THE OLD HOUND.
An Old Hound, who had excelled in his time, and given his Master great satisfaction in many a chace, at last, through age, became feeble and unserviceable. However, being in the field one day, when the Stag was almost run down, he happened to be the first that came in with him, and seized him by the haunch; but his decayed and broken teeth not being able to keep their hold, the Deer escaped; upon which, his Master fell into a great passion, and began to whip him severely. The honest old creature is said to have barked out this apology: Ah! do not thus strike your poor old servant: it is not my heart and inclination, but my strength and speed, that fail me. If what I now am displease you, pray do not forget what I have been!
APPLICATION.
With cruel hands their age infirm oppress;
Forget their service past, their former truth,
And all the cares and labours of their youth.
This Fable is intended to reprove the ingratitude too common among mankind, which leaves the faithful servant to want and wretchedness, after he has spent the prime of his life in our service for a bare subsistence. Where slavery is allowed, the laws compel the master to provide for the worn-out slave; and where there is no law to enforce the debt of gratitude, none but those who are insensible to all the finer feelings of humanity will neglect it. Those who forget past services, and treat their faithful servants or friends unkindly or injuriously, when they are no longer of use to them, however high their pride, are unworthy of the name of gentleman. They are, indeed, commonly of an upstart breed, with whom the failure of human nature itself is imputed as a crime; and servants and dependents, instead of being considered their fellow-men, are treated like brutes for not being more than men. The imprudence of this conduct is equal to its wickedness, inasmuch as it directly tends to extinguish the honest desire to please and to act faithfully, in the younger servants, when they see that worn-out merit thus goes unrewarded. Humanity and gratitude are the greatest ornaments of the human mind, and when they are extinguished, every generous and noble sentiment perishes along with them.