The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-02-20
THE noas Now oy snow.

To the Number of 1,6lO They Are in the
 Garden--An Early Morning Chorus--Ma-
 for Mckinley the Largest of the W hole
 Lot.
 New York, Feb. 19.-The twentieth annual bench show of the Westminster Kennel club commenced in Madison Square Garden this morning. As usual the exhibition began with a grand cho- rus. The bsrls of 1,61o dogs greeted the early morning visitors. The Even ing Sun says:
 scarcely be conceived. There were all tones. The chorus was a little too loud, otherwise it would have been de- Ilightful. The collies were the sopranos; the poodles made excellent falsettos; the beagles and foxhounds were the tenors; the bassos were the blood- hounds, mastiffs and St. Bernards; the English, Irish and Gordon settlers and the spaniels were the baritones. The bulldogs, the fox terriers, Irish terriers and, in fact all the terriers. did their level best to injure the chorus with their incessant yelping. The grand chorus will be kept up without inter- missions of any kind until the show closes it's doors at Il o'clock on Satur- day night.
 Tn many respects this exhibition does not differ from it's predecessors. A number of popular idols are missing, but the exhibits, both in numbers and calibre, are better than ever before The absence of crack dogs has made the competition keener.
 The contestants in the various class es are evenly matched. There are no stars with big bench regulations gain ed in England to scare the lesser lights out of competition. This has done much to bring more and better dogs l into the lists.
 l A better array of St. Bernards-e though Sir Bedivere is dead-was never l benched in this city. The Hell Gate | Kennels was the largest exhibitor in the rough and smooth coated classes. 1 Richard Crol1er's Pandora was some what of a disappointment. As a puppy
 she appeared to have a great bench ca l reer before her. She has not lived up l to expectations and lacks substance
 and ooIfor ria ttior Tho Pottery dog
 was very much in evidence. He is
 known as thss Boston terrier i'll this country and is quite the rage just now.
 He is small edition of the bull terrier
 in which the bull predominates. There is an avenue of these overrat- ed animals decked in all kinds of fam cy ribbons, and many of them are re- l clining on cushions behind silk curtains of delicate hue. Their nature is to I fight or go rating on Sundays. They
 for the most part look supremlely mis- erable in their enforced luxury. l A novelty in the way of bulldogs is 1 the French bulldogs. These are exhib-
 ited for the first time. They are pleas
 anter-featured and smaller than the I English bulldogs, and besides their ears | have not been trimmed. Their large ears give a comical expression to their
 faces, which makes them popular in 1 this country.
 1 Major Mckinley, the champion Great
 Dane. is the biggest dog in the show. l This honor is aspired to by the dog 1Iu IoiuSeiuA. iie IS pup SAeVoH 1 months old and weighs Ill pounds. In appearance he is a mammoth tawny bulldog.
 The homeliest dog in the show is Fa- cey, brindle bulldog. He has face larger than his body and a row of un- even teeth of unequal lengths that take
 a zigzag course over his immense face. Handsome Dan had to hide his dimin-
 ished head when Facey was led down the aisle.
 The smallest dog in the showis Jap
 anese spaniel. He weighs about four
 ounces, including fringe. In appear ance he resembles 6 black and white
 chrysanthemunl. The show, contrary
 to general expectations, was crowded, nj
 an early hour