 |
| Max: a deserted beach... pensive thoughts... |
|
“The best friend a man has
in this world
may turn against him
and become his enemy.
His son or daughter whom 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 in their faith.
The money that 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 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 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 drives his master forth, an outcast in the world, friendless and homeless,
the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him,
to guard him against danger, to fight against his enemies.
And when that last scene of all 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 George Graham Vest, speaking to a jury about “Old Drum,” (1869)
|
