The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or unfaithful, 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 when the winds blow and the snow drives fiercely if only he may be by his master’s side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer, he will lick the wounds and sores caused by the roughness of the world. When riches are lost or fame disappears, the dog 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, homeless, the faithful dog asks no other danger and to fight against his enemies. And when the last scene of all comes and death takes away the master and his body laid low in the cold ground, no matter if all other friends go away, 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 to death.
Vocabulary
Fiercely—violently
Disappears—pass from sight
