From The Times Dispatch, April 13, 1914. By Thomas Lomax Hunter.
No doubt the watch dog pleases to perfection
Those timid souls who need a dog’s protection.
I’d rather sleep ‘mid perils and dismay
Than hear, all night, a watch dog’s honest bay.
I had a watch dog once. When it grew dark
The faithful creature started in to bark,
Deep, steady basso barks that never ceased
Until Aurora reddened in the east.
Ah, many a night and oft I’ve lain awake
And heard that brave dog barking for my sake,
And wished some burglar kind would come and shoot,
Stab, poison, brain, and massacre the brute.
I soon found out that prowling thieves regard
A deep-mouthed canine barking in a yard
As favoring very much their occupation;
It drowns the noise of their operation.
I wished that dog upon a friend of mine
Who yearned to be the ward of some canine.
I think a dog is scarcely worth his keep
When all that he can guard against is sleep.