PADUTCH-LIFE-L Archives

From: "Vee L. Housman" <>
Subject: 52-Country Dog and City Dog
Date: Wed, 16 Sep 1998 12:04:13 -0400

THE COUNTRY DOG AND THE CITY DOG

Once upon a time two dogs met each other in town. One dog
wore a brass collar, was well groomed, and was as well mannered
as a gentleman. Even though a city dog, he wasn't any better
employed than other dogs who were raised in the country. The
other was a shepherd dog from the country. He had a gentle face,
was well built, and was a big help on the farm for sicking and
tending livestock. When they first met they nuzzled each other and
jumped about playfully. Finally, they trotted off to a sod bank and
sat down.

The city dog studied the country dog for awhile, then he said,
"My dear friend, I've often wondered how you survive in the
country. In the city we rise when we want, have hired help to do
the work, eat all the good things that country people grow and
bring to the market, and if our income is too small with only a few
pennies for sugar, coffee, or butter, we can have the products that
you country people provide for us. We can travel through the
countryside to see how hard you poor animals have to work. Your
country life is filled with work, work--work for men, and nothing
but cooking, roasting, and baking for the women. How can you
stand it?”

"Good enough," said the shepherd. "Our lives on the farm are
not as hard as you think. It's true, we're always busy. Sunday is the
longest day in the week for a busy man. The hardest work in the
world is to try to do nothing. City people don't know what it
means to have a good appetite and to feel tired. They'll spend a
whole day lying in their hammocks and sitting in their cushioned
chairs trying to while away the time, and at nights they roll in their
beds like sick horses while trying to sleep. They don't know what's
wrong with them. Their appetites are gone and their rest turned to
unrest.

“If they don't die from bad kidneys, they die from brain fever,
and their women dry up just like flowers growing in shade.
Children born of city parents are too often malformed, soft and
weak. The smallest nick could kill them. Country children are as
tough as the knots in wood. Mumps and sickness seldom bother
them. Such children are a blessing and our wives are a joy. They
bake the best bread--not swollen with air bubbles like a pig's
kidney. Our butter is fresh and sweet and not so stiff as a fence
post. Our eggs are fresh and still have firm yolks, and our ham is
from healthy pigs that we butchered ourselves--not like western
pigs, dead from cholera. Our water is fresh and sweet--not polluted
and from the river. Our feather beds may not be as deep as those of
the city folks, but even a hard board feels soft when you're tired.
Because of this, my dear friend, I'd not change places with you."

The dogs stood up, shook themselves and separated. But
just before departing, the city dog asked the country dog if he knew
of a farmer in his neighborhood who'd like to have a good dog for
tending cattle.

Moral: Too much rest breeds unrest.

* * *

Note: This collection of Boonastiel stories was written by H. A.
Harter in the original Penna-Dutch dialect and were published in the
Keystone Gazette, Bellefonte, PA, between 1894 and 1904. They
were translated and transcribed by Bob James of Alaska and they
are being posted to this PADUTCH-LIFE mailing list with his
permission.

This thread:

• 52-Country Dog and City Dog by "Vee L. Housman" <>