Dedication

from Hutchinson's (England, circa 1935)

The following is the reprint of an email posting that was made to our BullTerrier-H email list when it was new by Dale Hardy Roberts, Deputy Chief Administrative Law Judge in Missouri.

Since this list is new, allow me to offer this sort-of dedication to the list. It is an argument that was made to a jury, here in Missouri, in a lawsuit against a man who shot and killed his neighbor's dog. This, more than anything I have ever heard, captures the true spirit of a Bully.

Old Drum

"Ladies and Gentleman of the Jury:

The best friend a man has in the 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 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, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog. 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 encounter 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 him against danger, to fight against his enemies. And when the last scene of all comes, and death takes his 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 the graveside will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws, his eyes sad, but open in alert watchfulness, faithful and true even in death."

George Graham Vest, U.S. Senator from Missouri from 1879 to 1903, was a leading orator of the Senate. As a young man practicing law in the Warrensburg area, Vest represented a man who sued another for the killing of his dog. Vest showed no interest in the testimony, but when his turn came to address the jury, he made this speech and won the case. A statue dedicated to the dog, Old Drum, still stands on the Courthouse lawn, on the square in Warrensburg, Missouri.

Dale

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