Warrensburg Missouri

11/11/01 3:08:33 PM Pacific Standard Time

Howdy Everyone!
Yesterday was a "tourist" day. Susan took me back to Lone Jack where we went to the Lone Jack Civil War Battlefield Museum & Cemetery. This was where the first act of war against the United States in Missouri occured on Apr 20, 1861.
After that we went to Greeson's Greenhouse. The other day when I was walking through the country, I saw a huge farm that had around 50 greenhouses on it. So I asked Susan about that and she took me to the store they have on the Hwy. I was looking forward to see all the poinsettias there, but there were none at the store. So I mentioned that I had walked past all their greenhouses the other day. After visiting for awhile, they said they'd take me there and show me their poinsettias if I wanted to see their set-up. So they took Susan & I out to the farm and showed us 43 greenhouses and 30,000 poinsettias! It was a spectacular sight to see. Big ones, small ones, different types & different colors. The poinsettias were beautiful.
Then Susan & I went to Powell Gardens, a beautiful botanical garden. The weather that day was beautiful -- a perfect day to be outside. We also saw the Chapel there, too. A beautiful church with many windows, the 47 ft high & 102 ft long chapel overlooks a breathtaking view of a lake.
That evening we joined her neighbors for grilled hamburgers.
Tomorrow (mon) I'll be walking to Knob Noster, Missouri. Y'all take care and have a great day! KB

Eulogy of Old Drum

11/11/01 5:56:41 PM Pacific Standard Time

Here is the eulogy that lawyer George Graham Vest used in the trial of the "murder" of Old Drum, a dog in Warrensburg MO, in 1869. He won the trial. This is where the saying a dog is "mans best friend" came from.

A Tribute To The Dog

"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 the 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 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 the sores that come in encounters with the roughness of the word. 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 fall 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."

George Graham Vest's Eulogy of Old Drum