Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1911-07-20
My Dog--a
Low)y Teacher

zine.
Some years ago one of oar american
bishops wrote a sornet about his dog.
who must have been Il noble animal. !
have forgotten how the sonnet ran; ali
! can recall is the first line:
II we'll believe he thinks that I am God"
When / read ii and some OF the good
bishops personal traits came rather Niv-
idly to mind. my first mental response was
that ii was no wonder the dog thought so.
II he mad seen the bishop, as l had. in the
dignity OF full canonicais. Thea \ chidcd
myself for being so impudently %profane;
and. OF course. that was not the reason at
all. The church vestments had nothing to
do with it. | nave seen dogs look III, with
equal devotion to men in overalls. W.
read of dogs that licked the sores of beg
CARS: and we know what poor apologies
for masters dogs will be faithful to. even
though their worship goes wholly wasted.
n very significant thing when you think of
it: 1t became one of my first lessons in
theology. For 1T seems To reveal that such
an emotion exists in the core OF creation.
even in the strata below US. There are
creatures in actual existence i'm whom has
been put the instinct to look forward from
their station to beings higher in the scale.
to choose these for friends and masters, L,
stand by them ana reverence them. not
for what they can gain by i,-for too
often. abating no jot OF fidelity. they get
but kicks and hard words-but purely az
Il spontaneous. intrinsic outflow of dog
nature. l like to contemplate Il creation
that is rich enough to include such q
thing as this: to contain disinterested af.
lection as a widespread elemental fact, il
gives me a better opinion of the universe
Some things. scholars tell us. are more
fully evolved i'm the animals than i'm man
the eye in the eagle. the swift foot i'm the
stag. should be sorry TO think that, be
cause the lord of creation gets things Sc
lalsled up with reason and s~el:ishness. the
dog should have got the start of us i'm this
virtue. 1 am glad he is not self-conscious;
that would spoil it all.
Many times a day Calrh comes to my
armchair. as sit studyi..s. with no APP.
parent purpose except just to say. "EioW
do YOU do9' and. never without waiting
for the word of permission, he jumps VI
on my knee, remains q minute and ther
goes about his affairs. And many a time
1 nave been half startled by a wonderine
yet wholly loving expression in the grea,
brown eyes so filqu1ringly searching mine
Only asking me to drop the prosy bool
and sc walking with him? No: that ex.
preston is quite different. Those eyes
look as IL they We're searching for some
thing that We two might hold in common
and so have a silent understanding on
each other. is it something higher than
can enter his dog consciousness? an,
often moved 10 respond: ITS you and j
Caleb. We do know each other in some.
things. don't we?" And there comes d
twinge of pattaos i'm it. too: and. oddl,
enough it sets me thinking OF what an
apostle once said about a whole creation
grooming in pain and travail together,
waiting for some adoption which should
redeem the body. L am sometimes silly
enough to ask him: "Do you too, Caleb
belong to that vast continuous line of up
wald-iooking. onward-looking things? Are
you. too. dimly conscious of waiting fol
something which is destined to come
somehow by the way of the higher or
ders? Does the first-born of every crea-
ture make his relationship felt in some
iar-off Way even as you? He never an
swers me except by that wistful look,
which vanishes as soon as 1 begin to the.
olog.ze: but the look has on me the
strange effect of worship, SO that I am
almost afraid to recall the bishops son.
net. Who am u, to be scrutinized so:
What is mans office in the sum Of things,
when such great liquid eyes are sazins
up at him from below: