MANY and marvelous have been the achievements which history has recorded to the credit of faithful, sagacious and courageous dogs of the past.
History chronicles that the wonderful dog, Xanthippus, heroically swam for miles by the side of his master's galley to Salamis when the Athenians were forced to abandon their city, and the body of that devoted and courageous canine hero was buried by his grateful master on the crest of a beautiful promontory, which to this day bears the name of “The Dog's Grave.”
In ancient history it is recorded that the city of Corinth was saved from enemies who had planned to capture it, by fifty faithful war-dogs who attacked the invading foe that had landed under the cover of darkness whilst the garrison slept, and fought the invaders with unbounded courage until every dog but one of the fifty valiant canine warriors had been killed. That one surviving dog succeeded in rousing the garrison from their slumber in time to save the city.
Among the many pathetic incidents in the lives of famous dogs of history may be mentioned the touching incident in the life of the devoted dog, Hyrcanian, who, on beholding the dead body of his beloved master burning on a funeral pile, leaped into the flames and was consumed with it.
It is quite natural that the Switzers should venerate the memory of the Great St. Bernard, "Barry," over whose grave at Berne, Switzerland, a stately monument has been reared.
There is a large and beautifully kept cemetery for dogs near Asnieres, on the outskirts of Paris, France. When Consul-General Gowdy was lately conducting a party of friends through this canine cemetery, pointing to the tomb of the Great St. Bernard who had saved the lives of forty human beings, he asked “What man can boast of having done so much?"
Can we wonder that Ketmir, that faithful, patient, tireless canine sentinel and guardian of the "Seven Sleepers of Ephesus" was welcomed into Paradise by Mahommet?
The desperate combat, to the death, between the devoted dog of Aubry and his master's murderer was a notable event in the annals of history. In that deadly conflict Aubry's valiant dog proved himself the matchless hero of the hour. That dog's heroic act in his master's defense has never been excelled by any human soldier on the battlefield of war.
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