making invidious distinctions. There are so many excellent
examples of the breed that a list even of those who have gained
championship honours would be formidable. But one would hardly
hesitate to head the list with the name of Paymaster, a dog of rare
and almost superlative quality and true Irish Terrier character.
Paymaster is the property of Miss Lilian Paull, of Weston-super-Mare,
who bred him from her beautiful bitch Erasmic, from Breda Muddler,
the sire of many of the best. Side by side with Paymaster, Mr. F.
Clifton's Mile End Barrister might be placed. It would need a council
of perfection, indeed, to decide which is the better dog of the two.
Very high in the list, also, would come Mr. Henry Ridley's Redeemer
and Mr. Breakell's Killarney Sport. And among bitches one would name
certainly Mr. Gregg's Belfast Erin, Mr. Clifton's Charwoman, Mr.
Everill's Erminie, and Mr. J. S. McComb's Beeston Betty. These are
but half a dozen, but they represent the highest level of excellence
that has yet been achieved by scientific breeding in Irish Terrier
type.

Breeding up to the standard of excellence necessary in competition
in dog shows has doubtless been the agent which has brought the Irish
Terrier to its present condition of perfection, and it is the means
by which the general dog owning public is most surely educated to
a practical knowledge of what is a desirable and what an undesirable
dog to possess. But, after all, success in the show ring is not the
one and only thing to be aimed at, and the Irish Terrier is not to
be regarded merely as the possible winner of prizes. He is above all
things a dog for man's companionship, and in this capacity he takes
a favoured place. He has the great advantage of being equally suitable
for town and country life. In the home he requires no pampering; he
has a good, hardy constitution, and when once he has got over the
ills incidental to puppyhood--worms and distemper--he needs only to
be judiciously fed, kept reasonably clean, and to have his fill of
active exercise. If he is taught to be obedient and of gentlemanly
habit, there is no better house dog. He is naturally intelligent and
easily trained. Although he is always ready to take his own part,
he is not quarrelsome, but remarkably good-tempered and a safe
associate of children. Perhaps with his boisterous spirits he is prone
sometimes to be over-zealous in the pursuit of trespassing tabbies
and in assailing the ankles of in