The Brothers

On Shep’s fourth summer with the Albert family, Emmett Albert planted a small field of Sudan grass on the only tillable plot of ground on the farm. Emmett planned to harvest the crop for winter fodder to feed the milk cow. Emmett contracted a neighbor friend to cut the six-foot tall grass with a binder. A binder was a farm implement that cut the grass at ground level and as it was cut, tied the grass with twine into bundles. This allowed one person to drive the tractor that pulled the binder and complete the whole operation all at once. The bundles were then stacked by hand into shocks. To form a shock several bundles were stood on end against each other and then a dozen or so additional bundles were stacked against them in a circle form. This allowed the grass to cure (dry) and also protected most of the grass against rain and snow. It also held the shock until ready to be fed to the milk cow. Since the grass was tall and dense, it took a sharp sickle blade on the binder to cut through the grass while the binder was being pulled along by the tractor. As the grass had been growing for several months, it harbored many different forms of wildlife, including cotton tail rabbits. As always, whenever there was activity around the family home, Shep was nearby. Investigating the cut portion of the field, Shep was following the tractor and binder. Suddenly a rabbit ran out of the grass in front of the tractor. Having learned during many winter rabbit hunts that this was a creature to be caught, Shep gave chase. As misfortune would have it, the rabbit seeing the dog, immediately spun around and turned back to the direction from which he had come. Shep dashed after the rabbit that was running right in front of the tractor. The neighbor operating the tractor realized what was about to happen, but time was not on his side. By the time he had the tractor stopped and the power gear to the binder shut off, the tragedy had already occurred. Shep had run directly into the path of the sharp sickle on the binder. It caught the dog on both front legs. With a great howl of pain Shep managed to walk to the nearest outbuilding by the family house and lay down to begin licking the terrible wounds. Hearing the neighbor shouting and the howl of the dog, Dad working nearby, went to investigate. Both men arrived where the dog lay at about the same time. In examining the dog, they found that both front legs had been almost completely cut off. The sickle bar of the binder had caught both legs about half way between the knee and the paw. Most of the muscle tissue, and deep scars on the bone was evident. With very little discussion the men acknowledged that the only humane thing to do was to put the dog out of his suffering. Shooting the dog seemed to be the only answer to the situation. But Dad, a hardened, working man, who himself had suffered much during his life, could not bring himself to shoot the dog. He immediately went to another neighbor's house to ask him to come and do what needed to be done. The neighbor, Jay Syphoe, was a 77 year old bachelor who lived in a small three room house on the corner south of the family. Jay had been born and raised in the hill country of Arkansas. He was as strong as an ox, could still work a full day in the hay fields, and was well aware of the resiliency of animals. Having observed the comings and goings of the Albert boys and their dog, Jay was well aware of the devotion that each had for the other.