274 



THE GUIDE TO N VTURE 



Pardon this little soliloquy. I am 

 aware this is "a practical age." I do 

 not dispute that. Alas! most of us 

 who live and work for an ideal know 

 it too well. But the point 1 contend 

 for is that pets cannot be money-mak- 

 ing. The very terms arc antithetical. 

 Keep pets as a counter irritant to your 

 money-making, but not as a supple- 

 ment. The results, the why of pets, 

 arc therefore, nol for business, but the 

 care should he in a business-like man- 

 ner. There is a right way and a wrong 

 way. 



theory, or in that of any one else, 

 regarding it. 



\\ lien you thus keep a pet, yon will 

 become an evolutionist; that is. you 

 will realize that the pet is only a 

 "brother" in animal life. Like you, 

 it seeks happiness which is only an- 

 other name for "adaptation to environ- 

 ment." The temperature must be 

 adapted to its needs; its fond must he- 

 palatable and sufficient — avoiding over- 

 feeding; and the cage or room must 

 be adapted to activity and rest. 



Keep the cages clean, and feed regu- 



A LONG-HAIRED CAYY WITH FOREPART OF ITS BODY ON AN APPLE. 



"How" should one keep them? In 

 exactly the same way as the why as 

 already explained. "The more you can 

 keep the animal in mind" explains the 

 whole of the how. The care, like the 

 reasons for keeping should be altru- 

 istic. First of all, keep only a pet that 

 you Ioyc Then study the needs of 

 that pet, mixing in a liberal supply of 

 diligent care and common sense. Con- 

 fer with others, read, inquire; then 

 ask the pet, and discard what all oth- 

 ers have told you. If the pet does not 

 want the method, then do not force it. 

 Your hobby is in the pet, not in your 



larly but not too frequently. Most 

 pets like a variety of diet. 



Have a place for the pet and every- 

 thing that pertains to it, but do not 

 make its care fussy, over particular, 

 nor in burdensome routine. Be ready 

 to experiment and to change your mind 

 if experience necessitates it. When 

 you have nothing more to learn or 

 love of the pet, do not continue to keep 

 it. Give it away to some one who has 

 all the enthusiasm of inexperience. 

 When the work becomes perfunctory, 

 and you feel that you know it all, quit. 

 In keeping pets, as with life, when 



