"Old man Snyder found a snake
Frozen stiffer than a stake
And he tucked it in his vest.
When the saurian became thawed
Mr. Snyder became chawed!
And in one unbroken stream
He proceeded to blaspheme
And eradicate the plug
From a little old brown jug!
Year by year, both day and night,
Snyder tried to cure that bite,
But he didn't have the heft!
So one day he while tug-
Ging at the plug
Caught the jim-jams and got left!
Moral.
Frozen saurians are safer!
And it's bitterer than borax
To be gnawed about the thorax
One's humanity to pay for!"
[CHAPTER X
THE ALL-ALASKA SWEEPSTAKES]
NO story of Alaska would be complete unless it included reference to that most vital element of all the Northland, the Alaskan dog. I once heard a story of an old Southern planter who said:
"Whenevah Ah meet up with a man who says he don' like a niggah, Ah always set it down that he nevah owned one!"
I can truthfully say the same about a dog. Ever since the days when Ulysses roamed the seas man has loved his dog. Dearest (and most valuable) to the heart of an Alaskan is his "Malamut" or "Husky," as the Alaskan dog is usually designated. So intelligent that he is almost human, strong as a young ox, oblivious (apparently) to the cold,—he is a part of the land itself! His importance to the life of the North can not be over-estimated. He carries the mail into far regions which but for him would be closed to the outside world for many months of the year.
"An I should live a thousand years," as Shakespeare puts it, I could never forget a leader I once had. I called him "Paddie." During one long, cold winter we went to Andreafsky, distant a hundred and twenty miles from St. Michael, to take the mail. I can see him yet, at the head of the thirty-three dog team, pulling us swiftly over the hard, white snow. At night when I would wrap myself in my sleeping-bag and lie down to sleep, Paddie never failed to come and lie beside me, snuggling as closely as possible to keep me warm. I could not forget, if I tried, his faithfulness and affection, and I do not wish to. I think of him many times, often have dreamed of him and sometimes have talked to him in my sleep.