Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1901-07-25
Saint Mary 5 Beacon.
A Remarkable Bird Dog

body had said o word about bird
dogs or any other kind Of dogs-s1
had the most remarkable bird dog
that ever happened, i guess, when
] was living out in Santa Barbara.
California, in '95. don't s'pose
there ever win be the likes OF that
dog on this earth again. I raised
him from Q pup. He was Q pointer
from away back. Il was just 90
natural for that dog to flop on TO
his launches and point ct bird as
it 10 for ne humans 70 eat things
that dent agree with as.
"He began to point before he
had shed his milk teeth, ! took
him ont for 0 walk one day when
he was about two months old, and
it took us about four hours TO get
over two miles Of grornd, for that
dog would cit down and point 1t .
bird about every 10 feet Of our pro-
gress. 1t didn't make any differ
ence what kind of 0 bird it was
that he pointed at. He'd point at
any old kind of a bird. II Q little
bunch Of English sparroWs would
settle down in the middle Of the
street he'd just sit down and point
ct them, and it was all / could DO
to get him to come along with me.
"He'd point ct q robin sitting
on top Of q cotton wood tree, and
he'd point at a brahma rooster
clawing up q flower bed in Q front
yard. Amy old thing that had
feathers on it that dog of mine
would point at. Had him ont one
afternoon when q bald headed eagle
began to soar around above Santa
Barbara. about three miles up in
the air, and blamed il that dog
didn't catch sight Of the noble bird
and squat down and point at it IN
til / had to bat him with o club to
induce him to come along with me.
"One day | had an aching tooth,
and, i decided to 20 to q dentist
and have the miserable molar yank-
cd ont. l felt 30 bad that / took
that pointer pup along with me for
company on my way TO the dentists
Office, and when he got to the door
he slipped into the Office with me.
Next thing ! knew that pointer
pup Of mine was sitting back on
his quarters, pointing ct q picture
Of some ruffied grouse that the
dentist had on the wall of his re-
ception room.
"In the course Of time pointing
got to DO q regular mania Of that
dogs, and couldn't take him ont
for exercise very often on account
Of his habit Of tagging behind to
point at feathered things. Took
him ont one afternoon when he
was about o year old. and furni-
ture van with lot Of pillows piled
on top Of some beds came along.
One OF the. pillows was broken at
the side and q lot of feathers es-
capped. That dog Of mine saw the
flying feathers, and blame me il be
didn't sit down and point at that
furniture van. Fact.
"But that wasn't the cutest
thing he ever did. The cutest
thing ne ever did was Ole afternoon
when took him down to the Santa
Barbara beach for a walk on the
sand. / hadn't any sooner got
him down to the beach than he sat
down and began to point out to
sea. / couldn't for the life of me
make out what he was pointing at.
There wasn't any bird, not even
seagull, in sight. But he kept
right on squatting there at the
verge Of the sea and pointing ont
over the water, and il ever . man
was puzzled, then / was.
cat frat | calculated that he
might be mistaking the crests Of
the waves for feathers, bat no.
little reflection convinced me that
he wasn't any such q fool dog as to
do q thing like that. Then
noticed that he was pointing direct
~ at white ship that lay out in
the harbor. ] pulled out my field
glasses and took look at the ship,
and then the mystery was made
clear. The ship he wss pointing at
was the U. s. man-o'-war Petrel,"
and then the man with the shifty
eye executed q sudden leap and es-
capped from the Car before his wrath
fnl listeners could hop on him and
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