"The best friend man has in the world may turn against him and
become his worst enemy. His son, or his daughter, that he has
reared with loving care may prove ungrateful. Those who are nearest
and dearest to us, those whom we trust with our happiness and
good name may become traitors to their faith. The money a man
has he may lose. It flies away from him, perhaps when he needs
it most. A man's reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of ill-considered
action. The people who are prone to fall on their knees when success
is with us may be the first to throw the stone of malice when
failure settles its cloud upon our head.
The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this
selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never
proves ungrateful or treacherous, is his dog. A man's dog stands
by him in prosperity and poverty, in health and in sickness. He
will sleep on the cold ground when the wintry winds blow and the
snow drives fiercely, if only to be near his master's side. He
will kiss the hand that has no food to offer, he will lick the
wounds and sores that come in encounters with the roughness of
the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were
a prince.
When all other friends desert, he remains. When riches take wing,
and reputation falls to pieces, he is as constant in his love
as the sun in its journey through the heavens.
If fortune dries his master forth, an outcast in the world, friendless
and homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege that that
of accompanying him against danger, to fight against his enemies.
And when that last scene comes, and death takes his master in
its embrace and his body is laid away in the cold ground, no matter
if all other friends pursue their way, there, by the graveside
will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws, his eyes
sad, but open in alert watchfulness, faithful, and true, even
in death."
Senator Vest, speaking to a jury about Old Drum,
shot in 1869.
|