DOG'S 14 YEARS'VIGIL.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 13 April 1907, Page 1

DOG'S 14 YEARS' VIGIL.

FAITHFUL WATCH ON HIS MASTER'S GRAVE. As an illustration of the late Baroness I Burdett-Coutts love of animals, tho following may be cited from "The State of Animals," edited by the Rev. J. Moor : — Any person walking through the old churchyard of Greyfriars, Edinburg, some years ago, would have seen a strange I and pathetic sight. Many a costly mass jof carved -stone, covered with eulogy, marked the places where the once rich and great ones of this world slept; but j upon the grass which covered the nameless resting place of a poor man lay — ■ I what ? It looked like the effigy of a dog, cunningly wrought in dusky stone so as to j mock life, and yet it breathed, while. | now and then a piteous sigh or half- ; smothered whine broke from it. This ■ was a living momiiment — the sleeper's ' only friend, a true hearted little terrier who could not bear to be parted from ' him. I An aged man, James Brown, whose duty it was to take charge of the cemetery, well remembered the day .when a i humble aitisnn nami'ii I. .. w» , ; brought to lie there, and noticed that Bobby was chief mourner. Next morning James found him lying on the grave, and for 14 years he kepb his solemn watch, never leaving the sacred spot for many minutes. A benevolent man Sergeant Scott, R.E. allowed Bobby his board for a length of time, and for nine years he was fed by Mr Trail, the kindly keeper of a restaurant close by. At his shop Bobby, appeared _ r«"nilarlv for his dinnei-. being guided by the mid-day gun from the castle. Among his many visitors who Kockeit to see the four footed sentinel at his post was that ardent lover ot animals, Baroness ourdett-Coutts. Afterwards) she caused a beautiful drinking fonni tain of granite to be erected in the I sfrr">t of Krl'nbnrr/V' t" tin- uiumorv or Bobby. Professor Blakie wrote a Greek" inscription for the memorial, which, : translated, runs thus: — j This momnment waas erected by a I noble lady, the Baronpss BmdettCoutts, to the memory of Greyfmrs* | Bobby, a faithful and affectionate little dog who followed the remains of his i master to the church yard in 1858, and i became a constant visitor to the grave, refusing to be separated fTom the spot till be died in the year 1872.