CHAPTER V.

 "THE CAVALIER'S PETS."

 D IFFERENT generations are marked by their different
 favourites, especially among those who have the means
 and the leisure for the cultivation of such predilections, in
 newly introduced animals and plants. Even human beings
 are included in this category, and so we had an era of dwarfs
 and an era of black boys, as half-attendants, half-playthings
 for fine ladies and gentlemen. Among the lower animals
 there was a monkey period and a macaw period, both of
 which have passed away in a great measure. Among plants
 we have had the seasons when dahlias and pansies first came
 into vogue and became objects of absorbing interest, and the
year which saw the importation of the glorious Tom Thumb
"geranium.
 Dogs are no exception to this influence of fashion, so that
 there is a double sense in which "every dog has its day"
 Even living persons have seen many canine candidates for
 such honours. The spotted Danish hound had his day, so
 had the bouncing, curly, jet black Newfoundland, the grand