National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-08-04
POOR TRAY
A CHAPTER on DOCS.

After Milton, the civic dog hnds himself
born too late. History held the record Of a
day when the poet might have scared on ffeer
wing in the high reason Of his fancy, with his
garland and singing robes about him. The
traditions Of dateIess ancestry must stir poor
Tray to memories Of . time when his race was
honored and beloved of man; nay, Worship.
ed and entreated with sacrifices.
No occidental dog Of well-regulsted mind de-
sires to revive that uncomfortable disti elton.
But mastiH and terrier, hound and spaniel,
shepherd and spitz, Newfoundland and Saint
Bernard, may boldly stand for justice In mem
DRY Of the services Of their kind. And even
that nameless poor relation Of prosperous
CANNES, the "yaller dog" Of country huts and
city alleys, might beg for mercy. For these
patient, faithful, taciturn creatures have
been the unselfsh friends and servants Of
woods naked, suddenly bethought himself TO
make coat Of his companion'S skin. In fact,
your dog Is your only unquestioning and sbso-
Lutte lover. A man must be agreeable 70 be
thought agreeable by his friends; tender, to be
cherished by his children; hlial, to b deeply
desired even BY bis parents. But bis dog WI
cling to him through evil report and good re-
port, suffer, stArve, die at his hands, and count
itself happy in the opportunity.
No animalhas been half 20 celebrated In his
tory, aud none has half 90 we'll deserved that
Immortality. Was 70 not 9 dog that Plato
swore byl Did not the dog Alcibiades cost
seventy mlnAs, and astonish Athens even more
by his sagacity than BY his beauty He seems
70 have been the only creature whom the
coarse caprices Of his master could not ALLEVIATE,
and certainly his wrongs would haYo juytiAed
his secession. That modern General, greater
than the Greek, William Of Orange, loved bis
dog az well and treated him much better.
The Merry Monarch, who kept faith with no
man, and believed IN 20 woman, cherished his
dogs with tenderness that showed . possibn-
fly Of genuineress IN that pinch-beck character.
Perhaps he inherited the trait from his grand
mother, Queen Ann Of Denmark, who tended .
whole menagerie Of these pets, and paid .
very pretty annual bill 70 worthy Master He
riot, the court goldsmith, for their gold and
silver collars and emblGzoned blAhkets. Il
was reserved 10 that royal LADY successor, her
present Majesty Of England, 10 unearth the
ugly terrier Of Skye from re modest retire
ment, and present it 70 q sycophantic world,
not a. . phenomenon, but - = fashion. In
short, the names Of the royalty, nobility and
gentry that have become famous ~ the pa
irons and sncouragerS Of dogs would satisfy
Mrs. farley herself Of their claims on genteel
attention.
But literature also has made them her own,
and art has loved them. Who thinks Of the
great Sir Walter without haidal What lover
OF Mrs. Browning has not . tender thought OF
Fiushi How can heroic little Miss Milford be
separated from her beioGed spaniel Who Of
US eyer read that perfect history Of Rae and
His Friends without . Suspicious mlstiness OF
$500 G.hn.id.- ~. az sonstsnt coUfort
which that tender-hearte6, undeserying scape-
grace, Rip Van Winkle, hndS In his dumb CON-
panlonshipl To how many Of us are not the
only remembered events Of the evil reign Of
King John the signing Of Magma Charta and
the death Of Gelert, the houndi To how many
does the mention Of contemporary English art
bring up, first, the dogs Of Landseeri What
countless stories Of canine SAgaeity, fidelity,
courage, self-sacrihee, crowd All our memories
70 justify that piLhy saying Of Hamerton, ~
pity the man who can live a doglsss nfel"
Never was there more patAetical exhibit
ton Of persocuted innocence than the condition
Of the typical dog to-day. And, as usual, Il Is
Madame Rumor, ignorant and hgoted, who
has wrought the mischief Thus II Il. Ages
ago the long-headed Egyptians, careful IN all
things, observed that the Nile rose annually
with the heliAeal rising Of . certain brilliant
star. This star, therefore, they named siLor,
the Nile. And because lie coming warned
them 10 their terraces above the reach OF the
food, they politely typlhed Il ~ dog, or
man with . dogs head. The Latins adopted
the star ~ Sirius, but forgot, or never knew the
SlRnlhnlhcanee Of lts name, and folly and fable
assigned it an increasing influence on the heat,
and . consequent balefulneSs. Hippocrates
aad Pliny reported the popular belief that on
the day Of the rising Of this star wine turned
souF, dogs went mad, all other animals began
to waste, aud man 70 droop. The Romans
even sacrificed AbroWn dog 70 the evil-mined
lumlnary 10 appease bis rage. We moderns 60
farther, and seemed inclined 70 STAY the whole
race because the imaginative Egyptians com
plimented q useful star with canine attri-
butes. Il
Il Is probably useless 10 remind the believers
IN the maleVolence Of Sirius that that Sian
dered orb wrinkles at the comfortable distance
Of two trillions two hundred thousand billions
Of miles from our proper planet, and that the
illustrative cannon ball, travelling a. tie rate
Of four hundred and eighty miles an hour,
might reasonably desire 70 rest before the end
Of the Eve hundred and twenty-three thousand
two hundred and eleven years which IL must
take 10 reach there. Under these cireum-
hanccs certain minds would doubt whether
the appearance Of the dog-star kindled the
fires Of our blazing July and August. And
their doubt would gather strength from the
well-known fact that the procession OF the
equInoxes constantly postpones the heliacAl
rising Of the ill-reputed summer visitor, and,
in the course Of i've or six thousand years
will bring about its annual advent in frosty
November
Science declared long ago that hydrophobia
was not q midsummer madness, and that the
practice OF muzzllng dogs was useless cruelty.
Every year, notwithstanding, the large cities
are subject 10 an epidemic Of panic terror con-
oerning rabies, and Of panic barbarity toward
lis possible or impossible victims. Perhaps II
is not too much 70 say that the fostering Of the
lowest instincts Of the gqlaia BY the establish
ment OF the dog pound, the system OF rewards
for dog taking, the publication Of the horrible
details Of authorized dog torturing and the
spectacle Of the selfish aud cruel Yindlclive-
nsss Of whole community toward ont dumb