Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1919-06-20
THE MAN AND THE DOG.
Throughout All Time They Have
Been Friends and Companions.

Dogs are a tremendous subject. To
write their history would be very
largely to write the history of the hu-
man race, for practically wherever the
human race is or has been there are
and ever have been dogs. All down
the centuries, in every country or the
world, the friend of man has followed
at the heel oe some master, has re-
ioiced extravagantly in his favor, has
abased himself utterly under the cloud
of his displeasure, and, ever ready and
ever eager to forget all differences, has
reckoned the maintenance of good re-
lations as the greatest thing In the
world.
And so, from back in the past, when
dog had no real history, when he Is
known to have existed at all only be-
cause of the rude carving on some solid
rock overlooking some wild sea- from
those dim times the one characteristic
of the dog that seems to have come
down to the present along one wonder
fully unbroken road is his faithfulness.
Five thousand years before the Chris
tian era, the Egyptian peasant, as he
watched each year for the happening
o. the great miracle, the rising OF the
Nile, noticed that its gracious waters
began to trickle over his parched land
Just at the time that certain glorious
star appeared above the horizon. And
SC inevitably did the rising of the Nile
follow upon the rising of the star that'
20 the present, the stars faithfulness
could only be compared to the faith
fulness of his dog, and thus Sirius came
to be called the Dog Star. Thus, even
IL, that time, the dog had established
himself firmly as the friend Of man.
one whose faithfulness was so unchang-
ing that it formed a just comparison
for the rising Of star.
True. there were and are certain
eastern people to whom the dog, all
his devotion Notwithstanding, has fall
cd to make appeal, amongst whom ne
g still regarded as an outcast. FOE
the most part, however, and amongst
most people, the dog has had no dif-
ficulty in establishing his position as
tl,c friend of man, and in maintaining
md adding to his reputation in this
capacity. Instances are so famous
and so many, 50 utterly looked for ana
taken for granted, that any narration
of them amounts almost to bathos.
Dog devotion has afforded a subject
TO the artist again and again, a story
for the writer, and record for the
historian, right down to the present
time.
And now, during the past four years.
the dog race that all over the world ms
faithfulness to the best traditions OF
rraises are being sounded. The story
of the war-dog end his doings Is grad
uallv being pieced together. From the
very beginning of the war, as one
writer has expressed it, dogs had
nav in IT." When the Germans in
yaded Belgium, the harness dogs,
which up to that time had been usea
for hauling milk, vegetables, and otneS
croduce began to assist the refugees IN
,,etting their children and household
goods out of the invaded country.
Later they hauled light artillery, ana
carts laden with blankets, bread. hay.
snd scores of other things for the COM
fort of the soldiers and their horses.
logs did sentry duty in the trenches'
patrolled No Mans Land. carried dis-
catches through barbed wire entangle-
ments. amid hail of bullets, and.
above all. added to the laurels OF their
ancestors through the ages by seeking
out and helping the wounded every
where, on the far-flung battlehelds OF
Europe and beyond.
Never was there a time, so it would
seem. when the place or the dog IN the
affections of the human race ought 10
have been more secure. And yet, size
inv side with all this recognition or
what the dog is and deserves, there
still stands. and apparently easily
maintains itself, the system OF me
vivisectionist 1t is a system which
must, of course, ultimately fall be-
cause. amongst other reasons, OF its
simple dcpravity. But, for the pres
cnt, this depravity is covered up for
the multitude under the terrible plea
Of progress; whilst the devastating
charge of sentiment" is hurled at all
and sundry who take exception to the
practice. There are many things
worse than sentiment" said famous
English judge not long ago, "and one
of them is cruelty" 1ngratitude is
another.
SE Nine hundred lighthouses ana
fhe