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Show COMING OF THE 8T. BERNARDj How the Breed of Noble Dogs Wat Discovered to Americana. Forty years ago -the St. Bernard dog was hardly more than a myth to most Americans. In Sunday school literature litera-ture he figured occasionally, to tho Joy of dog-loving children, but the real llvo hero ot Alpine fame they would not have recognized had they seen him. Comparatively few of our countrymen country-men visited Europo In those days. Our .leisure class was limited and a Journey Jour-ney abroad meant as long a stay as possible In the great cities, among the treasures ot art. St. Bernards were rare upon the great highways of travel. Their work was on the bleak mountain moun-tain passes, protecting poor wayfarers from the fury of tho elements, and far away from tho beaten track of foreign tourists. Travelers who crossed Into Italy by way of Tcte Noire pass and saw beautiful beau-tiful young pups there were sometimes tempted into buying them, but tho risks of transportation wero great and very fow crossed tho Atlantic. Prior to tho early '70s most of (ho importations importa-tions went to Now York stato and tho first fine collection or kennel of them known belonged to Col. Parker of Albany. Al-bany. Soon after tho era ot dog shows opened the eyes of tho general public to the wonderful beauty, oxtraoVdlnary size and charming character of this breed, says Country Llfo tn America, and then tho St. Bernard bounded into popularity, and as American dollars dol-lars ever fly fast after beauty and fashion many thousands wcro exchanged ex-changed for beautiful specimens of tho "Alpine mastiff." |