It is a long reach from the battlefields of France to the fashionable
dog show at a notable hotel in southern California, but one of the
veterans of the World War made it. With sad and solemn eyes, he viewed
the scene around him, reminding one of those old men who turn up from
retirement to march or to be driven in the parades at the reunions of
the Grand Army of the Republic, aged and worn, so far as looks go, but
with dear old souls washed white with deeds of bravery.
Thus it was with our war hero, who, surrounded by yelping, barking
blue-bloods, was “sitting in” at the dog exhibit, not “listening in,”
for he was almost deaf from his injuries received on the battlefield.
Marne was an ambulance dog who served with gallantry throughout the
recent war. He came through, and was accepted and decorated by the
French government for bravery, but for his glory he paid a dear price.
He had been gassed. This, as many who served in the war can testify,
takes something out of the very soul of a man. It had the same effect
on Marne, who at ten years of age was an old dog.
He was lying silent and dignified among the other entries, but with an
accumulation of wisdom impossible to any of the pedigreed dogs about
him.
When he was only three months old, this heroic dog was given to the
French government. After six months’ training, he was sent to the
battlefields to find the dead and wounded. From these trips into “No
Man’s Land,” he would come back with either a button or a stone on
his stretcher. A button meant a wounded man, and a stone bore mute
testimony of one having “gone west.”
Both the British and the French are under obligations to faithful dogs
for service on the fields of battle. If these dear, brave dogs could
talk, what stories they would tell!
Thanks to the gentle heart of a dear lady who appreciates real worth
and brave deeds above mere good breeding in a dog, Marne has been
given a pleasant home, and his wounds that have never healed are given
proper care. Though there is a far-away look in his eyes, and he has
the appearance of one who has known sorrow which he cannot forget, this
dear old comrade seems contented.