Dogs and the Senator from Missouri

Senator Vest of Missouri pleading for the plaintiff whose dog had been shot in malice:

“Gentlemen of the jury…the people who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honour when success is with us may be the first to throw the stone of malice when failure settles its clouds upon our heads.

The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is his dog. A man’s dog stands by him in prosperity and poverty, in health and sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground, when the wintry winds blow and 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 wound and sores that come in encounter 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 his 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 the graveside will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws, his eyes sad, but open in watchfulness, faithful and true, even in death”

The jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff for two and one-half times the amount for which he was suing ($500 awarded instead of the $200 because of the effect of Senator Vest’s eulogy before the jury).