Show V 1 A Pup and a Revolution 1 I IE I HE E pages of history would glow with t 1 A 1 much more interest to lo the average reader if some of the incidents reflecting the human side ide of great events could be depicted in story form There is for instance the matter of General General Gen Gen- eral cral lowes lowe's pel pet dog Rupert Hughes in the S third volume of his life of Washington gives as many of the facts as he can call find and then speculates about the rest What happened was vas this this' General Genera Howe commanding the British arm army that o occupied Philadelphia had a small dog log that he prized very ery highly In 1 1778 or thereabouts Howe made one of his forays out of Philadelphia in the hope of catchin catching i Washington off gu guard gurd rd and smashing him I Washington dodged him but Howes Howe's dog dog dog- imbibing perhaps the American spirit of liberty Jib Jib- I erty went erty-went went on the loose and when the roll was called was not to be found Instead of staying with his British master he had wandered straight into the American camp where he was busily making friends with the ragged Continentals A day or so later Washington sent out a squad with a flag of truce The squad apS approached approached ap ap- ap- ap S the British lines was vas met by British sentries and sentries and formally h over General Howes Howe's dog who trotted back to headquarters to lo receive the generals general's forgiveness That's the story An And somehow wed we'd be willing to swap a lot of dull accounts of battles bat- bat tics and political maneuvers for a good eyewitness eyewitness eye eye- witness account of that little transaction between be be- tween the lines hues The thing thing- isn't hard to picture at that One can imagine the squad of bronzed Americans Americans Ameri Amen cans catis stalking along in military formation with the excited dog tugging lugging on a leash and and no no doubt drawing doubt drawing a string of half affectionate curses from the sergeant detailed to lead him the arrival of this squad at the British outpost outpost outpost out out- post post- with ith all hands presenting arms the subtle relaxation of military dignity as some immaculate red-coated red British sergeant took look the pup into custody custody and and lastly the parade Jarade of the fhe British squad to the commanding officers officer's officers officer's officers officer's cers tent with wilh ih the dog joyously frisking forward forward forward for for- ward to stick his wet nose into the thc face of the Ike natured good-natured British general That's Thais the Ike sort of history that makes in interesting interesting in- in reading To be sure it isn't important important important im im- yet after all all it does docs make the men of that day come to life fur for us The Thc British and American soldiers cap never be mere automatons again once we ha have vc seen them in inthis inthis inthis this business of transferring a stray do dog from one army to another They come alive for fortS fortS forus tS us turn into flesh and blood A |