A PLEA FOR THE DOG. 295 



SENATOR VEST'S FAMOUS PLEA OX BEHALF OF THE DOG. 



One of the most beautiful tributes ever paid to the dog came from 

 the lips of George Graham Vest, the distinguished Missourian, who has re- 

 cently retired to private life, after a long and honorable career in the 

 United States Senate. Senator Vest has long been recognized as a most 

 forceful and eloquent orator, and his speeches have been widely read for 

 many years. It is doubtful, however, if in all his distinguished career he 

 has ever made a speech which has been more widely quoted or universally 

 appreciated than his impromptu remarks on the dog, made many years ago 

 in a country town. 



Shortly after the Civil War, when he was a young man, just beginning 

 the practice of law, and without the fame which has since become his, he 

 happened to be in attendance upon a term of the Johnson County Circuit 

 Court, at Warrensburg, Missouri. A suit for damages for the killing of a 

 dog was on the docket, and was in due time called. Voluminous evidence 

 was introduced to show that the defendant had shot the dog in malice, 

 while other evidence tended to show the dog had attacked the man. There 

 were attorneys engaged in this case, who, if not then, have since become 

 famous. Senator Vest was not employed in the case, but was invited to 

 speak for the plaintiff. The occasion is said to have been a rare one, and 

 his speech has been highly praised, and has gone the rounds of the press 

 for thirty years. 



"Gentlemen 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 man can have in this selfish 

 world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrate- 

 ful 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 rough- 

 ness 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 journeys 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 accom- 

 panying 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 watch- 

 fulness, faithful and true even in death." 



The effect of the speech is said to have held the court room audience 

 spellbound, and when Senator Vest concluded his remarks there was not 

 a dry eye in the house. The case was submitted to the jury without fur- 

 ther argument, and in a very few moments they returned a verdict in favor 

 of the owner of the dog for the full amount sued for. The case finally 

 reached the Supreme Court, where it was affirmed, and is set forth ift detail 

 in the 50th Missouri Reports. 



THE END. 



