THE GHOST DANCE
As the last century drew to a close, the way of life of the American Indian was coming to an end, the last ugly chapter of a tragedy playing out on the reservations where the Indians were being stripped of their culture and learning the ways of the white man. This was for their own good of course, for we were a Christian nation.
The Cherokees had walked the trail of tears, the civil war generals had won glory on western battle fields by defeating the remnants of a stone age culture with steel and gun powder and the bitter end was at hand.
In the far west a new phenomena arose, a new set of leaders emerged to save the Indian way of life. They were to lead the people in the Ghost Dance, the noble ceremony where the Great Spirit, seeing the purity in their hearts and the justice of their cause, was going to drive the white man from their lands and restore their way of life. They had to believe, for reality was beyond what could be endured.
So it is with the Bouvier. Those who have faced reality, gone to see for themselves, know the future. But others, whose reality is in dreamland, hold out the promise and gain popularity because they offer an alternative to the unendurable.
In twenty years there will still be those telling tales of past dogs who could have won glory if only the right sport had been available and current dogs sure to win glory as soon as the right decoy comes to town.
And if there is a French Ring club in every city then the little old lady will have discovered that it is the Indonesian Box sport which is truly right for the Bouvier and will still be holding out for the real thing.
And those who treck the back woods of Canada will no doubt come upon the ancient one living in a hut on the edge of an Eskimo village, telling the children tales of the ranks of KNPV Bouviers on the green fields of Holland; but the children will not see the Bouvier he is going to take to the homelands next year for glory on the KNPV field, for she too will live only in dreamland.
And in the hut the last Mac will still be putting out the Journal, reporting on the ever growing stream of Bouviers passing the temperament test, proving that in their hearts they really are the bold defenders of the Flemish plain.
And we shall see that the great German Shepherd trainer still comes in the dreams of the California girls and lays hands on their show poochies, conducting them through their temperament tests and validating their character; for their heritage indeed is that of the great defenders of the Flemish plain, and barking in the temperament test shall have shown them to be sufficient in courage and hardness. And the ads with the Bouvier playing tug with the sleeve under the slogan "Show dogs can do it too!" shall live on to mock the heritage.
And the great spirit will have punished the unfaithful - especially the Evil One - by denying them the vision of dreamland; and all they shall see is a few pathetic old fools, blindly clinging to the belief that the Bouvier really still is a working dog, that the Great Spirit is going to return and restore the glory born on Flanders fields.