The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1844-02-09
THE DEATH OF A DOG.

70 die the death Of dog is said to
be the fate Of any unfortunate who has
been disconnected by misfortune or mis-
conduct from the sympathy and charity of
his kin. The phrase is familiar in every
ear, and its Specification is well under
stood. That dogs DO generally die
wrelchedly is most true; and even The
hound of high degree, when his day is over,
may 90 to the dust as miseraby as any
| 'bob.taiL like or ,rundle tail Of the canine
fraternlty.-Dogs are generally supposed
to die in the gulter 'headed,' as we see
them in dog-days, or pelled to death with
stones by mschievous boys. Books tell
us that dogs, of all the brute creation,
manifest ciearcst intelligence and closest
attachment 10 man; while, at the same
time, ills a received opinion that the death
of a dog is the most despicable exit from
being tina, can be made by biped or quad
ruped a some future time perhaps phi
losophy may find out how far these facts
60 to the disgrace Of the dog, and how far
in favor Of the magnanmily OF man.
The mastiil' the hound. the spaniel the
shepherds dog, the barrier, the terrier,
the greyhound, &c. &C., all have their
friends and masters during their day Of
utility; bu, TO grow sick or old are sins
always to be visited with the vengeance
of neglect. Such being the unhappy fate
of the genus CAMS, there is, perhaps, no
sadler image to be called before the mind
than the death of dog
On the lsi of January, 1877, Col
WIN. l.. Sublet,e, accompanied b. IA
nous Moun,aineer called Black Harris,
started on foot, from the Valley Of the
Big Sal; Lake, on an express expedition
from the Mountains to ST. Louis. The
story of the whole trip is too long to be
told now, and we only propose to men
ton one remarkable incident of the Jour
ney. The two men took with them no
horses, but pushed forward with snow
shoes upou their feet. An Indian dog,
trained and broken for service, with a
pack Of neccssaries weighing fifty pounds
strapped upon lis back, was their only
friend, assistant and companion upon this
perilous, desolate and Unprecedented ad-
venture. After encountering suffering,
hunger and hardship, in every shape ina.
winter could inAIct upon them in a saw
age region, they stopped one evening,
sick and starving, under three elm trees,
by the side of frozen sireamet, still two
hundred miles outside Of the settlements
The dog was weak and sore.footed, out
of sight behind, as it followed faithfully
and YEARLY on. Sublettc had barely
strength to scrape the snow from a spot,
gather his blanket around him and fall ex.
hausted: while Black Harris broke dead
branches from the trees and kindIed a
fire. If The condition of the two desolalc
travellers at this moment may be imagin-
ed, 1t must present picture worthy Of al
tentlon. Sublette lay coIed up in his
blanket! by the side of the little campfire,
while Black Harris, sitting cross-legged
| opposite, bent for warmth over the mis-
cradle blaze, his eye cleaning with
strange earnestness upon the poor dog
tina, came crawling in just as the heaviest
shadows of night were gathering around.
Harris did not move, as was his usual
custom, tn relieve the dog from its load.
The animal crawled near the fire, crouch
ed and closed its eyes. with the burden
sui bound upon its back, while Black
Harris did rest his chin upon his clench-
ed hands and smiled as his eye roved