THE LIFE AND DEATH OF PINCHER,

Otago Witness, Issue 2288, 6 January 1898, Page 53

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF PINCHER,

(Longman's Magazine.)

Piccher was a native of Edinburgh, and was born about 18S0, It is unfortunate that Dc John Brown did not write the biography of Pincher, whom, he probably knaw, while I myself was ucacquainted with the hero. This life i 3 based on the recollections of the bereaved survivors of an illustrious hound. On the mother's side Pmcher came of an old family of fox terriers. His paternal descent is wrapped in mystery, but those who know tbe circumstances best believe that Pincher had bull terrier blood in his veins. His ears' were large and loosely flipping ; his tail was short, thick, and columnar — that heroic tail which, never but ones was seen between his legs.

la very early youth Pincher was besLowed on a lady of mature age and maiden dignity who dwelt in London. She became much attached to Pmchor, but soon restored him to the grey metropolis of the north. On consulting her friends and her own sense of propriety, she did not thick it becoming that she should constantly appear in police courts. Yet this was her portion in life, owirg to the military instincts of Pincher, still uncontrolled by knowledge of the world and the usages of a complicated society. Pincher drank delight of battle with his peers, and Wallace rejoiced not more in the blood of Englishmen than Piocher in the gore of E iglish dogs. Through wide Bayswater he kept avenging Fiodden, and was in police courts often. He was therefore restored to the bosom of his family, who resided in Douglas Crescent.

Reflection had taught Pincher that a refined Orescent wag no fit arena for military prowess. Bbsides, he bad reduced the dogs of the district to order, and his appearance, like that of the British flag on the high seas of old, was saluted by tails down. Pmchar looked for new woxlds to conquer. He took his stand, l.ke some adventurous knight of old, in a pass perilous. He kept that thronged thoroughfare, the Dairy Road, against all corners. No collie, or bull terrier, or Dandie could pass but must cross teeth with Pincber. In the Dairy Road he compromised nobody ; unrecognised, like the black kuight at Ashby de la Zoticb, he reaped his laurels.

Pincher could not abide his neighbour, Professor Blackie. Tne extraordinary vitality of tha? schoiar found vent in a kind of danee — a sort of waltz in which he indulged as he paced the street. Observing this, and not liking it, Piocher would rush from his lair in tha ares, circling round the professor and leaping up at the tails of his plaid. The learned professor was obliged to walk like other men in Pinchers neighbourhood.

Tbe Highlands were the home of Pinchers mo3t celebrated feats, and the Pass of Giencoe witnessed what he doubtless deemed the most tragic event in big crowded life. Here he who never feared the faca of living dog fled from the dead, as he, erroneously, believed. Ha was not inaccessible to the terror of superstition, nor could he encounter the foe whom he had already seen stretched lifeless at his feet. But this adventure needs some prefaca and explanation.

The Ooe, after threading the blood-stained pass under tremendous and beetling crags, reaches the sea at Invercoe, above which it it is spanned by a bridge. At lavercoe dwelt a family akin to that owned by Pincher. They possessed a Scottish terrier named Jack, between whom and Pincber reigned an iaveterate feud. To keep these enerntes apart was the great object of all friends of pesce. ' Pinchers family lived on the. left, Jack's on the right of the river. One day both families were partaking of the refreshment of tea in the open air, the table being spread just under the" window of a cottage in the village. Pincher was left in the cottage, Jack on the other sids of the stream. As the guests partook of the innoc9nt feaat a kind of hairy hurricane sped from above, the urn and teapot were oversst, a heavy body landed on the table, and whan the affrighted tea party recovered the use of their senses Pincher and Jack were found engaged in a death struggle. Jack, unobserved, had come up the road ; Piccher, beholding or scenting him from an upper window, had leaped to the fray I

What intervention could do was done. Both hounds were lifted from the earth by their tails. Pepper was applied to their nostrils, water was poured over them. But Pincher did not leave his hold till Jack lay motionless at his feet. Then Pincher lethimself be dragged off, while medical attendance was called in for Jack, the doctor's house being hard by. The skill and perseverance of that excellent physician were at last rewarded. Jack breathed, he stirred, and, unknown to the relentless Pincher, was conveyed by a band of sympathisers to his own home, very groggy.

After this event Jack and Pincher were carefully kept apart, and the latter hero firmly believed that his enemy was dead. But in the following year Pincher crossed the bridge, and, in the view of several credible witnesses, he encountered Jack. Instantly that short tail of Pinchers drooped ; he trembled, turned, and fled. He had slain Jack, that he knew, and here was Jack again, re-arisen from his ensanguined grave. Now, and never before, men saw Pincher fly from a foe. The inferenco is obvious : he regarded Jack as a visitor from the world of spirits. Biutus was not afraid of the ghost of Cee'ar, bat in this one respsct Pincher fell short of the Roman courage. Pincher, though alarmed, was unconverted. Though gentle to small dega and the attached friend of little children, Pinches;

reigned the tyrant of fche glsn. When he marched down the middle of the village street dogs and cats fled to back gaidens and under beds in cottages.

At the age of 14. Pincher died. It was his habit to jump at the noses of trotting horses ; enfeebled by years he " missed his tip," was kicked by the justly irritated horse, and never recovered from the injury. His old age was gloomy, as he no longer dared to kesp the crown of the causeway, dreading the reprisals of ths young. The time came to this conqueror when, like Rob Roy in his last days, he had had enough of fighting Such, as drawn by a feeble bat impartial hand, were the life and de^tb of Pincher.