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Sigurd Our Golden Collie and Other Comrades of the Road
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116 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 12, 2010
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About the author
Katharine Lee Bates
230 books13 followersBest known educator Katharine Lee Bates wrote "America the Beautiful," her poem, in 1895.
People remember Katharine Lee Bates, an author, chiefly for her anthem, many books, and articles on social reform, on which she notably spoke.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathari...
People remember Katharine Lee Bates, an author, chiefly for her anthem, many books, and articles on social reform, on which she notably spoke.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathari...
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 15, 2015
Published in 1919, this book by the woman who wrote America The Beautiful talks about the wonderful collie named Sigurd, who shared a home with Bates and her companion of 25 years, Katharine Coman (known in this book as Joy-Of-Life), while they were both professors at Wellesley College in the early 1900's.
When I first noticed the title at Project Gutenberg, I assumed it was a travelogue of some sort, but the road in the phrase 'companions of the road' is Life itself. I was quite happy to read about the adventures that took place in the house where Sigurd and his ladies lived. I felt much the same way this student felt: Our academic home was simple in its appointments, — so simple that Joy-of-Life and I often merrily quoted to each other the comment of a calling freshman: "When I'm old, I mean to have a dear little house just like this one, all furnished with nothing but books." Imagine, a house full of books and a beautiful collie too?! That would be monstrous pleasant!
The first half of the book is devoted to Sigurd. He was a boisterous, exuberant dog, who quite frankly would have exhausted me, he was so energetic. We meet him in his puppyhood, when he is chosen over nine other youngsters, and we live with him to the end of his days 12 years later. Because times were different then, Sigurd lived a much more canine type of life than dogs do these days. He roamed around the college campus making himself at home everywhere; he fought with other dogs in the area; spent long days and nights in the woods; and survived a bad case of distemper.
Sigurd always seemed to misbehave, and Bates admits that It is obvious that Sigurd was not a model of virtue. We did not want him so much better than ourselves. I thought that was funny, although I did cringe at some of the misadventures the dog got himself into. But he was a beloved pet, the darling not only of his own house but of the entire campus, and the love is obvious in every paragraph here.
Most of the 'other companions' in the second half of the book were birds; Bates did not have an affinity for cats, so they were never a real part of her life. But the final chapter of the book talks about Hamlet, a new collie pup she was coaxed into accepting. He was for some unknown reason afraid of absolutely everything, and the breeder could not understand where such massive fear came from. Bates did not want the dog, but could not allow him to be destroyed, so she welcomed another collie into her life and slowly helped him accept the world around him. As she had to do herself at that point in time.
This is a beautifully written book, the words flow smoothly throughout all the pages; even the frequent literary references are painless (and easily Googled, which helped me understand exactly what Bates was talking about). I did get annoyed at the ignorance shown in the story about Emilius, a wild snapping turtle that a friend found on the road one day and brought to Bates as a new pet. You do NOT bother wild animals, not even wild turtles! They should have insisted on taking the poor thing back to the spot where it was found, because it turned out that it was not lost, it was simply trying to get to a good place to lay its eggs.
The modern animal lover might be surprised at some of Sigurd's adventures and shocked at some of the attitudes of the people in those days, but remember that this book takes place in the early 1900's and life for a pet was much different then.
Twelve years is fairly old for a dog the size of a collie, but I did not cry when Sigurd died that last winter. His passing was noble and peaceful. What brought the tears was the unexpected poem between Sigurd's half of the book and the part which tells of Other Companions. There had been comments here and there about unexplained pains and delicate health, but the main focus was always on Sigurd. Then there appeared this poem:
To Joy-Of-Life
So that was why our collie went away,
Wise Sigurd, knowing you would come
Ere a new springtide by the valley gray,
Planning to guide you home,
To bark Heaven's earliest welcome, to entice
Those dearest feet the dim glen through,
Then proudly up blithe hills of Paradise
To "find the path" for you.
I would like to think that Katharine Bates herself eventually 'found the path' with the help of both of her dear companions, and I am very glad to have been able to share a tiny bit of the road they walked before they left.
When I first noticed the title at Project Gutenberg, I assumed it was a travelogue of some sort, but the road in the phrase 'companions of the road' is Life itself. I was quite happy to read about the adventures that took place in the house where Sigurd and his ladies lived. I felt much the same way this student felt: Our academic home was simple in its appointments, — so simple that Joy-of-Life and I often merrily quoted to each other the comment of a calling freshman: "When I'm old, I mean to have a dear little house just like this one, all furnished with nothing but books." Imagine, a house full of books and a beautiful collie too?! That would be monstrous pleasant!
The first half of the book is devoted to Sigurd. He was a boisterous, exuberant dog, who quite frankly would have exhausted me, he was so energetic. We meet him in his puppyhood, when he is chosen over nine other youngsters, and we live with him to the end of his days 12 years later. Because times were different then, Sigurd lived a much more canine type of life than dogs do these days. He roamed around the college campus making himself at home everywhere; he fought with other dogs in the area; spent long days and nights in the woods; and survived a bad case of distemper.
Sigurd always seemed to misbehave, and Bates admits that It is obvious that Sigurd was not a model of virtue. We did not want him so much better than ourselves. I thought that was funny, although I did cringe at some of the misadventures the dog got himself into. But he was a beloved pet, the darling not only of his own house but of the entire campus, and the love is obvious in every paragraph here.
Most of the 'other companions' in the second half of the book were birds; Bates did not have an affinity for cats, so they were never a real part of her life. But the final chapter of the book talks about Hamlet, a new collie pup she was coaxed into accepting. He was for some unknown reason afraid of absolutely everything, and the breeder could not understand where such massive fear came from. Bates did not want the dog, but could not allow him to be destroyed, so she welcomed another collie into her life and slowly helped him accept the world around him. As she had to do herself at that point in time.
This is a beautifully written book, the words flow smoothly throughout all the pages; even the frequent literary references are painless (and easily Googled, which helped me understand exactly what Bates was talking about). I did get annoyed at the ignorance shown in the story about Emilius, a wild snapping turtle that a friend found on the road one day and brought to Bates as a new pet. You do NOT bother wild animals, not even wild turtles! They should have insisted on taking the poor thing back to the spot where it was found, because it turned out that it was not lost, it was simply trying to get to a good place to lay its eggs.
The modern animal lover might be surprised at some of Sigurd's adventures and shocked at some of the attitudes of the people in those days, but remember that this book takes place in the early 1900's and life for a pet was much different then.
Twelve years is fairly old for a dog the size of a collie, but I did not cry when Sigurd died that last winter. His passing was noble and peaceful. What brought the tears was the unexpected poem between Sigurd's half of the book and the part which tells of Other Companions. There had been comments here and there about unexplained pains and delicate health, but the main focus was always on Sigurd. Then there appeared this poem:
To Joy-Of-Life
So that was why our collie went away,
Wise Sigurd, knowing you would come
Ere a new springtide by the valley gray,
Planning to guide you home,
To bark Heaven's earliest welcome, to entice
Those dearest feet the dim glen through,
Then proudly up blithe hills of Paradise
To "find the path" for you.
I would like to think that Katharine Bates herself eventually 'found the path' with the help of both of her dear companions, and I am very glad to have been able to share a tiny bit of the road they walked before they left.
Displaying 1 of 1 review