lOO Musings by Camp- Fire and Wayside 



flowers, trees, minnows, horses, honest-faced cattle, 

 all of them sympathetic and talkative; and this is 

 no poetic or figurative sense, but really and truly. 



Sometimes the pleasure of an opportunity to 

 requite their hospitality offers. One Sunday I 

 found a sick horse lying upon the cold, wet ground. 

 When he saw me he called for help at once, lifted 

 his head, touched his side with his nose, and 

 groaned. I told him I was very sorry for him, and 

 that he must not lie there, but get up and go home, 

 and that he should have a warm bed and some medi- 

 cine. He was too weak and benumbed to rise 

 alone, but he and I combined our forces, and he 

 was soon on his feet, and he led the way with feeble 

 steps. I did not know where his home was, but he 

 showed me. I do not say that the man who owned 

 him had no soul. I only say that the fact of the 

 existence of his soul had to be reached by an 

 abstract mental process, as we determine the exist- 

 ence of the ultimate atom. 



In my musings I everywhere assume the intel- 

 lectual and moral capacities of animals below men 

 in the ascending scale, because there is no other 

 way of accounting for the mental and moral phe- 

 nomena which they exhibit. I purpose here to 

 exhibit a few philosophical considerations and facts 

 in justification of the view. 



The first consideration which I will offer is this, 

 that the Creator adheres to simple, but great prac- 

 tical ideas, each one of which is extended to every 



