Esther Birdsall Darling > Quotes

“These here city rooms ain’t big enough fer a decent kennel. I wish you could’a had him; but if you can’t, mebbe somebody else here’d like t’ own a dog that’s showed what a good friend he kin be- feedin’ an’ takin’ care o’ that pore little terrier. Speak up, folks. Here’s your chance fer a chum that’ll stick t’ you through thick an’ thin. Even” – he cleared his throat slightly – “even when your’re dead. Who says he’s theirs?”
― Esther Birdsall Darling, Luck of the Trail

“Blake saw that a collision was inevitable either with the woman and the baby sled or with Nellie. He yelled, “Gee” to Tom, and Tom responded with such energy that the team grazed the mare’s legs, much to her resentment. She reared back, and her loaded sled struck a post on which was a fire-alarm box. The alarm sounded so instantly and efficiently that soon the already congested street was filled with the entire fire-fighting forces of Nome.”
― Esther Birdsall Darling, Luck of the Trail

“Blake, I reckon them Seattle newsboys must-a took him t’ the movies t’ see Rin-tin-tin do his stuff. Why, that actor dog allers clumb ladders, er jumped inter the water, er through winders jest in the nick o’ time t’ save his master; and Luck’s ‘zackly like him.”
― Esther Birdsall Darling, Luck of the Trail

“You know the old saying, ‘Love me, love my dog.’ Well, that goes double in Alaska.”
― Esther Birdsall Darling, Luck of the Trail

“You’re gittin’ a rich claim in this here pup. Guts and brains; an’ I reckon affection the way he took t’ you right off the bat. And believe me,” with the vivid memory of the dog’s bristling hair and bared fangs as he had defended the body of Pluck, “he’s a claim that no one else is goin’ t’ jump neither. He kin,” with an admiring glance at the powerful build of Luck, “lick his weight in wildcats.”
― Esther Birdsall Darling, Luck of the Trail

“Only I eased it down a mite when I told her how I feel about women handling dogs. It just ain’t in their natures to do it proper. They spoil ‘em something awful; even her, and she’s about the best she-driver in Nome. But women can’t ever seem to learn that the dogs in this country are workers and not pets.”
― Esther Birdsall Darling, Luck of the Trail

“Only the fellows who can drive dogs and handle them well can become members. A high-school boy isn’t rated very much if he doesn’t get in. (the Bow-Wow Wonder Workers club)”
― Esther Birdsall Darling, Luck of the Trail

“Dogs is dogs’ and it wouldn’t make any difference to ‘em what they were doing if it was for somebody they love. And I’ll bet the biggest sled dog in Alaska’s go the same feelings as little Blarney.” As usual, Dolan was ready with a comforting case in point. “Why, only the other day I was reading an old magazine I found in the basement, about a guy name Leonard Seppala and the dogs that helped him carry the diphtheria cure to Nome. They did double shift, made the longest and hardest run on the whole trail; feet raw and bleeding and frostbites on their sides, but willing to keep on till they dropped, because they loved their driver.”
― Esther Birdsall Darling, Luck of the Trail