The record-union., 1897-12-04
Old Dog Tray.

Old Dog Tray.
Eds. Record Union: Perhaps not
more than one dog in hundred is of
any value for any purpose whatever,
except as a pet and companion OF ltS
owner. To most other persons 1t Is
a nuisance and an annoyance. Many
persons are in favor of having a spe-
cial tax put upon dogs, not for the pur-
pose of raising revenue, but in the
hope that the raising and keeping of
dogs might thereby be discouraged. The
practice Of keeping dogs for pets, and
allowing them to intrude themselves
into all places, both public and private,
is becoming so prevalent that it is pos
itively alarming. The time was when
dogs We're associated only with the low
and vulgar, and the dog was a synonym
for all that was mean and contemplate.
I'D rather be dog and bay the
moon than such a Roman Give not
that which is holy unto dogs" says the
sacred writer And again: Blessed
are they who may enter through the
gates into the city, for without are
dogs, sorcerers and liars" But these
quotations from both sacred and pro-
the ancients regarded the dog merely
as a dog, and not as an idol to be wor-
SHIPPED. At the present time when a
dog dies it has become the fashion with
some newspapers to assume that he
has been poisoned, and to shower down
all the anathemas contained in the An
glo-Saxon upon the head of the imag
mary poisoner for removing from the
world that idol of alteration.
The fact that children's hands and
faces are frequently disigured by the
teeth of dogs, and that many persons,
as well as large numbers Of useful do
mestic animals, die of hydrophobia,
caused by the bites Of dogs affected
with rabies; to say nothing of the nu-
meroas accidents and other minor an
noyances caused by the keeping of dogs,
ought to be sufficient to cause to be
placed upon our statute book law
forever prohibiting dogs from running
at large, if not banishing them entirely
from the country. 1t would be step
in the right direction to put a tax upon
dogs that might discourage the keeping
of them. A tax upon the value as upon
other values, would not reach the pur-
pose, but it might be made a license to
maintain a nuisance at large, and the
license tax ought to be sufficiently
great to discourage the purchasing of
such indulgences.
Writers of the past associate dogs
with lackeys and simple persons, but
seldom with a king or prince, or with
a scholar or gentleman. Now, even
persons who are educated and refined
may be seen with dogs at their heels.
This state of things has probably been
brought about by accident. Just imag-
inc n person weighing 250 pounds sit
ting down and writing a sonnet, or
rather a doggerel like this: 'Old dog
Trays ever faithful he's ever kind:
you'll never, never find a better friend
than old dog Tray" How besotted,
how beastly must that person be- who
is compelled to go down among the
dogs to find a companion and friend.
And now comes a musical composer
and endeavors TO immortalize his name
among the dogs-by putting music to
the aforesaid doggerel, and having it
and sung at every husking
bee, apple peeling and every other gath
ering where lads and lassies meet for
work or pleasure. So now when we
look out upon the street, in the public
hall, in the forum, in the sanctuary.
aye, in the kitchen, dining room and
parlor, we see that the author Of "Old
Dog Tray has done his work.
Thus we see how easily the multitude
is swayed even by a song. And the
more 1t points TO uncultivated condi-
tions. the more potent it is for mis-
F<.,~ -
of the moral forces to keep mankind
moving up to a higher plane of civiliza-
ton. The moment that tension is
Stacked, that moment man begins to
recede down toward his primeval con-
dition. Therefore, we may readily un-
derstand the policy of some nations
who have established a censorship over
the press. A Greek philosopher is said
to have been poisoned because, by his
teaching, he corrupted the youth of
Athens. OF course, as there We're no
printing presses in those days, and as
he OILY taught orally, his erroneous
teaching-if it was erroneous-could not
have had that widespread influence for
evil that errors in morals and in taste
have al the present day, when news
papers spread them throughout every
city, town and hamlet; and lay them
down in every rural home and miners
cabin in valley and mountain. So a
censorship over the press could do no
one harm, except those who, knowing
the tastes of the masses, cater for the
almighty dollar" by sending out VIC
ious publications; but it would do much
good by sending out only such litera-
ture as would tend to form correct hab-
its of thought.
It has been said that the press is a
power in the land" and the newspapers
that people read, and the songs they
delight to sing or listen to. are pretty
sure Indication of the mental trend of
that people. There was a time when
France was governed by a royal house
that the Marseilies Hymn-"Shall law
less tyrants alright the land, while
liberty lies bleeding. etc."-was not al
lowed to be sung in public for fear
that it might stir the people to de-
sire for more liberal government. The
mutitudes are easily led by either good
or evil influences, and more easily by
evil than good. There are we'll estab-
lishad Instances in history where multi
tudes have been swayed to acts of
mutiny by the eloquenee of one man,
and In the next hour have been excited
TO acts Of violence in an opposite direc-
ton by the. eloquence OF another. In
view of ALI this If tho ,,,o, xr,J,c ,Yra+e