| Gentlemen of the jury: The
best friend a man has in this world may turn against him and
become his enemy. His son or daughter that he has reared
with loving care may prove ungrateful. Those who are nearest
and dearest to us, those whom we trust with our happiness
and our good name, may become traitors to their faith. The
money that a man has, he may lose. It flies away from him,
perhaps when he needs it the most. A man's reputation may be
sacrificed in a moment of ill-considered action. The people
who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honor when
success is with us may be the first to throw the stone of
malice when failure settles its cloud upon our heads. The
one absolutely unselfish friend that a man can have in this
selfish world, the one that never deserts him and the one
that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog.
Gentlemen of the jury: A man's dog stands by him in
prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. He
will sleep on the cold ground, where the wintry winds blow
and the snow drives fiercely, if only he may be near his
master's side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to
offer, he will lick the wounds and sores that come in
encounters with the roughness of the world. He guards the
sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince. When all
other friends desert, he remains. When riches take wings and
reputation falls to pieces, he is as constant in his love as
the sun in its journey through the heavens.
If fortune drives the master forth an outcast in the
world, friendless and homeless, the faithful dog asks no
higher privilege than that of accompanying him to guard
against danger, to fight against his enemies, and when the
last scene of all comes, and death takes the master in its
embrace and his body is laid away in the cold ground, no
matter if all other friends pursue their way, there by his
graveside will the noble dog be found, his head between his
paws, his eyes sad but open in alert watchfulness, faithful
and true even to death.
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