|
Faithful Friend
"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.
|
