Found this in my travels.
In 1870, nine years before he became a U.S. Senator, attorney George
Vest (D-MO) defended a farmer whose hunting dog, "Old Drum," had
allegedly been killed by a neighbor. Vest didn�t call anyone to the
witness chair or trot out exhibit A, B, C or D. Instead, he simply
said this...
Gentlemen of the jury:
The best friend a man has in this 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 clouds upon our heads. The one absolutely
unselfish friend that a man can have in this selfish world, the one
that never deserts him and the one that never proves ungrateful or
treacherous is his dog.
Gentlemen of the jury, 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 against danger, to fight against his
enemies, and when the last scene of all comes and death takes the
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 his graveside
will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws, his eyes sad
but open in alert watchfulness, faithful and true even to death."