my old retriever,
Catch, a good dog and true, was pawing and scratching at the door to be
admitted, in his customary way, and sniffing a cordial welcome, as he
wondered and grumbled, in the most intelligible doggy language, at my
being so late in taking him out for his preprandial walk--when it was
such a fine morning, too! I heard the maid wishing me a cheery "Merry
Christmas, sir!" as she left my hot water; so, it is not to be wondered
that, after I had had the moral courage to plunge into my cold tub,
dressing afterwards in a subsequent glow, I became infected with the
buoyant spirit of all these social surroundings; and felt as light-
hearted and "seasonable" as Santa Claus and his wintry comrades, the
church bells, little robin redbreast, dog Catch, and Bridget the maid,
could either inspire or expect.

Dog Catch and I sallied forth for our walk--I, cheerful, and drinking in
healthy draughts of the fresh, frosty aether; he with great red tongue
lolling out, as he trotted along in front of me, coming back every
second step and looking up into my face with a broad grin on his jaws
and a roguish glance in his brown eyes--I suppose at some funny canine
joke or other, which he could not permit me to share--or else, darting
backwards and forwards, gleefully barking and making sundry feints and
dashes at me; or, prancing up in his elephantine bounds, with felonious
intentions regarding my walking stick, which he considered he had a much
better right to carry than myself.

We had lots of meetings and greetings when strolling along.

First, there was the gardener's dog at the corner, an old chum of
Catch's, who passed the time of day to us with a cheerful bow-wow;
although I was surprised to see that he had not "a posy tied to his
tail," according to the orthodox adage of typical smartness. Then there
was the milkman's dog, a gaunt retriever like mine, but of a very bad
disposition, and a surly brute withal. He and Catch were deadly foes,
as is frequently the case with dogs of the same breed; so, of course,
they could never meet without quarrelling: on this occasion they
exchanged ferocious challenges, and parted with signs and symptoms of
unmitigated contempt on both sides, expressed by growls and barks, tail
risings, and mane upliftings.

Further on, we encountered Mrs O'Flannagan, an Irish lady, who kept the
fruit stall at the corner by the cross roads. She was dressed, as
neatly as a new pin, in an "illigant" C