This little lady is Sharlot Hall who arrived in Prescott Arizona in a covered wagonSharlot was a ranch woman who set upon herself the task of recording Arizona history in both prose and verse. She was instrumental in bringing about Arizona's statehood, as Congress had thought it expedient to make one big state of the Arizona and New Mexico territories, calling it New Mexico. Sharlot wrote an epic poem about her beloved Arizona that was distributed to each member of Congress and that was thought by many to convince the Congressmen to grant Arizona it's own identity.
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I'm a great fan of Sharlot's and I'll be posting more about her from time to time. Right now I'm going to pass on a story from her book Cactus and Pine copyright Sharlot Hall in 1924. It's a little story and I think Sharlot would be happy to have you read it.
Many years ago a herd of sheep was feeding its way down from the region around the San Francisco peaks by way of the Verde Valley to the desert for the winter. The shepherd sickened and died alone with his sheep.
For some weeks thereafter, a shepherd dog very wild and thin, came once in a while to a ranch house on Clear Creek and snatched a little food set out by the woman of the ranch and hurried away. At last he was found to be herding the sheep and guarding the dead body of his master. He had taken the sheep in a small circle to feed and water, but had always returned to bed them where he could watch his master's body.
I've always been touched by this story of the faithful dog continuing his work of caring for the sheep. He must have been bewildered by his non-responsive master, sad and lonely and hungry, yet he continued to do his job.
11 comments:
Oh my god - I cried at this. The complete devotion of that dog who continued to do his job with the sheep but wouldn't leave his master. I much prefer dogs to people:)
Wonder what happened to the dog and the sheep. Guess someone must have taken them in at some point. Great story on the exceptional qualities of dogs.
This is such a sad but lovely story and typifies the extraordinary love and loyalty of dogs. There are quite a few monuments in UK to dogs who stayed for weeks and months beside the bodies of their masters. I'd like to know what happened to the dog too.
Very touching.Sometimes I wish people had the strong character of this dog.
As a person owned by a border collie, I enjoyed the story. Thank you for posting it. (I figure the "sheep dog" must have been a border collie. Sounds like typical border collie behavior.)
If only we had writers today that would choose to share stories that tugged at our hearts instead of simply robbing our pocketbooks. Sharlot Hall was a magnificent woman indeed.
Mary Beth..sometimes I wonder why it's the and noble qualities in humans or animals that make us cry...but they do:)
QD and Rowan, I think the dog was rescued with the sheep by the owner of the sheep. Hopefully, the dog was persuaded to continue his work with another sheep herder.
But as you mentioned, Rowan the tie to his dead master was strong.
Photo-a good point-it would be a better world..
Becky, welcome! Thanks for stopping by. I do think the dog most likely would have been a Border Collie. Born and bred for the job.. Yours has you to care for:)
Changes, magnificent is an apt description of Sharlot..she was absolutely in tune with her times and with all the people and animals that made up this slowly civilizing state.
This brought tears to my eyes. I know of a similar dog story in New Zealand.
A sad but enlivening story, indeed. Thanks for sharing it.
Just imagine living in a covered wagon. I admire pioneer women like Sharlot Hall.
Cat, I'm glad you liked the story:)
Olivia, the pioneer women were like your mother, brave and industrious, building for the future of their families..
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