"Minnie and Ben" by Kathleen Mudge, Bernard Museum
In Prairieville Cemetery, in the very back row on the east
end of the road there is a replica of a dog named Ben,
lying on a cement slab near the roots of a large tree, and
guarding the grave of his mistress a girl named Minnie
Doster.
Ben was a good dog. He guarded the house, went after the
cows and kept the chickens and Minnie's pet lambs out of
the garden.
He guarded the house when Minnie was there but if she left
he went with her. Minnie Doster was the youngest child in
a family of twelve children, ten of which lived to
adulthood. Ben had been given to Minnie when he was a puppy.
Minnie came down with typhoid fever in the summer of 1892
and died In September of that year (age 16). She was buried
in the Praireville Cemetery in the Doster family plot along
with her little brother Carl. Ben followed the funeral
cortege to the cemetery and when the funeral was over,
Chrisopher Doster called to the dog to come. He listened for
a moment and then laid down on Minnie's grave.
The family took him home and tried to keep him there. But
he wouldn't stay. He traveled the six miles to the cemetery
and back to Minnie's grave side. The family tied him up.
He chewed the rope apart and went back to the cemetery. He
continued to stay in the cemetery. People tried to feed him
and brought him water. He drank some of the water but he
would not touch the food.
One morning the family found Ben dead as close to Minnie as
he could get. The family couldn't separate them again and
buried Ben at the foot of Minnie's grave. Mr. Doster had a
firm in Cleveland make a replica of Ben and placed it on a
cement slab at the foot of Minnie's grave where it has been
for one hundred and six years (now 108 years), his eyes alert
and seeming to follow the actions of anyone who visits the
Doster family plot. The inscription on the slab under Ben
reads: "My dog Ben".
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