The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-03-02

had never met Jack, that distinguished
old brindle bull with the blaze face, un-
til yesterday morning, and now that L
have met him my only regret is that
our acquaintance was not formed earlier.
l think 1t is an admitted fact that it s
mighty seldom one sees a dog wander
ing aimlessly, for they nearly always
put on the appearance, at least, that they
have business that must be attended to
right now. 1t was this that attracted
my attention to Jack. He was saunter-
ing down the street and | believe he
had absolutely no aim in his wandering
for he was undoubtedly plunged in deep
thought.
1 like Jack. When l met him he in
troduced himself with wag of his short,
powerful tail He bore a solemn coun-
tenance. but with all his sadness l found
him to be handsome dog of great moral
excellence, a dog of very independent
air and of profound convictions. but af-
fectionate, faithful and honest and with
an odd sense of humor.
l remember reading once that the mis-
cry OF dogs is that they die so soon and
I believe it was Sir Walter Scott who
said 1t is well they do die soon because
II they lived as long as we do and we
liked them in proportion to their love
for US and they then died, it would be
a thing we could not stand. To me this
expression, 1 imagine, could not apply
to another dog more aptly than it applied
to old Jack on my first impression of
him.
Jacks solemn nien impressed me and
I knew something was worrying him.
And so after greeting him addressed
him:
Jack, how goes 1t with your
The white blaze in the old fellow s
face assumed the appearance of a par
allel row of little hillocks. his ears
dropped more fatty than before and he
replied
Ibid you ever know a fellow named
Bacon? No, l don't suppose you did,
for 1 understand he lived away back
yonder. l don't know whether he vas
a pro or an anti but he had some
thing when he remarked that Man is the
God of the dog This is true, but by
Il
an inidel before this muzzle business
is done with
l tried to console the old fellow, but
he would have none of it. He first gave
a rich bark of disgust and then he let
in and such a raking over as he gave
our young bachelor Mayor l never heard
He started out by whining gently but
as his eloquence increased he first nogled
and then GAGE quick, sharp banks and
finally in his fury he snapped the TOD
clean off of a dry weed. Then he con-
tinued:
You can bet your last bite that George
Wards muzzle proclamation is not a
bit popular among the more fashionable,
fiennel-raised dogs, much less the COM
mon herd, and then we have so many
things to provoke us. For instance it
is very CALLING to have a Woodlawn dog
walk past us and give us the horse
laugh, I believe you cal it. But under
stand We have large following of HUI
man sympathizers end the animal king
dom is practically solid for us, so we
hope this business mya end soon.
II was down to see Royal Bengal,
very prominent blind tiger. last night,
and 1 wish you could have heard him
express his views. Bengal in his blind
ness could not see me, but he could see
the cruelty of Georges order"
Well, sir, it had never dawned upon
me that Jack was drunk but when he
mentioned Bengal, the blind tiger, L
smeled bum liquor on his breath, and
knew he had been down to see the tiger
with the sole object of drowning his
sorrow And old R-e-m-o-r-s-e had hold
of the dog.
Now, l don't believe Bengal was sin
cere with me-, continued Jack "None
of that cat family likes the dogs. and
I believe the tiger was talking up his
sleeve. George, the mayor, voted the
anti-prohibition ticket and fought against
the entry of the tigers and now that
they are among us George is their worst
enemy. So ] have every reason to be-
lieve that Bengal is sore on the mayor and
that he did not mean his sympathetic re-
marks
well, old Bengal and myself had 81
drink together and ,le said, Il don't know
which of us is the worse prosecuted
Why don't they muzzle the prohibitionists
who are killing our business?
Nov. what do you think of that?
There is a bunch of fellows who only
grin at the majesty of the law. They
are always violating the law and not
long ago one Of them was the cause of
th> doo III of four per~<ns x.y,xtt, /. ,,,,n