The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1889-12-21
THE BEST OF BRUTES.
Famous Men and Their Faithful
Dog Companions.

Famous Men and Their Faithful
Dog Companions.
Prince Bismarck is sad at heart for the loss
of an old friend. Man of iron though he
may be, the Chancellor has attracted and
returned an affection-has "loved and lost"
| says the London Standard. 1t is true that
| the object was only dog but the huge, i'll
favored Bavarian animal, whose death has
recently befallen, is likely to be long asso-
ciated in the memories of men with the most
| famous of the Kaiser's subjects. In Berlin
| the dog was well known, but in town he did
| not always follow the Chancellor. He was
regarded more as an appanage of the "Pom-
eranian Squire" side of the Princes life than
or Friedricharuhe, however, the two were
inseparable No sooner was the most abso-
lutely necessary business of the morning
dispatched than the Reichkanzier sailed off
with 1.-THE Reichshund" at his heels, and for
the rest of the day the long, light coat and
the battered felt "three-master" hat of the
famous statesman were not objects at which
curious tourists peeped more eagerly than
the great dog which followed him every
where, on horseback or on foot. In score
of pictures and photographs he and his col
lar appear, and in the well-known painting
of the Chancellor and his family the dog is to
be seen at his masters knee, with the
Princes hand on his meek, being, indeed, the
most natural member of that extremely
bureaucratic, full-uniformed group. The af-
lection which subsisted between the man
and the dog has formed the subject of not a
few moral disquisitions. Stern in every re-
lation of his public life, and surrounded by
multitudes of admirers and some hatterers,
ment has few friends. Like other leaders of
a similar callber, he stands alone. But in
his domestic relations the Pomeranian
Squire is another man. His correspondence
with his sister affords pleasing glimpse Of
the softer side of a hard character. Here we
Learn how he liked the boiled sausage,
whether Johanna is getting over her teeth
ing, and are entertained TO a lengthy account
of little BilPs disordered digestion, and of
| the new goyernesS'S growing infirmities.
From NOrderney we have a rollickDg de-
scripti0n of the guests at the table d'hOte-
the Goldfish, beans and mutton on alternate
days, and of the Russian officer whose long
thin body aud short legs put him in MIND Of
bootjack. To this human side. of Prince
Bismarck's life the "Reichshund" belonged
and as such the Berliners, apt to weep on
very slight provocation, are at present
| lamenting the deceased Bavaran.
Prince Bismarck is. however, not the only
man of iron who has been devoted to a dog.
A curious chapter might. indeed, be written
on the dumb friends of celebrated people.
| though 1t would be difficult to draw any con-
illusions as to their dispositions from these
| canine friendships. Not few of the least
amiable Of men have been fond of dogs.
| While many of the kindest of mortals have
cared nothing for them. History has pre-
served this names of many such, to which in
| time that of ''the Reichshund" will be added
The dog of Icarius, and the dog of the Seven
Sleepers, al. Kratim of the Koran, who, in
| spite of the Moslem dislike of its race, was
| admitted by Mohammed into Paradise
shares the less mythical fame of the dog oil
ANrv1 ,lxws - Lii
the murderer in that barbariOus judicial
| combat, fought more than five centuries ago
| Geryon'S dogs, Gargittius and Orthus-the
latter the brother of Cerberus, but with one
head less-eDjoy less agreeable fame, for
though their reputation is linked with thai
| of Hercules, it is solely because the valiant
god slew them both. Orion's dogs
Arctophonos, the bear killer, and PtoOpha
| gos, the glutt0n eater-are also bruteS OF
much renown, while the fifty dogs Of Acteor
each with virile name, seems to have beer
strangely neglected by the modern fancier
though unquestionably Banos and Bores
| Harpiea and OribasOs are quite as euphon.
GUS as Jack and Towser, TOpsy and Tom
But the dogs Of men who are less shrouded
in classical folk lore, or whose names have g
more human interest than the denizens Of
Olympus, are those which appeal most dl
rectly to the fancy. King Arthur had his
favorite Cavall, the name of which the Ar
thuran legends have handed down to us. and
not unjustly, perhaps. thrown on the authen.
ITCHY of MacpherSon'S poem, become EN-.
balmed in Gaelic proverb, "Mo- Bran, is
9 brathair"-if It be not Bran. 1t is Bran:
brother. AS for Gelert, Llewellyn's dog, il
has long mad a place in song and story as the
faithful watch who slew the wolf which had
seized the sleeping Prince, and was in its
turn slain by the faithless father. Beth
galert, its burial place, is a geographical
name still preserved in Welch tradition
"LaZy as Ludlam's dog" is an adage which
commentaries an animal of a less heroic
type, for it was owned by Ludlam, Farm.
ham witch, and cleaned its head against a
wall to bark" The dog of Alciblades and
remembered the rowing warrior, is even
| more celebrated than Launce's dog, Crab, OF
the dog of Savandurga.
When we come to modern times it is re-
markable what strange mixture of contra.
dict0ry celebrities owned to one common
tenderness for "the friend of man." Charlie:
| H., who had the lowest opinion of his species
and, all things considered. had no reason tC
| admire them. seemed to be of the same Opin.
ion as an eminent individual of our times
who declared that the more he saw of dogs
the less he thought OF men. The Merry
| Monarch has, indeed, given his name to a
peculiar breed of slaniels, and in the mos
| agreeable pictures which have been RE.
served of him he Is usually PLAYING with then
In the park or in the palace Evelyn declares
that he was so ioolishly fond of dogs that hs
| had many in his bed room and other apart
ments. and that the whole of Whitehall wa,
| made offensive and disagreeable by them
But. then, the Lord OF WOtton was more
enamored of tall trees than of black-and- tar
spaniels. Kings, it is said, can have nc
friends Yet, except Charles, very few Of
them seem to have tried to get on familiar
terms with associates who would not flattel
them, ask for garters, sinecures or grants o.
manors. The men of letters and the politi
clans do not seem to have been much more
amiable, for though some of them cherished
dogs, they valued them simply as beasts o.
chase. 1t is hard to find a reference il
| Shakespeare or Milton, or Ben johnson OF
Dryden, which can be construed to express ;
love of them. Samuel johnson cared nothin(
| for such quadrupeds though DR.. John Brown
has, by that genre picture OF "Rab and Hi
Friends" redeemed the litterateurs from tn,
animals. BE not only wrote lovingly O.
them, but 1t is seldom that one was no
peebing over his carriage door, Darwin
was also dog lover, and compares the god
less "Fuegians," rather invidiously, with thu
terrier who died on its masters grave. Byron
| preserved large corner In his limited af
fections for BOatswain. while Scott, will
that breadth of sympathy for everyone ex
cept Whgs-and even then he excepted OLE
Mortality is declared BY one Of his biogra
as history is divided into regns, ''by thu
succession of his horses and dogs" Cap
tain, Lieutenant, Brown Adam and Daisy
are all prominent quadrupeds in his earll
diaries and memoirs, while Sybil Grey
the Covenanter and Douce Davie wer,
the horses of his declining years. His deer
hounds, one of which sits beside him on hi
monument, form long succession. Their
was Camp and Maida-the Bevis of wood
stock"-and Nimrod, besides many other
whose names have not been immortalzed
When Camp died he begged off Dime
party, to which he had previously accepted
an in vitatoD, on the ground that the de
cease of an sold friend" made him too sac
to enjoy himself. over Mazda he erected ,
marble tomb, ana Nimrod he valued so high
ly that he refers to him during his last jour
minished fortunes. He never wrote at ease
so his son-in-law tells us-if among his book
Of reference, nicely arranged on the floor, a
least one favorite dog did not lie watchinl
his eye ''just beyond the line of circumvalla