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Tribute
To The Dog
Gentlemen of the jury: The best friend
a man has in the
world may turn
against him and
become his worst
enemy. His son
or 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
our
good name, may become traitors
to
their faith. The money that man
has,
he may lose. It flies away from
him,
perhaps when he needs it the 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 to do us honor when success
is
with us may be the first to throw
the
stone of malice when failure settles
its
cloud upon our heads.
The one absolutely unselfish friend
that
a man can have in this selfish
world,
the one that never deserts him and
the
one that never proves ungrateful
or
treacherous... is his dog.
Gentlemen of the jury: A man's
dog
stands beside him in prosperity and
in
poverty. He will sleep on the
cold
ground, where the wintry winds
blow
and the snow drives fiercely, if only
he
may 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
wings
and reputation falls to pieces, he is
as
constant in his love as the sun in its
journey through the heavens. If
fortune
drives the master forth an outcast in
the world, friendless and homeless,
the
faithful dog asks no higher privilege
than that of accompanying him to
guard against danger, to fight
his
enemies, and when the last scene of
all
comes, and death takes the 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 his graveside will the noble dog
be
found, his head between his paws,
his
eyes sad but open in alert
watchfulness,
faithful and true even to
death."
--Senator George Graham
Vest
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