Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1880-12-02
POOR PoNT0's Dz4GB
The Story Of a Dog Who DIED Of q
Broken Heart.

Dr. Martins gentleman living
- on Decatur street, tells the Corr
stitution remarkable story a.
bout a bulldog, who actually
: died of a broken heart:
''You remember said the
pheasant Doctor, ..that about
two months ago my father-in-
: law, Mr.. w. III. HarvilI, who had
reached a green old age, died.
Well, you may or may not know
that my father-in-law owned at
the time of his death very fine
bulldog huge, fat sleek fell
low, who went by the name of
Ponto. For months and months
before his death the dog was the
constant companion of my fa-
ther-in-law. There was some
thing almost human in the devo-
tion of the dog to his master,
and, as a natural consequence,
the master was particularly fond
of the dog. The daily move
ments of the old gentleman, for
a long time before his last i'll
ness, were as regular as those of
clock, and Ponto followed him
as surely as his very shadow.
They were simply inseparable.
When my father-in-iaw, as was
his custom, took his morning
walk up Decatur street, PontO
was always by his side; when,
toward noon, he walked out the
same street to his plantation a
mile and a half in the country,
Ponto was his constant compan-
ion; when he returned and took
his accustomed seat here in front
of my store to rest Ponto curled
up before his chair and patiently
waited until dinner time, when
he would follow the old gentle
man up to the house there, and
after the meal was over would
watch by the side of the sofa in
the hall, where my father always
took his afternoon nap. When
the old man died Ponto took his
place beside the coffin, and did
not bulge until it was taken
from the room. Then he got
up and followed it closely to the
hearse, and slowly followed the
hearse to the grave. Ponto
came back to the house a chang
ed dog. Every night he lay up
on his rug in the porch and
moaned most piteously all the
night long.
81 have never heard any ex-
preston of human sorrow that
was half SO touching and plain
tive as the moaning of that dog,
as night after night he writhed
upon that rug. 1t was enough
to melt the hardest heart. Eve
ry day found him making the
rounds just as he used to do be-
fore the old man died. He would
walk slowly up the street, and
after awhile pass down the other
side, on his way out to the plan
tation. He would come back
to the store, and, after lying un-
der that chair few moments,
would get up, look into my face
in the most pleading manner, and
then pass into the back yard as
if in search of something. Then
he would go up to the house,
and after taking his place by the
sofa in the hall, suddenly spring
mp and walk through my father
n-law's bedroom. He was
looking for his dead master. The
iamily let him have bis own way,
md l did all in my power to
console him, but all in vain. l
him with the choicest
neat, but he refused to eat. /
him the warmest milk;
ie would not drink. He went
lround with his head hung down,
he very picture of sorrow. He
lwindled away almost to a skel-
ton, staggering around daily to
he places visited by his master
II life, and at night giving vent
o his distressfuI moaning. But
i've weeks after the old man
led Ponto came dragging his
ank and weak body down the
treet-the same street which he
ad traversed so many bright
mornings with his master! When
G got by the fence he stopped
nd sank upon the ground, | ran
D him, and lifting him tenderly
D my arms carried him into the
ard. | laid him gently on the
wish now j had ta-
en- him into the house and
laced him in the old mans
pom, for (and the kind Doctor
1rned his head-there was a tre-
lorin his tone for he was dead!'
'hirty-Five Persons Poisoned.
Nashville American.
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