It seems a very proper thing that the service of the dogs should always
be recognized promptly, that they be given their share of the spoils
and that they be praised for their courage and fidelity. This makes
them better hunters. Stupid men who drive off their dogs from the
quarry, defer their rewards, and grudge them praise, kill the spirit of
the chase within them and spoil them for work.
Hounds have the finest hunting spirit of any animal. The team work of
the wolf and their intelligent use of strategy is one of the most
striking evidences of community interests in animal life.
The fellowship between us and our dogs is a most satisfactory relation.
Since prehistoric times, the hunter has taken advantage of the
comradeship and on it rests the mutual dependence and trust of the two.
Altogether, bringing bears to bay is among the most thrilling
experiences of life. It is a primitive sport and as such it stirs up in
the human breast the primordial emotions of men. The sense of danger,
the bodily exhaustion, the ancestral blood lust, the harkening bay of
the hounds, the awe of deep-shadowed forests, and the return to an
almost hand-to-claw contest with the beast, call upon a latent manhood
that is fast disappearing in the process of civilization.
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