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Show THE SHEEP DOG OF THE WEST. (Alice P. Bishop.) Eastern peoplo ,on their old farms, on laid out roads and with their fenced pasture', can hardly realize what an important factor the shepherd dog has been In tho development of the western west-ern states, where many men, starting on their forty dollars per month salaries sala-ries us herders, havo built up fortunes ranging all tho way from modest livings liv-ings to tho ownership of immense tracts of land, upon which are feeding their own herds with tens and hundreds hun-dreds of thousands of dollars. Nearly every ono of these men would ell you, If you asked him, "I could not have begun, gono on or accomplished his had it not been for tho faithful aess of those best dumb friends t man my dogs." Tho nvorage story of these case? would read something like this: 1 camo out west and . hired out as a herder. A cattle man gave mo a fo-nolo fo-nolo shepherd pup and I Invested five dollars in another promising pup and '.ook both of them with mo, and found hem very easily trained with the hell of my employer's already trained dogs 'or of all animals, It seems as if the 3hepherd dog understands qulckes' vhat is expected of him, and in two oi hreo years ho can almost talk ir 'act he does talk to his master and thi herd with ovory wag of his tall, every curve of his body, every separate sound of his bark. Almost all hordere love their dogs, and aro skilled in do? language; understanding perfectl? nearly everything their dogs try to tel th cm. I saved my money for two years and then bought a small band of sheep and a second-hnnd camp outfit consistlnr of a lumber wagon, covered with can vas, and a team. In tho wagon war stored my housekeeping utensils and provisions to last for three months. Ar soon as tho snow was well off the mountains, I took my two dogs, my loaded wagon, and my sheep up to a high good range and staid there, occu sionally moving to a better range until un-til snow came again. Except for a few calls from passing herders, I had no other company durlnsr all thosi months than that of my faithful Fldo and Bess. Many herders go crazy from this Isolation Iso-lation and, in one such case, where ilio herder had wandered off, tho dogf watched and guarded tho sheep by day and gathered them In every nlghl until the owner of tho herd camo and discovered what he owed to the sane dogs of his insane herder. I did not feel afraid of losing my mind, for I fanned my hopeful spirits by thinking of the good time coming when I should be Independent, and my dogs seemed to understand me as I told them, over and over of my plans when my I'ortuno had been made, ol going back cast for Susie; of tho house I wao going to build. Of tho old fashioned hollyhocks, cabbage cab-bage roses, which should grow by our own cottage door, as my closed eyes revealed ngain and again the scenes of my childhood, about my old fashioned mother's home. In the back yard, In my castlo building, I always built a tasteful ,'J.-g house, where Fldo and Bess, grown old, could finish their days In ionco and plenty. When snow came wo started towara civilization, with our outfit, and as tho dOgs and sheep know each other so well, the former woro worth more to mo thDii any number of strange men and all their work was done for no othor return than my approval. At night Fldo and Bess would find nil tho sheep and bring them close to-gather to-gather around the wagon and I could co to sleep with no fear that I would not bo warned If a hunery covote camo I too near. I kept my gun londed ready to fire so that In case these sneak- lug, suspicious, wolfish creatures were too bold, I could flro It off and scare them awny. When we reached the valley we camped in the sage brush through tho winter, and tho dogs watched and tended tho sheep while I was making my short trips for hay and supplies. I had gone Into this business to win and ho that by tho ploy would thrive himself must either hold or drive," was my motto, and I did the holding whllo that second self of the herdsman, herds-man, tho shepherd dogs, did tho driving, driv-ing, till I was ablo to bring Suslo to a "ar finer homo than I had whispered about to Fido and Bess In my hours Vl of dreaming on the mountains. 'lj Children and grandchildren havo 1 -ome to me and means have not been j 'ncklng to feed and clothe and etlu t ?ate them as well as the best In the 'and, but when they gather around me n tho evening, they like best to hear if Fldo and Bess, to whom they and I owo tho start which made all these hlngs possible. Senator Vest, of Missouri, when a oung man, was unexpectedly called tpon to mako a plea for the plaintiff a suit where a man had wantonly tilled his neighbor's dog. What ho aid is worth printing In any good pa ner once a year. Theso words spoken on tho spur oi the moment won the case for tho nla'n-'iff nla'n-'iff and won for tho dog the right to bo protected in tho, grand, old state of Missouri. "Tho best friend a man has in tho world," said Mr. Vest, "may turn ngalrist him and become his enemy. His son or daughter that he has retr ?d with loving caro may prove un grateful. Thoso who aro nearest and dearest to us, thoso whom we trust v'Hi our haim'ness and our good name 1IGHT..TRUTHNIN C nay become traitors to their faith. Tho money that a man has he may lose. It flies away from him, per-laps, per-laps, when he needs it most. A man's -eputatlon may bo sacrificed in a moment mo-ment of ill-considered action. Tho ncoplo who aro prone to fall on their 'mees to do us honor, when success s with us, may be tho first to throw 'ho stono of malice when failure set ties Its cloud upon our heads. Tho ono absolutely unselfish friend that man can have In this selfish world, the ono 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 nd in sickness. He will sleep on the old ground when the wintry winds Mow and tho snow drives fiercely if only he may be by his master's side. Ho will kiss tho hand that hns no food o offer, ho will lick tho wound and sores that como In encounter with the roughness of the world. Ho guards tho sheep of his pauper master as If ho woro n prince. "When all other friends desert, ho remains. When riches take wlnrs and I roputatlon falls to pieces he Is as con- stant in his lovo as tho pun In its 'ournoys throueh tho heavens. If ' fortune drives tho master forth an outcast in tho world, frlendWs and homeless, tho faithful dog aks no hlcher privilege than thnt of awnm-nanying awnm-nanying Mm to fiiard aa'Rt danger, dan-ger, to flcht against his enemies " "And wlion the last soono potips and death takes to master in his embrace and his body Is Md awav in tho cold ground, ro matter If all other friends pursue their wv there by tho grace slda will tho nobio dog bo found, his hontl between his pnvs, his oves sad but open and In alert watchfulness, faithful and true oven in death." o |