It has been ascertained .... that very few men who in boyhood owned or cared for a 

 pet animal, .... are to be found among criminals. Not only does the pet bird or beast 

 entertain, but under prcper direction, it trains one in gentle ways, in a sense of justice, and 

 it goes far to insure an honest life. — Olive Thome Miller (slightly adapted). 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



EDUCATION AND RECREATION 



VOL. Ill 



NOVEMBER 1910 



No. 7 



A Chapter of the Agassiz Association. (Incorporated 1892 and 1910. ) The Law of Love, Not the Love of Law.* 



The Why and the How of Pets 



By EDWARD F. BIGELOW, Arcadia: Sound Beach, Connecticut 



HY keep pets? 



Because the care of 

 them is altruistic — or 

 should be or, perhaps it is 

 better said, MUST be. 

 The moment the care of 

 any form of animal life 

 (and one night almost add of plant life 

 also) becomes egoistic, that is for the 

 money or the food, then that animal 

 is no longer a pet ; it is a business 

 equipment. The tendency of man or 

 woman is toward accumulative selfish- 

 ness. Such a tendency is not desirable 

 but becomes easier, perhaps more 

 dangerous, the greater the lack of 

 training and exercise of altruism in 

 youth. 



So I repeat — the more you can keep 

 the animal in mind, and the more you 



can put your gain far away, the more 

 that animal is a pet. 



The question, "What use is it?" 

 should never be asked in a pet house. 

 But if you must ask it, then the true 

 lover of pets will tell you, "It is useful 

 to be itself; to take you out of your- 

 self." 



"But," you persist, "can you eat 

 them?" 



Yes. Mentally and spiritually; but, 

 physically, never. 



Then you, puzzled but not baffled, 

 insist, "I suppose you study them for 

 their heredity, etc." 



No. For your cupidity and a lot of 

 other things. By them I know whether 

 the world centers in you and the whole 

 solar system revolves on you like a 

 pivot. 



Copyright igio by The Agassiz Association, Arcadia: Sound Beach, Conn. 



