DOMESTICATED NATURE. 



DO 



PETS AM) CIVILIZATION. 



BY C. II. Kl.I.Akn. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, 



N. Y. 



The civilization of a people is meas- 

 ured in accordance with the beholder's 

 point of vieWj and therefore by many 

 standards. Few, however, give the do- 

 mestic pet any credit for its part in 

 moulding- character, widening the hori- 

 zon of thought, and bringing people into 

 communion with the mysteries of nature, 

 and with the omnipotence and omni- 

 presence of our Creator. The men and 

 women who deprive themselves or their 

 children of the pleasure, the thoughts 

 suggested and the diversion obtained 

 from a hobby, are narrow and lack that 

 "one touch of nature which makes the 

 world akin." The civilization of the 

 people or of the individual can to a de- 

 gree at least be measured by the hobbies 

 that they accept or reject. 



The most popular amusement with 

 our English cousins is keeping small 

 members of our furred and feathered 

 friends. The study of types and the de- 

 velopment of new forms more beautiful 

 or more striking in some feature that is 

 odd or useful, has given the world horses, 

 cattle, swine, sheep, poultry, pigeons, 

 dogs, rabbits, cats, cavies, and even mice, 

 all of which are adapted to propagate 

 and promulgate some useful or beauti- 

 ful characteristic. 



That the American youth may enjoy 

 his English cousin's advantages .in the 

 study of animals useful and ornamental, 

 that he may have the opportunities and 

 gain the training afforded by the care of 

 pets, that .American men and women, 

 whose tastes are not all centered in the 

 "frivolities," may be able to enjoy a 

 clean, healthy hobby, although thev can- 

 not afford a racing stable, an expensive 

 kennel, a cattle ranch or a sheep farm- 

 to achieve these praiseworthy results, an 

 effort has been made to bring to their 

 notice small, furred fancy-stock as pets, 

 and each vear the success of the move- 

 ment seems to be* greater. The project 

 centered about a few fanciers who or- 

 ganized an American Fur Fanciers' As- 

 sociation for the mutual benefit of those 

 interested in such stock, to encourage the 

 exhibiting of types, and to increase the 

 size, number and quality of such exhibi- 

 tions. 



Keeping pets of a doubtful sort has 

 some advantages, but keeping some stand- 

 ard, well-tried varieties has a thousand 

 times greater influence for good, while 

 its care and management result in a 

 training that adult or youth can ill afford 

 to miss. There are ten standard varie- 

 ties of rabbits, each with its own fixed 

 scale in points of excellence, each differ- 

 ing in type and characteristics from all 

 others, but all produced by the art of 

 selection on the part of thoughtful fan- 

 ciers, who have consistently followed 

 definite ideals of beauty in form and col- 

 or. It makes a difference whether you 

 prefer the spotted English, the neat trim 

 Dutch belted, the racy Belgian hare with 

 his rufous coat, the huge and popular 

 Flemish Giant dressed in his steel grey, 



CAVY A FEW DAYS OLD NOT AS LARGE 



AS A SMALL APPLE. 

 Perfectly content (unlike an adult cavy posing) 

 in the warm sunshine. 



the fluffy aristocratic Angora, in his even 

 admixture of white with its silver sheen, 

 or the black and tan with its odd and 

 pretty coloring, you will get both pleas- 

 ure and profit from the breeding of any 

 or all. You will have pleasure in the 

 satisfaction of producing an approach to 

 an ideal, in the diversion from care that 

 the hobby will afford, and in the insight 

 into some of the mysterious ways of na- 

 ture; your profit will be in the annihila- 

 tion of business worries and painful 

 thoughts ; the mind will he rested, the 

 nervous system quieted, and if care be 

 taken, your stock, will produce enough 

 to be sold to advantage, and at the same 

 time, will give you specimens worthy to 

 compete with those of your fellow fan- 

 ciers at some exhibition where your art 



