1518 
THIS RURAL NEW-YORKER 
December 25, 1915. 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
Dog Talk. —A Pennsylvania man calls 
me to task because I say a good word for 
the Airedale dog. This man says the 
Hope Farm man seems to be above th? 
average in intelligence, and that he has 
evidently read the Bible all through, lie 
cannot understand how such a man can 
ever advocate dog-keeping, and he chal¬ 
lenges me to find a single good word for 
dogs in all the Bible. He claims that 
dogs are worse than useless. They kill 
sheep and smaller animals, carry disease 
and make themselves a nuisance gener¬ 
ally. He is going to class dog-keepers 
and dog advocates with liquor sellers and 
boycott both classes. Down with the dog 
and all his friends, says this man. 
A Tough Question. —A few months 
ago another Pennsylvania man came after 
me hot-tongue because we printed a note 
about sheep-killing dogs. According to 
this man I am an ignorant idiot for say¬ 
ing a word against dogs! The State of 
Pennsylvania was settled originally by a 
peace-loving people—though perhaps the 
dog question had not then come to a head. 
As it is I would like to bring these two 
men together and let them settle it—while 
I retired to a safe distance. Like every 
other human being I presume the Hope 
Farm man has his days of “superior in¬ 
telligence” and others when he acts like 
an “ignorant idiot,” especially if you put 
a dog on the trail of his opinion or preju¬ 
dice. For it seems to me that this dog 
question is largely one of prejudice and 
not one of reason. As for being such a 
great student of the Bible I am sorry that 
I cannot size up to our friend's state¬ 
ment. When I was a boy the old folks 
stood over me and saw that I committed 
the Sermon on the Mount and most of the 
Gospels to memory. Unfortunately I 
have now forgotten a large share of it, 
and my children can beat me at it to¬ 
day. The cherry-tops can out-quote me. 
Dogs In History. — I find, however, 
several references to dogs in the Bible. 
Here is one: “A living dog is better 
than a dead lion!” We are told how 
dogs licked the sores of Lazarus. The in¬ 
ference is that this was a sort of surgical 
dressing which helped. They knew noth¬ 
ing about bacteria or Infection in those 
days—now the latest report is that dogs 
actually convey diseases to human beings 
when they lick or “kiss” their friends. 
Then the dogs devoured Jezebel—which 
might rank as a satisfactory act for that 
time. But I shall have to leave this side 
of the dog’s history to those who know 
more about it. I judge that in Bible 
times most dogs were regarded as out¬ 
casts and useless—just the same as cer¬ 
tain races of human beings. At the same 
time I should say that there were dogs 
in those days trained to watch and guard 
the sheep—doing their work well. I have 
no doubt some of these wandering curs of 
to-day have simply gone back to the con¬ 
dition of most dogs in Bible times when, 
if you wanted to insult a man to the 
limit, you called him a dog. However, 
you and I can readily find human beings 
who have gone back in the direction of 
the stone age about as far as the dogs! 
History is full of good work done by 
dogs. They just about saved Canada at 
one time. Parkman tells how Montreal 
was practically at the mercy of the In¬ 
dians. They swarmed about the town, 
ambushed the whites, and at night walked 
all through the streets. The settlers sent 
to France and imported several very 
smart dogs, and trained them to discover 
Indians. These dogs broke up the entire 
game and enabled the French to protect 
themselves against this invisible foe. In 
fact one particularly smart little dog 
mentioned by Parkman, did more to save 
Montreal than the geese ever did to save 
Rome. 
Friendships. —No matter what the old 
prophets said about dogs some of these 
creatures show true devotion. 
“And he ho teed himself and said: What 
is thy servant that thou shouldst look 
upon such a dead dog as I am?” 
No use talking, the way those “leading 
citizens” of Bible times regarded a dog 
would have suited our Pennsylvania 
friend to the dot on an i. Yet read this 
from Sir Walter Scott’s poem “Helvel- 
lyn”: 
“Nor yet quite deserted though lonely 
extended 
For, faithful in death, his mute favorite 
attended. 
The much loved remains of her master 
defended 
And chased the hill-fox and the raven 
away, 
How long dids’t thou think that his 
silence was slumber? 
When the wind waved bis garments how 
oft dids’t thou start? 
How many long days and long weeks 
didst thy number 
Ere he faded before thee, the friend of thy 
heart?” 
r I he Other Side, —There is no ques¬ 
tion that some dogs become a dangerous 
nuisance. The Department of Agricul¬ 
ture has just issued a strong pamphlet 
on this subject. It shows that aside from 
killing sheep the dog is a menace to 
health, since it harbors and carries para¬ 
sites and vermin.* The brain disease of 
sheep known as “gid,” is caused by a 
worm which lives part of its life in the 
dog. Tapeworm is another pest which 
depends on the dog for a part of its life- 
much as the apple rust is kept alive on 
cedar trees. There seems to be no ques¬ 
tion that these hideous diseases are 
nursed in the body of dogs and spread by 
them. As all know, the frightful disease 
of rabies or hydrophobia is spread by 
dogs and kept alive by them. Ringworm 
and other skin diseases may be conveyed 
by dogs, and are thus conveyed when 
dogs are permitted to lick children with 
their tongue. There is no question about 
these things, or that the dog can easily 
be a carrier of disease and vermin. My 
two friends in Pennsylvania will immedi¬ 
ately come right after me on this. One 
will say : “I told you so, every dog is a 
nuisance and a danger to society!” I 
imagine the other will say: “These 
scientists are liars. The dog is a noble 
animal, far superior to the scientists or 
Hope Farm man!” 
What About It? — I believe it is true 
that the unwashed and unkept cur dog is 
a nuisance and a danger. It is true that 
the dog can and does carry disease, fleas 
and worse, and distributes them with lib¬ 
eral and unthinking hand. He is no 
worse than man in that respect, except 
that he has greater rights to scatter dis¬ 
ease. Man carries smallpox,, typhoid, 
scarlet fever, tuberculosis and a dozen 
other diseases, but we know enough now 
to quarantine him and restrict him as 
far as possible when we know there is 
danger. The cur dog goes everywhere 
without restraint. It seems to be settled 
clearly that in the recent outbreak of 
foot and mouth disease dogs carried It 
from one farm to another. To say that 
all dogs should be killed because dogs 
carry disease or because some of them 
kill sheep, seems to me nonsense. I do 
think, however, that dogs should be kept 
at home, like the rest of the stock, be¬ 
cause wandering dogs do more damage 
than cows or horses or hogs. I think 
every man should be compelled to keep 
his dogs at home. That’s where they be¬ 
long—the same as the cows or sheep. The 
certain tendency of dog laws is to recog¬ 
nize this principle, and I think the out¬ 
come will be making all wandering dogs 
outcasts and subject to slaughter. 1 
have no sympathy whatever with the 
wandering cur or his owner. Such a dog 
has no business on my farm, and comes 
for no good purpose. I regard him as a 
tramp and a thief, and I send him home if 
it is possible to get rid of him. I do have 
full sympathy for the owner of a useful 
and well-behaved dog. Keep him neat 
and clean, and he is less liable to scatter 
disease and vermin than some humans I 
know. Take our little Airedale, for ex¬ 
ample. This little dog helped save my 
life, and she would fight like a tiger for 
the children. Does anyone suppose that 
I would permit this faithful little animal 
to be killed because dogs in general have 
about as many evil traits as man? Not 
to-day ! H. w. c. 
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Will you publish a formula for perma¬ 
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Point Pleasant, N. J. 
For painting brick work with Venetian 
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BOOKS WORTH READING 
i! How Crops Grow, Johnson. 1.50 fl 
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The Rural New Yorker, 333 West 30th St., N. Y. 
Three Hundred Million 
Bushel Crop in 1915 
Farmers pay for their land with one year’s crop 
and prosperity was never so great. 
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inent business man says: “Canada’s position today is 
sounder than ever. There is more wheat, more oats, more 
grain for feed, 20 $> more cattle than last year and more 
hogs. The war market in Europe needs our surplus. As 
for the wheat crop, it is marvelous and a monument of 
strength for business confidence to build upon, exceeding the most optimistic predictions.” 
Wheat averaged in 1915 over 25 bushels per acre 
Oats averaged in 1915 over 45 bushels per acre 
Barley averaged in 1915 over 40 bushels per acre 
Prices are high, markets convenient, excellent land low in price either improved or other¬ 
wise, ranging from $12 to $30 per acre. Free homestead lands are plentiful and not far 
from railway lines and convenient to good schools and churches. The climate is healthful 
There is no war tax on land, nor is there any conscription. For complete information 
as to best locations for (settlement, reduced railroad rates and descriptive illustrated 
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CANADIAN GOVERNMENT AGENT 
1 139 Elm Street, Manchester, N. H. 
When you write advertisers mention The R. N.-Y. and you’ll 
quick reply and a “square deal.” See guarantee editorial page. 
