Gentlemen of the Jury

The best friend a man has in the world may turn against him and may become his enemy.

His son or daughter that he has reared with loving care may prove ungrateful.

Those who are nearest and dearest to us,

those whom we trust with our happiness and our good name,

may become traitors to their faith.

The money that a man has, he may lose.

It flies away from him, perhaps when he needs it most.

A man's reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of ill-considered action.

The people are prone to fall on their knees to do us honour when success is with us,

may be the first to throw the stone of malice, when failure see it's cloud upon our heads.

The absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world,

 the one that never deserts him,

the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog.

A man's dog stands by him in prospertiy and in poverty, 

in health and in sickness.

He will sleep on the cold grounds, 

where the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely,

if only he may be near his master's side.

He will kiss the had that has no food to offer.

He will lick the wounds and sores that come,

in encounters with the roughness of the world,

He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince.

When all other friends desert,

her remains.

When riches take wings, 

and reputation falls to pieces,

he is as constant in love,

as the sun, in its journey through the heavens.

If fortune drives the master forth,

and outcast in the world, friendless and homeless,

the faithful dog asks no higher privilege that that of accompanying him,

to guard him against danger,

to fight his enemies.

And when the last scene of all comes,

and death takes his master in its embrace and his body is laid away in the cold ground,

no matter if all other friends pursue their way,

there by the grave side will the noble dog be found,

his head between his paws,

his eyes sad,

but open in alert watchfulness,

faithful and true even in death.

George Graham Vest c.1855

George Graham Vest (1830-1904) served as a US Senator from Missouri from 1879 to 1903 and became of the leading orators and debators of his time.  This delightful speech is from an earlier period in his life when he practised law in a small Missouri town.

It was given in court while representing a man who sued another for the killing of his dog.  During the trial, Vest ignored the testimony, but whenhis turn came to present a summation to the jury, he made the above speech and won the case.