Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-23


flight" picture of a French war dog,
one of the liaison couriers trained FOR
emergencies when the telephone sys-
tenn in frontline trenches was put out
Of commission by enemy artillery.
AS to the work of dogs in the war.
Mr.. Baynes tells of the splendid stunts
performed by them on the battlehelds
of Europe. The harness dogs OF
Belgium, used to hauling milk, Vege-
tables and other produce, began to as
sist refugees in getting their children
and household goods to safety that
time the Germans invaded the coun-
try. After that, they hauled light
artillery and carts laden with blan-
kets and produce for the men and
their horses.
''From the very beginning of the
war, dogs had a paw in it. They did
sentry duty in the trenches. and.
with their masters, patrol duty out on
No Mans Land, their acute senses
often making them aware of the ap-
proach of an enemy long before an
unassisted man could have detected
it," Dogs carried dispatches through
barb-wire entanglementS, and amid the
hail of bullets, and, in baskets strap
ped to their backs, delivered homing
pigeons intended to carry messages
for longer distances. Many of the
dogs have been decorated for diStin-
guished service, and many, many more
have done their bit; the biggest bit
possible to do, and gone without
whimper where the best men and the
best dogs GO
But of all hero dogs the Geographic
Society tells about. the greatest fig.
ure, literally and spiritually, is the
big ST. Bernard, Barry, of the MOnas-
terry of st. Bernard, Switzerland.
The lines beneath his picture tell
that among the 40 lives saved by him
was childs found in the snow. He
restored the lost one to consciousness
by licking the face and crouched down
so that the little sufferer might climb
upon him and be carried to the mOnas-
terry on dogback. Over Barry's grave
is the inscription: Barry, the heroic.
Saved 40 persons and was killed by
the forty-first." The tragedy was due
to an unfortunate mistake, a lost
traveller thinking that his dog res.
cuer was about to attack him.
XIX 4
|nF all dogs from everywhere-his-
- tory, legend, fairyland, mythology
or everyday gossip-there is one that
is dearer than all-the dog you per-
sonally know, with Buff, for one in
stance, in hand
His mother was Miss Garner-MisS
Evangeline Garner-and she was
dragging her poor skin and bones
along a country road, when a girl
came by in cart. huge black
man with the soul of an arcbangel
and a talent for fighting, which arch
angels must be given to-otherwise,
why carry swordS?-but, anyhow
The black man was walking along
side, driving his yoke of steers
Dandy and Andy red with white
splotches. And horns. And when the
girl saw the dog she jumped out-you
can do that with OK carts-and went
over to the poor thing and asked If it
didn't want a nice ride.
The dog laid it's head on her arm,
which meant that a ride was the
thing she most needed, thank you very
much indeed. So the girl escorted
her guest to the cart, which had
stopped to humor her. The black
man was always willing to take any
little rest that came along of a hot
summer day, especially as the mill
would keep grinding until dusk, and
all he had to do was turn in three
bushels of wheat. But he drew the
line at stray dogs.
mo. Miss Amy, honey. You drap
that dawg and GUNNER long. You
know Mr.. Willie won't have her
aroun No, sir"
But Sister Amelia will love her,
Unc' Toby. And she looks so thin
and honey, like Miss Evangeline Gar.
ner.''
This was treason. Miss Garner was
exclusively colonial as to name-and,
well, if you have to be an old maid,
it really doesn't matter what you look
like, seeing no one will give you a
second glance, anyhow. And old maid
dogs may feel the same way.
'You better not let Miss 'Vangeline
Guarner heah you, if you wants to be
'membered in her will. And don't
you let that drafted old tramp lay on
them sacks, neither.
And so the dog was carted to a
farmhouse after going to a mill. And
the next morning Evangeline Garner,
not the old maid lady, but the old
maid dog, was the mother OF five
puppies, and Buff was one.
Buff was yellow hence his name.
And as he had trouble with his baby
eyes the Ann girl made him a pink
sunbonnet with strings to tie under
his chin "A colored woman with
heart of gold had charge of the milk,
which she kept in cooler-not
dairy house. except that it had boxed
in Sides over a running stream, with
the ends wired over to keep out
snakes. And aas Buff needed extra
feeding She promised that he should
have a pint every evening at O'Clock
after the milking was over, but not a
minute before When the time would
come the girl would hunt Bun up
tie his bonnet on, and take him across
the road to the cooler And that
would have been all there was to 1t,
except that after a bit 1t was Bun
who would hunt the girl up with his
bonnet between his teeth. And that
revealed his one great talent
Buff could tell the time.
Never once did he vary to minute.
One time he was six minutes ahead
Of the clock, but-the clock was
wrong. After he had outgrown his
bonnet, he would pick up cap or nat
one of the boys would leave around
and then he took to hunting rabblts.
And that was the end Of Buff enid
hood. Milk was the food of stockings.
He was q hound dog with burrs on the
end Of his tail. But he never forgot
the Ann girl. You could tell by the
Joyous languor. with which he would
sprawl beside her, evenings, ana ms
pleadful scratches to be let inside her
room at nights, which he couldn't, or
course, seeing that no matter how nice
cushion you fixed for him, he was
bound to snuggle alongside in bed.
And that would be all, except for one
small, a ridiculously foolish thing
like this:
The years had skipped along. and
along, until the Ann Woman's farm
home was a way-back' memory or
childhood, and she was walking with
two friends To a street car to see