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Senator Vest's Eulogy On The Dog


Gentlemen of the Jury: The best friend a man has in this world may turn

against him and become his enemy. His son and daughter that he has

reared with loving care may become 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 a man has he may

lose. It flies away from him when he may need it most. Man's reputation

> may be sacrificed in a moment of ill-considered action. The people who

are prone to fall on their knees and 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 head. The one absolutely unselfish friend a man may have

in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that

never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is the dog.



Gentlemen of the jury, 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 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 encounter 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 into 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 the 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 his graveside will the noble dog be found, his head

between his paws and his eyes sad, but open in alert watchfulness,

faithful and true even to death.



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