It will readily be recalled that Lord Byron said of the eminent actor, Sheridan, “that nature broke the die in moulding one such man,” and the same may be affirmed with equal truth of the Boston terrier, and he will ever remain a type superior to and differ from all other breeds in his particular sphere.

It may not be generally known by those who are insisting on a much more terrier conformation than the standard calls for, that an equally extreme desire for an exaggerated bull type prevailed a number of years ago amongst some of the dogs’ warmest supporters, whose ideal was that practically of a miniature bulldog, without the pronounced contour of the same.  I remember when I joined the Club in the early days that some of the members then were afraid that the dogs were approximating too much to the terrier side of the house.  What their views today would be I leave the reader to imagine.  The plain fact of the case is, the dog should be a happy medium between the two, the bull and the terrier.  Can any intelligent man find a chance for improvement here?  I admit that many people are so constituted that a change is necessary in practically everything they are brought into close contact with.  But is a change necessarily an improvement?  If some men could change the color of their eyes or the general contour of their features they would never rest satisfied until they had so done, but they would speedily find out that such a change would be very detrimental to their appearance, the harmony of features and correlation of one part to another would be distorted.  I admit readily that one very important result would be obtained, viz., the dog of the pronounced terrier type could be bred much more easily.  But is an easy production a desideratum?  I certainly think not.  To those who “must be doing something” and who find a certain sense of satisfaction in tinkering with the standard, we extend our pity, and state that experience is a hard school, but some people will learn in no other.  To those of us who love the dog as he is, and who believe in “letting well enough alone,” we admit we might as well suggest to improve the majestic proportions of the old world cathedrals and castles we all love so much to see, or advocate the lightening up of the shadows on the canvas of the old masters, or recommend the touching up of the immortal carvings of the Italian sculptors.  We advise the preacher to stick to his text, and the shoemaker to his last, and to all those who would improve the standard we say:  Hands off!  One very important feature in connection with the Standard is, that while breeders and judges are perfectly willing to have all dogs that come in the heavyweight class conform practically to it, when the lightweights and toys are concerned, a somewhat different type is permitted and the so-called terrier type is allowed, hence we see a tendency with the smaller dogs to a narrower chest, longer face and tail.  While personally