p. 8 | WAR DOGS by T.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · May 19, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 20.

WAR DOGS.

By T.

AMONG the four million men in Europe that General Miles tells us are devoting their lives to the one work of preparing fighting implements for the armies and navies of the Old World, there are some who are making special studies of the services that dogs may render to the army. Germany shows the greatest advancement in this field of dog-soldiery.

The dog is used on outpost duty, where he is trained to warn the sentinel on guard, but is not allowed to bark or make other sound that would attract the enemy. He is also used in bringing up ammunition, as well as in carrying despatches and letters of all kinds. Then, too, the dog is not left out of the “merciful side of war,” for he is also used in finding the wounded and bringing them relief.

For outpost duty the dog is said to be especially valuable, for he can detect the approaching enemy long before a man would. And for carrying despatches he is quite as fleet as the horse and does not furnish anything like so large a target.

The genius of man is certainly very fruitful in devising appliances and facilities for war. All the old methods are diligently studied and improved upon, and new ways for the destruction of life and property in battle are continually being invented. Even the domestic dog must be educated for military service.

And yet in the blazing presence of everything that is going on, men will indifferently tell us that all this military preparation means only peace. All such will do well to remember the revelries at Waterloo on the eve of the great Napoleon’s downfall, and the abandoned and debauching feast of Belshazzar on that fatal night when he was compelled to hand over his kingdom to Darius the Mede.

The German dog-soldier bringing up messages and ammunition.

Men are to be pitied when an enemy stealthily comes upon them under cover and deceives them into ruin. But when the foe is seen marching up with noisy parade and one voluntarily closes all the senses as a means of hiding his approach, the feelings of pity are turned into indescribable astonishment at such unnatural acts. The Bible plainly designates the “last days” as a time when the “nations are angry,”—the war spirit will be running high. And if any one of our senses is awake we can see, or hear, or feel the presence of such a military spirit as the world has never before known. We should not allow ourselves to be deceived as to the portent of these things. T.