The sun., 1899-11-28
yAGARIEs or THE .PossUm Doo.
A Canine Development That Dehes all
Rules Known to Hunters.

4 have never been able 10 decide in my own
mind" an exiled TenneSsean said, whether the
perfect 'possum dog ought 10 be rcckoned a canine
anachrontsm or a canine ldiusyncracy. You sec
his evolution is thing dcfying all rules. II is
not in the least a matter 0! breed Neither has
hcrcdty much TO do with H. In litter bred from
famous hunters You may get one 'possum dog
OF none. or five out oi six
The very finest dog ever saw upon a night
hunt was Sport an imported English setter. uc
mcnduusly well bred and at FIRST as fine a bird
dog as ever was shot over. His master the Cap
tain. didn't hunt much save in the first week II
the open season, but he did ride and walk a lot
about the fields and woodS Sport was always
at his heels and after itlc while taught him
self TO be a 'possum dog How he did 1t ! know
no more than OF any other man knows what
makes u posSum do! unlike any other dog Sport
soon got 10 the pass Of disdaining anything but
'possum. lie would walk up 10 coyey Of quail.
never turning hair A rabbit in plain sight he
passed disiainfuy by. But once in the woods
or along the edges Of the old fields he began sniff
ing, smiling. never giving tongue until he had
followed the trail home Then lie sat up and
howlcd and barked for all he was worth. when
you heard him you might get out your axe ard
light your torches lIS had ,recd. and no mis-.
take Another God thing was that he would not
U'' 'lNll'I n 'bpi VI u IH'TrlH nc was
unlike any other dog ever knew.
"IIc was particularly unlike Reps who ranked
next him in 'possum excellence Reps was lii
tie black fycc. lie did no, stand over twenty
inches high. and was ridiculously light and
small But II gr, and nose were pond-rablc
he would have weighed nearly a ton. He would
noSe a rabbit, and run him twenty yards in pure
wantonncss, then fling up his head, and come
dashing back TO the hunters with near re.
scmblancc To a grin as n dogs face could possibly
wcar II he ran further you could bc crrtnin
it was eilhcr coon or posSum and you could gen.
generally tell which by n peculiar but indescrlb,
able infection in his bark. For he harkcd all
with now and again n deeper half howl i was
only when he trccd that he let out his voice iuily
for such volume Of sound. lie was as honest
as he was little In 200 runs with him never
knew him 10 make more than one mistake And
then when the tree came down. with nothing In
nose here and there through the branches with
the most innocent wondering air Really, what
is all this about? lie seemed 10 be asking hut
II lie had found twenty pound coon or a big fat
rascal Of ,possum he would have. .bccn UP and
AT him in twinkle, never ninding teeth or claws
"l}ut the oldest pair OF pOasum dogs within
my knowledge were litter brothers, brindled ours.
Their masters, both black, were both Sans dis
unguished IN plan,niIon mouths an Bun Sam
and Tobc Sam Bull Sam. VINO weighed two
owned Wrong and hunted with him four nights
Of each TALL week, II was his boast that in the
matter ~ pOssumsW rong never failed To be right
while Right was wrong almost half the time
But both were dogs very much out NJ the ordinary
though they came ~ stock utterly without
hunting instincts Their dam hardly ever lett
the door yard their sire shot Tor killing sheep
Tho dogs themselves had equally good noses Tor
coon or 'pOSsum, II was not uncommon for Bull
Sam and Wrong 10 fetch in half dozen uf either
Iiull Sam indeed had regular trade in coon skin
caps and wAiStcoats besides selling some raw skins
To help in the matter of Christmas money and put,
ting tsscls OF coon tails upon the brides of every
mule he worked lIc believed, as most black team
stcrs do that the coon tails were n charm tO drive
away econiurc and make the animals wearing
them thrive and pull And certainly he did have
OOd-looking teams always no matter how SCARED
and scrawney thcy may have been, when they
came into his charge.
"lobc Sam said II was all luck; that Right
was really much the better 'pOssum dog, but it
generally happened that he started hunting
when de sign want right Hut We boys who
went along al last made up our mlndsit was Right,
who wasn't right OF course. we never said So
nor did we try lorcaSOn II out Looking back att
all, have decided that poor Right, like so many
other dogs lacked something, some quality Ot
delicate differentiation between the scents OF night
running beasts, lie was good dog for all that
away and above the mass But no cur ever
whelped deserved to be named along with Sport
tho thoroughbred, who by all rules should not
have been a possum' dog az all -