prizes to the weedy specimens, shallow in muzzle,
light in bone and substance, long in body, head and tail, who adorn (?)
the shows of the past few years. I am not a prophet, neither the son of
one, but I will hazard my reputation in predicting that before many years
have rolled, a type, approximating that authorized by the Boston Terrier
Club in 1900 will prevail, and the friends of the dog will undoubtedly
believe it to be good enough to last for all time.

It will readily be recalled that Lord Byron said of the eminent actor,
Sheridan, "that nature broke the die in moulding one such man," and the
same may be affirmed with equal truth of the Boston terrier, and he will
ever remain a type superior to and differ from all other breeds in his
particular sphere.

It may not be generally known by those who are insisting on a much more
terrier conformation than the standard calls for, that an equally extreme
desire for an exaggerated bull type prevailed a number of years ago
amongst some of the dogs' warmest supporters, whose ideal was that
practically of a miniature bulldog, without the pronounced contour of the
same. I remember when I joined the Club in the early days that some of the
members then were afraid that the dogs were approximating too much to the
terrier side of the house. What their views today would be I leave the
reader to imagine. The plain fact of the case is, the dog should be a
happy medium between the two, the bull and the terrier. Can any
intelligent man find a chance for improvement here? I admit that many
people are so constituted that a change is necessary in practically
everything they are brought into close contact with. But is a change
necessarily an improvement? If some men could change the color of their
eyes or the general contour of their features they would never rest
satisfied until they had so done, but they would speedily find out that
such a change would be very detrimental to their appearance, the harmony
of features and correlation of one part to another would be distorted. I
admit readily that one very important result would be obtained, viz., the
dog of the pronounced terrier type could be bred much more easily. But is
an easy production a desideratum? I certainly think not. To those who
"must be doing something" and who find a certain sense of satisfaction in
tinkering with the standard, we extend our pity, and state that experience
is a hard school, but some people will learn in no