老鼓銅像

George Graham Vest (1830-1904)，生前做過美國 Missouri參議員院，有名的雄辯家。年輕時在Missouri一個小城擔任律師。史無前例的，他代表他的客戶控告被告人槍殺了他客戶的狗，老鼓（Old Drum)。在審判總結時，他完全不提案情本身，反而用一篇對狗的頌詞成功說服陪審團打贏了官司。以下這篇動人的散文（purple prose）至今仍為人津津樂道。說出了狗是人類最好的朋友，狗對主人如日月亙古不變的忠誠感情。

註明：狗贊原文只有部分留存；unknown翻譯，May 11， 2014。

各位評審團：

一個人最要好的朋友可能有一天變成敵人，一個人辛苦培養的兒女也可能不感恩，忤逆。我們最親近，最信任的人，我們將幸福和名譽所託付的人，可能也會背叛我們。在我們最需要某樣東西或友誼時，他們可能飛走視如陌路。我們擁有的財富也有可能失去；當我們一不小心，可能也會失去名譽。當我們飛黃騰達對我們卑顏屈膝的人，極有可能也是當我們烏雲罩頂失意時第一個拿惡毒之石擊打我們的人。

在這個自私自利的世界裡，一個人能擁有絕對不自私，絕不拋棄你，絕不忘恩負義的朋友，恐怕就只有你的狗了。無論貧病交加或是意氣風發，你的狗狗對你依然永遠不離不棄。即便是刮狂風下大雪，只要能和主人偎在一起，狗狗願意睡在冰冷的泥地上。即使你一無所有，沒有食物餵他，狗狗仍然會親吻你空無一物的雙手。狗狗願意舔舐你在這荊棘密布的世界所受到的打擊和創傷。即使乞丐主人睡著時，他也會像守護王子一樣伴隨着主人。當所有的朋友都遺棄你時，狗狗也不會背叛你。當你失去財富，名譽掃地時，狗狗對你的愛恆常的如從天堂射出的陽光。

如果主人為命運驅使，被世界排斥，舉目無親，無家可歸，忠誠的狗狗不會要求比陪伴主人之外更高的特權，狗狗會保護主人，會和敵人對抗。當幕落死亡來臨，主人躺在冰冷的黃土裡，不管所有其他的朋友如何風流雲散，我們會發現忠心耿耿高貴的狗狗仍守在主人的墓旁。他悲傷的眼神從深埋於雙爪之間流露出來，但依然睜大雙眼不鬆懈的戒備守護，即使主人已經埋骨黃泉。

守墓6年的忠犬

原文：

Gentlemen of the Jury:

The best friend a man has in the world may turn against him and 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 who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honor when success is with us, may be the first to throw the stone of malice when failure settles its cloud upon our heads.

The one 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 prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground, where the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he may be near his master's side. He will kiss the hand 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, he remains. When riches take wings, and reputation falls to pieces, he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens.

If fortune drives the master forth, an outcast in the world, friendless and homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him, to guard him against danger, to fight against 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 graveside 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

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