To Your Dog and to My Dog

Title: To Your Dog and to My Dog

Compiler: Lincoln Newton Kinnicutt

Release date: May 21, 2012 [eBook #39750]

Language: English

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39750

Credits: Produced by Greg Bergquist, David E. Brown and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)

Previous Publications:

Indian Names of Places in Worcester County, Massachusetts Indian Names of Places in Plymouth, Middleborough Lakeville, and Carver With Interpretations of Some of Them

[Pg i]

To Your Dog And To My Dog

[Pg ii]

[Pg iii]

TO YOUR DOG

AND TO

MY DOG

"MAY THEY LIVE LONG AND PROSPER"

By

LINCOLN NEWTON KINNICUTT

BOSTON and NEW YORK Houghton Mifflin Company The Riverside Press Cambridge

[Pg iv]

COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY LINCOLN NEWTON KINNICUTT

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Published December 1915

[Pg v]

[Pg vi]

[Pg vii]

Dear Dogs:—

I have brought together in my library a few of the many proofs that show how true is the affection which many of your masters have for you, and some-time when I can read them to you privately, you will understand more fully the place you hold in our lives. I use the word MASTER only because our language is too poor to express in one word the real relationship which exists between us, we the master, and you the devoted slave and trusted servant, the most joyful of playfellows, and the best of companions, the bravest defender, and the truest friend. I wish I knew the word in your language which expresses all that you are to us. I also wish I knew how much you know, and could learn the many things you would gladly teach us.

You can see what we cannot see.

You can hear sounds we cannot hear.

You interpret signs we cannot read.

You[Pg viii] scent the trails we cannot find.

You talk to us with your speaking eyes, and we cannot understand.

You are sometimes cruelly treated, and so are human beings, and sometimes we have to punish you for you are not always good. You have a certain amount of deviltry in your nature which we rather like, for it makes you more human and lovable. Your sins, however, are mostly against the laws we have made for you, not against your own, or those of nature, which are the laws of a higher power than ours—the one who made you.

What glorious times have we enjoyed together tramping or riding through the fields and woods, over the hills and by the streams and through the swamps, or at the sea, on the sands and rocks, or over the salt marshes, with gun or camera or botany box, or with nothing at all! We have shared the best the[Pg ix] world can give us, nature's gifts. And returning home, tired and happy, we in the evening, before a bright wood fire, you close by our side or at our feet only so that you can touch us, have lived over what the day has given us. Or sometimes at night before a camp fire with the quiet of the wood sounds all about us, have dreamed of the ducks and the grouse and the partridges, or of rare flowers or a beautiful landscape which the past day has brought, or of what the next day will bring. And perhaps you have dreamed also, a little selfishly (you are only selfish in your dreams) of the rabbits and squirrels and the woodchucks which have been the greatest temptation for you to resist all day long. They must have existed long ago in your garden of Eden.

No matter what our conditions or surroundings in life may be you accept them gladly. King or peasant, palace or hovel, riches or poverty, plenty or starvation, burning[Pg x] sun or ice and snow, if you have once given us your affection, no matter who or what your master may be, you give him all you have to give to the very end—even life itself. It would almost seem that you were created only to serve us, for wherever man has been, even in the far past where history is almost a myth, you have been also, close by his side. Old Egypt, Persia, Greece, and ancient Rome have told of your fidelity and of your devotion.

You know us in many ways as no human being knows us, for every hour of your life you wish to be near, and often you are our most intimate companion and the best friend we have in the world. We talk to you, more than half believing, or trying to believe, that you understand, and I am not sure but that to you alone we always tell the absolute truth, we whisper to you our secrets, we confide to you our hopes and ambitions, we tell you of[Pg xi] our successes and our disappointments, and often in deep grief you alone see what we think is weakness to show to the outside world. Whatever happens to us we are sure of one friend, even if the whole world is against us. We trust to you our greatest treasures, our children, and we know with you they are safe.

When you go to the Happy Hunting Ground you are truly and deeply mourned, and the great legacy you leave us is the memory of your loyalty, your devotion, your trust, and memory of the many happy hours and happy days you have given us in your too short life. And when we are obliged to say "the King is dead," we do not complete the old saying "long live the King" for many, many months—and sometimes never.

May we meet again, Your masters, and Your FRIENDS.

[Pg xii]

[Pg xiii]

Note To The Masters

The blank space on the title cover is designed for a photograph, or any picture, of your own dog.

This collection is composed almost entirely of verses that have been written within the last twenty-five years. I know only too well that I have omitted many poems that the Dogs should hear, but I have not attempted a large anthology, for it has been done several times by far abler hands. I also know you will ask why some of your favorite poems are not found in this collection, but I have selected only a small number, among the many that have appealed to me, for I promised to read only a few to my friends, the Dogs, and I have left many blank half pages on which you can copy your own favorite Dog Poems.

L. N. K.

[Pg xiv]

[Pg xv]

Note To those to whom I am indebted

I wish to thank the Authors for their kindness in permitting me to reprint their poems and I also wish to acknowledge the courtesy of the many Publishers who have given me permission to reprint selections from their publications. To many friends I wish to express my obligation for the use of their collections.

L. N. K.

[Pg xvi]

[Pg xvii]

Contents

[Pg 1]

LUFRA

BY SIR WALTER SCOTT From The Lady of the Lake

[Pg 2]

[Pg 3]

LUFRA

[Pg 5]

FIDELE'S GRASSY TOMB

From The Island Race BY HENRY NEWBOLT

By permission of the Author, and of the Publishers Elkin Mathews, London

[Pg 6]

[Pg 7]

FIDELE'S GRASSY TOMB

[Pg 12]

[Pg 13]

LEO

From The Poems of Richard Watson Gilder

By permission of the Publishers, Houghton Mifflin Company Boston

[Pg 14]

[Pg 15]

LEO

[Pg 17]

[Pg 18]

GEIST'S GRAVE

From Poems by Matthew Arnold Dramatic and Later Poems

By permission of the Publishers, The Macmillan Company, New York

[Pg 19]

GEIST'S GRAVE

[Pg 24]

[Pg 25]

THE POWER OF THE DOG

From Actions and Reactions BY RUDYARD KIPLING

By permission of the Publishers, Doubleday, Page & Company Garden City

[Pg 26]

[Pg 27]

THE POWER OF THE DOG

[Pg 30]

[Pg 31]

TO RUFUS, A SPANIEL

From Crumbs of Pity BY R. C. LEHMANN

By permission of the Author, and of the Publishers, William Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh & London

[Pg 32]

[Pg 33]

TO RUFUS, A SPANIEL

[Pg 39]

TIM, AN IRISH TERRIER

From Songs from Leinster BY W. M. LETTS

By permission of the Author, and of the Publisher David McKay, Philadelphia

[Pg 40]

[Pg 41]

TIM, AN IRISH TERRIER

[Pg 43]

TO A TERRIER

From Green Days and Blue Days BY PATRICK R. CHALMERS

By permission of the Author. Published by Maunsel & Co., Ltd. Dublin

[Pg 44]

[Pg 45]

TO A TERRIER

[Pg 47]

RHAPSODY ON A DOG'S INTELLIGENCE

From Rhymes of Home BY BURGES JOHNSON

By permission of the Author, and of the Publishers G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York

[Pg 48]

[Pg 49]

RHAPSODY ON A DOG'S INTELLIGENCE

[Pg 52]

[Pg 53]

FRANCES

BY RICHARD WIGHTMAN

By permission of the Author and from The American Magazine

[Pg 54]

[Pg 55]

FRANCES

[Pg 59]

ROGER AND I

BY REV. JULIAN S. CUTLER From The Boston Evening Transcript

By permission of the Author and of The Boston Evening Transcript

[Pg 60]

[Pg 61]

ROGER AND I

[Pg 65]

"SIR BAT-EARS"

BY MRS. EDEN From Punch

By permission of the Author, and special permission of the Proprietors of London Punch

[Pg 66]

[Pg 67]

"SIR BAT-EARS"

[Pg 70]

[Pg 71]

CLUNY

BY WILLIAM CROSWELL DOANE From The Boston Evening Transcript

By permission

[Pg 72]

[Pg 73]

CLUNY

[Pg 75]

LADDIE

From America the Beautiful and Other Poems BY KATHARINE LEE BATES

By permission of the Author, and of the Publishers Thomas Y. Crowell Company, New York

[Pg 76]

[Pg 77]

LADDIE

[Pg 79]

DAVY

BY LOUISE IMOGEN GUINEY From Century Magazine

By permission of the Author, and of The Century Company New York

[Pg 80]

[Pg 81]

DAVY

[Pg 83]

A FRIEND

BY ZITELLA COCKE From The Youth's Companion

By permission of the Author and of The Youth's Companion

[Pg 84]

[Pg 85]

A FRIEND

[Pg 87]

THE BATH

BY R. C. LEHMANN From Punch

By permission of the Author, and special permission of the Proprietors of London Punch

[Pg 88]

[Pg 89]

THE BATH

[Pg 92]

[Pg 93]

SIX FEET

From a friend

[Pg 94]

[Pg 95]

"SIX FEET"

[Pg 97]

WILHELM

BY PATRICK R. CHALMERS From Punch

By permission of the Author, and special permission of the Proprietors of London Punch

[Pg 98]

[Pg 99]

WILHELM

[Pg 100]

[Pg 101]

AN OLD DOG

BY CELIA DUFFIN From The Spectator

By permission of the Author, The London Spectator, and Maunsel and Company, Ltd. Dublin

[Pg 102]

[Pg 103]

AN OLD DOG

[Pg 104]

[Pg 105]

REMARKS TO MY GROWN-UP PUP

From Rhymes of Home BY BURGES JOHNSON

By permission of the Author, and of the Publishers G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York

[Pg 106]

[Pg 107]

REMARKS TO MY GROWN-UP PUP

[Pg 109]

AN EXTRACT FROM INSCRIPTION ON THE MONUMENT OF A NEWFOUNDLAND DOG

BY LORD BYRON

[Pg 110]

[Pg 111]

AN EXTRACT FROM INSCRIPTION ON THE MONUMENT OF A NEWFOUNDLAND DOG

[Pg 113]

TO TIM, AN IRISH TERRIER

BY W. M. LETTS

By permission of the Author and of the Westminster Gazette, London

[Pg 114]

[Pg 115]

TO TIM, AN IRISH TERRIER

[Pg 117]

MY DOG

BY ANNA HADLEY MIDDLEMAS

By permission of the Author and of The Boston Evening Transcript

[Pg 118]

[Pg 119]

MY DOG

[Pg 120]

[Pg 121]

"WITHOUT ARE DOGS"

BY EDWARD A. CHURCH

By permission of the Author and of the Century Magazine

[Pg 122]

[Pg 123]

"WITHOUT ARE DOGS"

[Pg 124]

[Pg 125]

YOU'RE A DOG

BY C. L. GILMAN

By permission of the Author and of Outing Publishing Co., N. Y.

[Pg 126]

[Pg 127]

YOU'RE A DOG

[Pg 129]

A GENTLEMAN

From New Orleans Times-Picayune

By permission of New Orleans Times-Picayune

[Pg 130]

[Pg 131]

A GENTLEMAN

[Pg 133]

MY DOG

BY ST. JOHN LUCAS

[Pg 134]

[Pg 135]

MY DOG

[Pg 137]

TO SCOTT

(A collie, for nine years our friend) BY W. M. LETTS

By permission of the Author and of the Westminster Gazette, London

[Pg 138]

[Pg 139]

TO SCOTT

(A collie, for nine years our friend)

[Pg 141]

"DODO,"

1903-1913

BY ARTHUR AUSTIN-JACKSON From The Spectator

By permission of The London Spectator

[Pg 142]

[Pg 143]

"DODO"

1903-1913

Sir Walter Scott's translation of Lockhart's epitaph for "Maida's grave"

[Pg 144]

[Pg 145]

"HAMISH" A SCOTCH TERRIER

From The London Spectator BY C. HILTON BROWN

[Pg 146]

[Pg 147]

"HAMISH"; A SCOTCH TERRIER

The Riverside Press

CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS

U . S . A