Page 80 - washington state wine

Photo by Sharon Whitley Larsen

bitterly cold, windy nights. After his (he wasn't picky, and ate everything be licensed or risk death. What would
shift he and Bobby would stop for a bite from bread to porridge). Now and then, happen to Bobby? townsfolk wanted to
to eat by the warm fireplace at The Cof- when it was unbearably cold at night, a know.
fee House on Candlemaker Row. (Today sympathetic, nearby resident would let
it's Greyfriars Bobby Bar). him sleep indoors. Then Lord Provost of Edinburgh, Wil-
liam Chambers, a dog lover himself,
When Gray was only 45, he died of tu- Bobby never had another master, just stepped forward to pay for Bobby's

berculosis--just two years after Bob- friends who would pet and feed him. license. He also bought him a collar
by had come into his life. During the All was going fine until the day the City with a brass plate, inscribed, "Greyfri-
funeral procession, Bobby, perplexed, of Edinburgh decreed that all dogs must ars Bobby from the Lord Provost, 1867,
scampered along as Gray's fellow police licensed." Because of his charm and
officers carried his coffin to the church devotion of sleeping on his master's
cemetery. In those days women weren't grave--and heading daily at 1 p.m. for
allowed at the graveside service, and his meal--Bobby was written about in
stayed behind to prepare drinks and the Inverness Courier on May 10, 1864,
food at the family home. Not long after, launching his fame.
Gray's widow and son moved from the
area. But Bobby stayed behind. As noted in Forbes Macgregor's 1990
book “Greyfriars Bobby: The Real Sto-
Over the next 14 years, Bobby became a ry At Last,” on August 2, 1934, Andrew
beloved canine figure around Edinburgh Hislop of Edinburgh wrote a letter to
as word spread of the devoted little dog The Scotsman:
who kept a daily vigil atop his master's
grave. "In 1868 and 1869 I often had the pleasure
of seeing Bobby leaving the churchyard to
Each day, at the sound of the 1 p.m. get his dinner...Towards one o'clock peo-
cannon fire at nearby Edinburgh Castle ple would gather just outside the large
(which to him signaled meal time), Bob- entrance gates... so widespread was the
by would scamper into a favorite diner interest that every class of society was rep-
for a bite to eat from the kind owner resented, from the well-to-do and fashion-

80 Wine Dine & Travel Summer/Fall 2015 Photo by Sharon Whitley Larsen