An old man lived with his dog, Mace, in a run-down shack on the outskirts of 
town. The man had no family and only a few meager possessions including a few 
tools. With the tools, he did odd jobs in town and lived from one day to the 
next on the little pay from these jobs. Mace was a normal bloodhound, with one 
exception: most dogs chew on grass occasionally, but Mace loved it. When the 
old man was in town, Mace spent the day in the front yard chewing away on the 
lawn.

One bright, sunny day the old man headed into town to work on a plumbing repair 
job that would pay enough to buy food for the remainder of the week. Inside the 
house, the old man reached into the bag for his pipe wrench, and, to his 
surprise, didn't feel it. He looked in the bag, then dumped its contents on the 
floor, but the wrench wasn't there. He explained the situation to the 
homeowner. She said she would have to hire someone else, so the old man packed 
his tools and left.

When he reached home, Mace was munching away on the lawn. Kneeling beside Mace, 
the man began to pet him then caught a glimpse of something shining in the 
grass. It was the wrench! He had dropped it on the way out that morning, and it 
would have been lost forever if Mace hadn't eaten the grass. The old man 
grabbed the dog, gave him a hug, and ran into the house. Reaching for a pencil 
and the only piece of paper he had, he wrote a moving tribute to his canine 
companion with this opening line: "A grazing Mace, how sweet the hound that 
saved a wrench for me."