The Faithful Dog

By George Graham Vest

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 use 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.

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 masters side.

He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer,

he will lick the wounds and sores that come

in encounters with 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 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.