Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1888-11-10
TEE 81. BEEEAEO poa.

THESE OogS co not always escape being
overwhelmed by sudden avalanche, which
tails, ss is most usual, in the spring of the
year. Two of the domestics OF the con-
vent, with two or three dogs. were escort
ing some travellers, and were lost in an ava
lanche. One of the predecessors of these
dogs, an intelligent animal, which had
served the hoseital for the space CT twelve
years, had, during that time, saved the
lives of forty individuals Whenever the
mountain was enveloped in fogs and snow,
he set out in search of lost travellers. He
was accustomed to run barking until he
lost his breath, aud would frequently ven
ture on the most perilous places. When he
found his strength was insufficient to draw
from the snow traveller benumbed with
cold, he would run back to the hospital in
search of the monks. One day this inter-
esting animal found child in a frozen
state between the bridge of Drouaz and the
lce-house of Balsora. He Immediately be-
gan to lick him, and having succeeded in
restoring animation, and the perfect re-
coyery OF the boy, by means of his caresses,
he induced the child to tie himself round
his body. In this way he carried the poor
little creature, as if in triumph, to the hes
pital. When old age deprived him of
strength, the Prior Of the Convent PEN
stoned him at Eerne by way of reward
He is now dead, and his body stuffed and
deposited in the museum of that town.
The little phial, in which he carried re.
viving liquor for the distressed travellers
whom he found among the mountains. is
still suspended from his neck The story
of this dog has been often told, but it can
not be too frequently repeated. Its au-
thenticity is well established, and it affords
another proof of the utility and sense of
the st. Bernard dogs. Neither can the
beneyclence of the good monks be too
highly praised. To those accustomed to
behold the habitations of man, surrounded
by fowery gardens, green and pleasing
meadows, rivulets winding and smiling
over their pebbly bottoms, and groves in
which songsters haunt and MARBLE, the
sight OF large monastery, situated on
gigantic e-ninence, with clouds rolling at
its foot, and encompassed only by beds of
ice and snow, must be awfully impressive.
Yet amid these boundless labyrinths Of
rugged glens and precipices, in the very
rudest seasons, as often as it SHOWS, or the
weather is foggy, do some of these benevo.
lent persons go forth, with long poles,
guided by their sagacious dogs In this
way they seek the high road, which these
animals, with Their instructive faculty,
never miss, hoY difficult soever to find. If
a wretched traveller has sunk beneath the
force OF the falling SHOWS, or should be i'm
mersed among them, the dogs never fail IN
finding the place of his interment, which
they point out by scratching and snuffing;
when the sufferer is dug out, and carried
to the monastery, where means are used
for his recovery. The following interest
ing anecdote is another instance of the
charming fidelity and sagacity of dog
In crossing the noun Jain of st. Gothard,
near Airola, the CEeyalier Gaspard de
Brandenberg and his servant were buried
by an avalanche. HIS dog, who escaped
the heap of snow, did not, for some time,
quit the place where he had lost his mas
ter. This was, fortunately, near the Con-
vent. The animal howled, and at last ran
to the Convent, and then returned. This
he did several times. Struck by his perse-
verance, the next morning the people from
the house followed him. He led them di-
rectly to the spot, scratched the snow, and
after So hours passed beneath it, the
Chevalier and his servant were taken out
safe. having heard distinctly. during their
confinement, the bowling of the dog, and
the discourse Of their deliverers Sensible
that to the sagacity and fondness of this
creature he owed his life, he ordered, by
his will, that he should be represented on
his tomb with his dog; and at Tug, in the
Church of St. Oswald, where he was buried
in 1929 they still show the monument, and
the efigy of this gentleman, with the dog
lying at his feet.