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.
