Life in the Clearings versus the BushMoodie, Susanna
History
Life in the Clearings versus the Bush
Moodie, Susanna
Frontier and pioneer life -- Ontario; Moodie, Susannah, 1803-1885; Ontario -- Description and travel
The body of a farmer had been brought in a waggon from one of the back
townships, a distance of twenty or thirty miles, and was, as usual in
such cases, attended by a long train of country equipages. My house
fronted the churchyard, and from the windows you could witness the whole
of the funeral ceremonial, and hear the service pronounced over the
grave. When the coffin was lifted by the stalwart sons of the deceased
from the waggon, and the procession formed to carry it into the church,
I observed a large, buff Flemish dog fall into the ranks of the
mourners, and follow them into the sacred edifice, keeping as near the
coffin as those about it would permit him. After the service in the
church was ended, the creature persevered in following the beloved
remains to the grave. When the crowd dispersed, the faithful animal
retired to some distance, and laid himself quietly down upon a grave,
until the sexton had finished his mournful task, and the last sod was
placed upon the fresh heap that had closed for ever over the form he
loved.
When the man retired, the dog proceeded to the spot, walked carefully
round it, smelt the earth, lifted his head, and uttered the most
unearthly howls. He then endeavoured to disinter the body, by digging a
large hole at one end of the grave; but finding that he could not effect
his purpose, he stretched himself at full length over it, as if to guard
the spot, with his head buried between his fore-paws, his whole
appearance betokening the most intense dejection.
All that day and night, and the next day and night, he never quitted his
post for an instant, at intervals smelling the earth, and uttering those
mournful, heart-rending cries. My boys took him bread and meat, and
tried to coax him from the grave; but he rejected the food and their
caresses. The creature appeared wasted and heartbroken with grief.
Towards noon of the third day, the eldest son of his late master came in
search of him; and the young man seemed deeply affected by this instance
of the dog's attachment to his father. Even his well-known voice failed
to entice him from the grave, and he was obliged to bring a collar and
chain, and lift him by force into his waggon, to get him from his post.
Oh, human love! is thy memory and thy faith greater than the attachment
of this poor, and, as we term him, unreasoning brute, to his dead
master? His grief made an impression on my mind, and on that of my
children, which will never be forgotten.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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