The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1872-07-11
The POOR DOGS.
Shall They Be MuEzled ?-BOlh Sides
OF the Question.

Shall They Be MuEzIed ?-BOlh Sides
OF the Question.
Some scientist in dogoIogy has dis
covered that the practice OF mnzzling
dogs, according 70 municipal Ordin-
ance, in the hot season, has q tenden-
cy TO produce the evil it is intended
70 prevent. It is, besides, q cruel
thing, aud the whole Of caninedom Is
justified in getting mad about it.
Now, who will come TO the succOr OF
poor doggy in this crisis? Who will
unmuzzle poor
Tray, Blanche and Sweetheart,
Little dogs and all ?
1t has often been asserted I'VE make
th statement without fear Of contra
diction) that "every dog has his day y
and the poets have been frequently
obliged TO call upon the canine ami
NAL for material TO word up some
thrilling or affecting period.
For example, there is the plaintive
ditty:
Poor dog Tray, ever faithful,
/ Grief cannot drive him away;
He Is gentle. he Is kind,
I'VE forget the other une,)
Poor dog Tray, &c, &C.
This was the favorite ballad sung
at all the quilting and apple-paring
parties in New England for many
years.
The lofty Byron even did not dis
dain to whistle for Bruno in prOduc-
ing some Of his most pleasant lines
TO witt
Tis sweet to hear the honest Watchdog
Bav deeP-mouthed welcome as we draw
near home:
It's sweet 70 know there is an eye viii mark
Our coming, and look brighter when we
come.
And does not the immortal Bard Of
Avon make one Of his most humor-
Gus scenes In the play Of the 1.-TWO
Gentlemen Of Verona" occur between
Launce and his Plebian cur, "Crab, "
during which Launce willingly re-
ceiyes upon his own shoulders q cud-
Ceiling which should rightly have
been bestowed upon his curship
QuOth Launce, spologetically for
''Crab III would have, as one
should say, one that takes upon him
to be dog indeed, TO be, as it were, a
dog in all things" Here was noble
defence for the poor mongrel which
some OF the dog-pounders and dog
muzzlers Of the present day might
profit by.
And, furthermore, does not Shak-
speare make the bloOdthirsty King
Richard the Third, after sending the
soul Of the lamented Henry the Sixth
Down. down to hell
with a special dispatch in these
words:
And say I sent thee thIther,
draw forth his ensanguined weapon
from the body Of the dead King. and.
gazing upon the drops of gore as they
fall from it, exclaim
OH may such 'burp"-le tears be always
By those who wish the downfall Of our
house,
To be sure he does. Hence we have
ample precedent, based upon the
highest pOetical authority, that dogs
have rights which human beings are
bound to respect. Who, then, we re-
peat, will come to the relief of poor
doggy in this emergency, when thu
poor animal drags his slow length
along through the streets filled like a
Kuklux shotgun, to the nuzzle ?
Who will prove the phllanthrOpie
Daunce to the melancholy "Crabsu
OF our city? Who, we ask, will as
sumo this task? And we reply, with
out hesitation, Berghl Here is an
opportunity for "Oid Humanity to
exercise his vocation as President of
the Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals in the right direc-
ton. Let him make a crusade against
the dog-muzZling ordinance; let him
go into the business with a will and
determination to succeed; let him
leave pigeon shooting, cruelty to green
turtles, boiling shell-fish alive, killing
veal by slow bleeding, scalding live
hogs for their bristles, cutting the
eyes out Of live oysters and ali such
matters alone for the present and de-
vote his energies to relieving canine
dom of the monstrous tyranny and
excruciating torture now imposed up
on it. Success, we believe, will crown
his efforts; and then, after having
accomplished this great good let him
go to work and unmuzzle the par.
tisan press, for rapid symptoms are al
ready beginning to Oappearamong them
already some of them are frOthing
at the mouth like sparkling cham
pagne just uncorked, and IL the Balti-
more Convention were not so near
the most frightful consequences
might be apprehended. The Greeley
phObia wonld be q terrible distemper
ifpermitted to extend much further,
so, then, let Bergh first unmuzzle the
dogs, then unmuzzle the partisan
press, and then ''let slip the dogs OF
war" We might say something in
conclusion about mnzzling the wo-
mans rights movement. But it
would be a difficult undertaking.
Women are proverbisl takers, and
they always want muslin