Evening star., 1938-02-05

South America. but then those were
hounds. not ours. Why. what would
some of those early colonists have
done without lis to keep an eve on
what scrub stock there was. while they
broke ground and put up houses?
Shepherd dogs did most OF the watch
ing over cattle. They were ours, too.
but middle-sized. Nothing mongrel-
ish about them. Their folks were cur
shepherds and so were they. They'd
take cattle, hogs and sheep out in the
morning and bring them back at night.
Hard work. too. Dc you know. even in
1886, there were not but 80 plows in
The whole State of Massachusetts?
You can imagine how hard it must
have been to plant seeds with Moth
ing but hoe Or stick Took a lot
of time and put care of stock almost
entirely in the paws of the cur sheep
dog
Smallest Of all ours was the hou,e
dog. l knew one. Some folks cahed
her 'curtail dog She used to lurn
the wheel that made the water come
up out Of the pump Turned the spit
at the fire. too. Had sort OF cage
Arrangement with a wheel Once the
house cur started running on the
wheel, treadmill fashion. she had to
more or less keep going. Exhausting
business. but useful
Awful lot of fighting going on in
those times. Once. 1 heard about It
straight. Gen Washington was taking
walk among his troops. He noticed
few of his soldiers playing with a
little cur. Curiosity got the best Of
him so he walked up close. Right
away he knew he'd seen that dog be-
fore. 1t belonged to the British gen.
eral. Howe. Washington asked his
men and they said they'd captured the
cur at An outpost. Gen. Washington
knew just how Gen. Howe felt about
that dog He sent it right back under
flag of truce, with a note"
"SOMET1MES I'm kind of glad that
only wealthy people owned
hounds. 1t became law back in the
early DAYS of England. Kept common
folk from hunting on game preserva-
tlons intended Just for nobility. Some
middle-class people had a hound or
two, but were generally discouraged
Laborers and villagers couldn't own
anything but ours. working dogs
Later on they let the hound barrier
down, but it had gotten to be sort
of habit to have ours. Besides, they
needed us. Most of the folks who came
over to the Colonies in the early days
were good. sound. working stock, so
naturally they brought their ours.
Course. I've always been a little
disappointed in Columbus. He shipped
brace or so of hounds on board the
Santa Maria.
That reminds me of those South
Americans. The way those hounds
behaved was scandalous. Can't blame
them entirely. being As they were
trained that way. Spanish conquerors
used them against South American
Indians. Fierce bloodhounds they
were, too. Indians were scared to
death Of 'm-more so than of men,
horses or blunderbusses. Had a right
to be. Those Spaniards had trained
the hounds to track. kill and even eat
Indians l tell you, am glad we had
nothing to do with it. Soon as the
Spaniards had killed or subdued all
the Indians. and didn't need the
hounds any more, they Just put an
end to them or, worse. deserted them
entirely.
My goodness! I think I hear nv
butcher master whistling. II you will
Just give me drink of water Ive
talked myself hoarse,. I'll be on my
way.
BE proud of the courtesy title
cur. young fellow. The breed as a
breed is extinct. but they helped settle
America"