Mr. Barbo: Mount Equinox's Beloved Dog

Thousands visit Mr. Barbo's gravesite every year atop Mount Equinox in beautiful Vermont.

Joseph George Davidson was a chemist and inventor who was partly responsible in the development of mustard gas during WWI and the atomic bomb during WWII - two destructive acts in human history that bore heavily on his conscience. In the 1940s, he began buying tracts of land on Mount Equinox, one of Vermont's tallest mountains. In the 1950s, Davidson, his wife and his beloved dog Mr. Barbo, a Norwegian Elkhound and Siberian Husky mix, moved to the land in their mountain top home. By the time he retired in the 1960s, he owned almost 11 square miles of land.

In November 1955, during the deer hunting season, 12 yo Mr. Barbo was shot and killed by a hunter. Davidson was heartbroken and livid. He banned hunting on his property and hired a sheriff's deputy to enforce it. He also offered a reward for the assailant's identity, who had never been found.

A granite monument stands at Mr. Barbo's gravesite on the mountain with the inscription: "We loved him and he repaid that love with an adoring devotion that only a dog could give. Shot and killed by a malicious hunter Nov. 24, 1955."

Davidson passed away in 1969, and his land was donated to an order of Carthusian monks - the Charterhouse of the Transfiguration is the only Carthusian monastery in the U.S. "No Hunting" signs remain to this day and the monks still keep up Mr. Barbo's grave.

Flush: Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Dog

Elizabeth Barrett Browning, an English poet of the Victorian era, loved dogs and was inspired to write a 20-stanza poem about her beloved cocker spaniel Flush.

Elizabeth had received Flush from a good friend and fellow writer, Miss Mary Russell Mitford. The two bonded quickly, and it didn't take long for her to spoil the adorable cocker spaniel. She would hand feed him cakes, custards and scraps of beef, and because her doctor did not approve of the dog sleeping on the sofa with her, she would bathe him daily so he could.

Flush was stolen from Elizabeth three times. The first theft was in 1843. Because her father refused to pay the full ransom, Elizabeth defied his wishes and secretly arranged for full payment. The third time was less than two weeks before she married Robert Browning, also an English poet. The ransom was paid and Flush was returned five days before the wedding in 1846.

Flush was not happy when Robert first came into Elizabeth's life. He did not like having to share his mistress with him, and despite Robert trying to win his affection with treats, the jealous dog bit him a couple of times. It wasn't until after the wedding that Flush eventually became friends with Robert and the two would go on long walks together.

To Flush, My Dog

Loving friend, the gift of one,

Who, her own true faith, hath run,

Through thy lower nature;

Be my benediction said

With my hand upon thy head,

Gentle fellow-creature!

Like a lady's ringlets brown,

Flow thy silken ears adown

Either side demurely,

Of thy silver-suited breast

Shining out from all the rest

Of thy body purely.

Darkly brown thy body is,

Till the sunshine, striking this,

Alchemize its dulness, -

When the sleek curls manifold

Flash all over into gold,

With a burnished fulness.

Underneath my stroking hand,

Startled eyes of hazel bland

Kindling, growing larger, -

Up thou leapest with a spring,

Full of prank and curvetting,

Leaping like a charger.

Leap! thy broad tail waves a light;

Leap! thy slender feet are bright,

Canopied in fringes.

Leap - those tasselled ears of thine

Flicker strangely, fair and fine,

Down their golden inches.

Yet, my pretty sportive friend,

Little is 't to such an end

That I praise thy rareness!

Other dogs may be thy peers

Haply in these drooping ears,

And this glossy fairness.

But of thee it shall be said,

This dog watched beside a bed

Day and night unweary, -

Watched within a curtained room,

Where no sunbeam brake the gloom

Round the sick and dreary.

Roses, gathered for a vase,

In that chamber died apace,

Beam and breeze resigning -

This dog only, waited on,

Knowing that when light is gone,

Love remains for shining.

Other dogs in thymy dew

Tracked the hares and followed through

Sunny moor or meadow -

This dog only, crept and crept

Next a languid cheek that slept,

Sharing in the shadow.

Other dogs of loyal cheer

Bounded at the whistle clear,

Up the woodside hieing -

This dog only, watched in reach

Of a faintly uttered speech,

Or a louder sighing.

And if one or two quick tears

Dropped upon his glossy ears,

Or a sigh came double, -

Up he sprang in eager haste,

Fawning, fondling, breathing fast,

In a tender trouble.

And this dog was satisfied,

If a pale thin hand would glide,

Down his dewlaps sloping, -

Which he pushed his nose within,

After, - platforming his chin

On the palm left open.

This dog, if a friendly voice

Call him now to blyther choice

Than such chamber-keeping,

'Come out!' praying from the door, -

Presseth backward as before,

Up against me leaping.

Therefore to this dog will I,

Tenderly not scornfully,

Render praise and favour!

With my hand upon his head,

Is my benediction said

Therefore, and for ever.

And because he loves me so,

Better than his kind will do

Often, man or woman,

Give I back more love again

Than dogs often take of men, -

Leaning from my Human.

Blessings on thee, dog of mine,

Pretty collars make thee fine,

Sugared milk make fat thee!

Pleasures wag on in thy tail -

Hands of gentle motion fail

Nevermore, to pat thee!

Downy pillow take thy head,

Silken coverlid bestead,

Sunshine help thy sleeping!

No fly's buzzing wake thee up -

No man break thy purple cup,

Set for drinking deep in.

Whiskered cats arointed flee -

Sturdy stoppers keep from thee

Cologne distillations;

Nuts lie in thy path for stones,

And thy feast-day macaroons

Turn to daily rations!

Mock I thee, in wishing weal? -

Tears are in my eyes to feel

Thou art made so straightly,

Blessing needs must straighten too, -

Little canst thou joy or do,

Thou who lovest greatly.

Yet be blessed to the height

Of all good and all delight

Pervious to thy nature, -

Only loved beyond that line,

With a love that answers thine,

Loving fellow-creature!

Dog Poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning Poster
by inspiring_gifts

Virginia Woolf wrote a biography of Flush which was a best-seller when it was published in 1933, and a canine actor played the role of Flush in the 1934 movie "The Barretts of Wimpole Street".