New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-01-14
greatly honor herself and command the sym
na,hy and admiration Of the world
THE UNANSWERED Dogs.

THE UNANSWERED DOGS.
Concerning the rhetorical force ana bea'it! "l
the hgure Of speech with which Governor Leedy
OF Kansas closed his glowing tribute I" the
"chrerfnl audacy" Of The Grub Street scrlp-
blers Oh a venal press" who have been inh'llg-
ing in 'puny and prescriptions criticism I"
Kansas. there can be- but one opinion. Buf. AFTER
ALL II has to be admitted that in n formal pnDllc
document 10000 words long the necessity Tor
historic accuracy even in the use or illnsira-
ton. metaphor and figures OF speech. is mnch
greater than in n song or a sonnet lSs'ied nhdfr
a poets license or Il stump speech pehu'u ""'
under a politicians. So the question VIII ha'"-
rally arise in the minds of men after III" mo-
mentary admiration for the Governor Fhe'or'
has subsidized Is II an actual and well-aufheh'i-
Gated historic fact that ''the dogs or EsyPt law
"barked at the Pyramids unanswered Tor n''
Thousand years? II may be said. OF course. y!
the hypercrfica that. even II true. the Iac' ''"'
the Pyramids made no answer To the dogs Va
Egypt that have been barking M them Ior h'e
thousand years furnishes no sufficient reason i"r
Governor Ieedy's answering the Grno street
scribblers who have been barking nj Kansas
for not more than three or fo1r years yer!
likely these hypercrics will say: III the 81
"lence of the Pyramids IS 50 admlraDle VII!
sin the name Of goodness didn't liz INITIATE II
That. however is not important All analog"s
fall down at some point when put to the test Oh
critical analysis No little thing like that can
impair the force Of this rhetorical auslon to the
Pyramids and the unanswered dogs
The question Of historic accuracy Is quite an
ferent and more important. For. unless IL c'h
be proved by the most irrefragable tes'lmoh!
that the dogs of Egypt have been pouring OUT
their lnterrogatory Mutations TO the Pyramlds
habitnally and persisently without any response
from those remarkable structures for i've thon-
sand years. the Grub Street scriDDlers. aS 'he
Governor can readily see Will be very hapie "
get back at him. And the burden or PROOF j.
on him. If the dogs of Egypt have been carry!
ing on this business for five thousand years. nh-
inerrlptedly. there must be some record OF IT,
BIT the Greek historian and traveller Herono
tus. who was in Egypt in the NTH century pe
fore the Christian era with eyes ana ears "'ue
OPEN seeing and hearing lots of things. some OF
which were so, makes no mention oil II. 'ho"sn
he takes pains 10 say that the Egyptians sha'r"
their entire bodies upon the death OF the fah!
dog. Neither does Sir John Wilkinson. VINO
wrote unanimously on Egypt. make any NEIL
ton OF this curious circumstance The same
failure may be noted on the part OF The historian
Rawllnson. in his treatise Oh Egypt; or Will'ah
G. Prime. in his Boat Life in Egypt and MI
ba" Of Mark Twain and all the ofner eminent
Psychologists who have brought the Nile regions
as close home 10 us in America as Ossawat0He
IS TO Topeka The absence Of any reference by
historians or travellers to the dogs that keep up
steady barking at the Pyramids must ne'es
sarly excite dstrust Of Governor leedys MS
toric accuracy. And unless there were dogs 40
ing this duty daily 1t follows of course. that the
Pyramids maintained becoming and dignliied
reticence OF course the dogs We're unanswered
II they neglected to go there and bark
Even II they have been barking for five thou
sand wears. il is not so strange. after all. that
they were unanswered. For the Pyramids are
burt that way. Whoever examines critically
the shape OF the Pyramids will see that the bark
Of dog would slip off the top Of one OF them as
easily a. Peruvian bark off Il cinclona tree. We
use this illustration on account OF the resen-
blanCp between the two. one being canine ana
the other auinine. Nor IS 1t absolutely certain
thar the dogs II there were any barking at the
Pyramids as so positively alleged. expected 10
be answered Outside OF Kansas. where there
seems TO be a prevalent notion that dogs bark
ing at anything-Pyramids. or their felow-men'
or existing systems Of finance or railroad trains.
or the Government OF the United States--0nght
10 be promptly and effusvely answered. the cir
cumstance that the Pyramids kept shut up with
ont saving a word for five thousand years eX-
cites no wonder-in fact. is not considered I'M
usual enough 10 be mentioned IN State docli-
ments On the whole, much We admire the
rhetorical finish Of the Governor 2O.OOO words.
We suspect that he put his foot i'll II Wien he
worked in the Pyramids and III. unanswered
dogs The classicality Of the alllI>on and "le-
papce OF The figure so captured his fancy that hr
neglected 10 verify his facts.
II is now not unlikely Thar some Grub street
scribbler will challenge him 10 name a single
dog that has ever barkcd AT the Pyramids unan-
swered during the last five thousand years. He
must produce either the dog himself or the am
davit Of his owner. accompanied by sworn
statement that no answer had been received up
10 date And il will not do TO assume that there
were such dogs IN the time OF Psammetlchus
and that the records Of the priests who kept tab
ON them were consumed in the Alexandrlan IL
brarv Governor I.eedy must prove his state
ment about the unanswered dogs or Grub Street
will have him in a hole.
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WATER FOR THE CITIES.