, 1923-08-15
MIR HARD1No's HuMANENEss


Many instances of the late Presi-
dent Harding's humaneness are GER
tain to be recounted, and they will be
intensely interesting to the nation
which held him in such high regard,
recognized his admirable character
i%stics, his gentleness and altruistic
disposition.
Back in Washington, a friend will
wait in vain to greet him-Laddie
Boy.
MI. Harding had a real liking for
the faithful pet as is well known, and
he even took occasion to call specific
attention to it.
A well known newspaper writer
who turns out a daily column of COM
ment in a unique style that has won
considerable recognition, devoted his
teention, one day in 1921, to Laddie
Boy. The president wrote a very
cordial letter to the newspaper man
as follows:
l have just read your lines about
"Laddie Boy"
l like them very much.
You have revealed to me one man
who knows what comfort there is in
the unfailing and devoted affection
of a dog.
want you to see "Laddie Boy"
some time.
He is a fine fellow.
Some day, because you write for
the paper-and | used to- want to
send you a little piece in the paper
which l wrote when my dog Hub"
succumbed to poisoning.
1t pleased me so much to have you
prite as you did about "Laddie Boy"
The article to which the president
deferred as having been written by
him, appeared in the Marion Star,
March IL, 1913, and this was it:
HUB
Edgewood Hub in the register, a
mark of his breeding; but to us just
Hub, a little Boston TERROR, whose
sentient eye mirrored the fidelity and
devotion of his loyal heart. The vet
Urinary said he was poisoned; per-
haps he was, his mute suffe ring sug-
gested it. One is reluctant to believe
that a human being who claims mans
CSIdtC SOQio NC 81 habSAai q
as to ruthlessly torture and kill a
trusting victim, made defenseless
through his confidence in the human
master, but there ar such. One
honest look from Hubs trusting eyes
was worth a hundred lying greetings
from such inhuman beings, though
they wear the habiliments of men.
ePrhaps you wouldn't devote these
lines to a dog. But Hub was a Star
office visitor nearly every day of the
six years in which he deepened at
tachment. He was a grateful and de-
voted dog, with a dozen lovable at
tributes, and it somehow voices the
yearnings of broken companionship
to pay his memory deserved tribute.
1t isn't orthodox to ascribe a soul
to a dog-if soul means immortality.
But Hub was loving and loyal, with
the jealosuy that tests its quality. He
was reverent, patient, faithful; he
sympathetic, more than humanity so,
sometimes, for no lure could be de-
vised to call him from the sick bed
of mistress or master. He minded
his own affairs, especially worthy of
uuliidI Cildiutioht III IN WYNN All
or wound no living thing. He was
modest and submissive when these
were becoming, yet he assumed a
guardianship of the home a sentinel
ed until entry was properly vouched.
He couldn't speak our language,
though he somehow understoon, but
he could be and was eloquent with
uttering eye and wagging tail, and
the other expressions of knowing
dogs. No, perhaps he has no soul,
but in these things are the essence of
soul, and the spirit of lovable life.
Whether the Creator planned it so,
or environment and human compan-
ionship have made it so, men may
learn richly through the love and
fidelity of a brave and devoted dog.
Such loyalty might easily add luster
to a crown of Immortality.
A beautifully written thing is that
not because it is a touching ap-
probation of a faithful canine friend,
but because is so simply yet so pow
erfully, so appealingly sets forth at
tributes of cha ,-acter which this
great and good man admired.-Butte