon.
But I think that I never could be happy
shut up ina kennel. I like to live with folks
and trot about with my master.
very morning the hounds come out one by
one and pass before the “Whips,†like soldiers
onareview. Ishould not like a master called
a “Whip.†It does not sound pleasant.
And then they eat only dog-biscuit and
scrap-cake. No candies, no cakes, no tarts!
“Don’t you ever have a Christmas mince-pie
or a bit of toffie, Sweetlips?†I asked.
“Never,†said he. ;
Tpitied him. And yet he looked happy and
strong, and not over-fat. Sometimes I fear I
am getting over-fat. And my master says,
“Really, Tony, you eat more sweets than are
good for you.â€
in the winter, Sweetlips says, the whole
pack go a-hunting every week. I suppose
they kill things, though I did not ask. Now
242 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
I like to chase things—a rabbit or a cat up a
tree. But I should not like to kill things.
That is different.
I made acquaintance with a number of the
pack, besides Sweetlips; Hercules and Chan-
ter, Melody and Hector—really, I cannot re-
member all the forty names more or less. But
Sweetlips was my particular friend.
Sweetlips had never visited Warwick Cas-
tle. So I told him about the big fireplace
and the armor and the bed with a crown. I
also mentioned many other things I had seen
in my travels, many things that I have not
had space to put down in these papers. To all
he listened with the deepest interest.
“kennel dogs cannot travel,†said he.
“That is one drawback in our way of life.â€
TI should think so! Why, if I had not trav-
eled I should never have seen all the droll
and interesting things Ihave seen. I should
never have chased hares with Peter, nor
sailed in Robin’s wherry on the Bure. And
I should never have written out my adven-
SWEETLIPS AND SOME OTHERS OF THE PACK.
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD, 245
tures and so became an author! I’m elad
P’m not a kennel dog.
Epilogue.
Master calls this a “Rider,†but I say “Epi-
logue.†It sounds more genteel.
This epilogue is to tell about the “Meet†of
the foxhounds in Warwick Castle Park, at
another visit we made to Warwick town. It
was ona IFrebruary mornine—“a true hunting
morning,†master said; the ground soft, the
air soft, the sky soft and gray,
We went on to the keeper’s lodge and
waited about. Other folks were also waiting
about; laborers and gipsy folks—everybody
that loved the hunt.
Presently we saw the pack coming. They
246 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
came on shoulder to shoulder, flank to flank,
with every tail curled in air, a pack of as noble
hounds as you would wish to see on a hunting
morning. The huntsman and two “whipsâ€
were with them.
“Those “whips, Tony, would cut us with
their horrid thongs if we should so much as
wink at a rabbit,†said Sweetlips, “and it’s
very trying when they keep running away
right under our noses.†I was able to ex-
change a few words with Sweetlips as the
pack were sniffing about the edge of a
spinney.
The members of the hunt cantered up on
their long-legged, bob-tailed hunters; a good
mmany wore red coats, some were in green
coats, a few in black. It was pretty to see
them coming on between the tall trees of a
plantation. They leaped the hedge into the
open bank. here were ladies on hunters,
too, and one little fair-haired girl. Carriages
of ladies were coming up the road from the
gate.
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 247
The hounds disappeared into a spinney.
The keeper said there were two foxes in it. |
Everybody waited for the first sound. The
hunters moved slowly to and fro over the
ereen turf. At last a faint whimper was
heard in the spinney; then a subdued chorus
of whimpers as though the hounds were con-
sulting, being doubtful; then—an outburst
of glorious music, bass, tenor, alto and, above
all, Sweetlips’ clear treble.
“Matched in mouth like bells,†said my
master. “But that’s a quotation, Tony. Tl
be honest and own it’s the mighty Shaks-
pere’s and not mine. And,†he added, “I ex-
pect Shakspere saw meets here too, Tony,
for this is his country.â€
My master admires Mr. Shakspere and
I’m sure I think well of a man that says such
pretty things of dogs.
And at that outburst of music, every hunter
sprang off his four legs, and away went the
hunt—fox, hounds, red coats, green coats,
black coats, whips, hunstman, ladies, and lit-
248 AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD.
tle fair-haired girl, followed by the laborers
and gipsy folk running and hallooing. And
as far as we could see, a mile or more away,
we saw the red coats sparkling over the green
fields and meadows, dashing over hedges and
gates, now and then tumbling into a ditch,
and with the little fair-haired girl always
well ahead. “I wonder they don’t all tumble
off and break their necks,†I remarked.
“Not they,†replied my master. “They’re
too good horsemen for that. I don’t suppose,
Tony,†he went on, “you ever heard of the
great Duke of Wellington. But he said
Waterloo was won in the hunting and cricket
fields of England.â€
I don’t see how that can be, for IF under-
stand Waterloo is not in England. But my
master, as usual, is looking over my shoulder.
“Tony, Tony,†he says, “with all your trav-
els, yowve not yet the wisdom of Solomon.
The fearlessness, the promptness, the forti-
tude that won Waterloo were learned in the
practice of these hardy sports; that’s what
AN AMERICAN DOG ABROAD. 249
the Duke meant.†And I hope my readers
understand what he meant. I think I do.
And my master has told me of another
place called Balaclava. A Mr. Tennyson
has written verses about it, he says. At that
place, six hundred Englishmen rode straight
down upon a battery of roaring cannon, and
there were cannon firing into them from the
right, and cannon firing into them from the
left, but they never flinched. The order was
to ride down there, and though it was riding
“into the jaws of death,’ my master says,
it.was their duty to obey.
And the Englishman who led that glorious
charge of Balaclava, he says, was a famous
and fearless rider to hounds when at home.
FINIS.
"28h lone |
Seppe aaeeaeetpeeeesteaat as
Seitietierper east
ie cease
SES ase
Bpiseitecgseeeats
Spateeesmsisasnte payers toetomasaege
Sriotetaqeninbaiesits tesemeieoree rtoeaaie ssp
Sees sear aing
a
apes
Reena
See
espa tiecrescperesesbaas
Sy pieberssert
eaarrsstitiestatesetss
Serhan