OUR PETS. Kil 



they are, an aquarium is a source of considerable interest 

 and anmsement. 



I have avoided all mention of dogs as pets in this some- 

 what ramblino' record ; the truth is, that these animals are 

 felt to be rather companions than mere pets, at least they 

 may be made so, and I appeal to any one who is a genuine 

 k)ver of dogs whether I am not right in saying that there is 

 as much difference between a dog who has been made a com- 

 panion of, and one who has not. as between a child whose 

 heart and mind have been cultivated and one of the sad 

 stray waifs who have never had a kind word spoken to 

 them. Start not, reader, nor think that for one moment I 

 would place a dog, or any animal, in comparison with a 

 human being ; but neither am I at all disposed to give in 

 to the somewhat unjust outcry, that a love for pet-animals 

 hardens the heart against our fellow -creatures. On the 

 contrary, it is generally found that those who have this 

 love of, and kindness towards animalSj are also those to 

 whom we may look with confidence for all tenderness and 

 love to the weak, the sick, the sorrowful, and the young 

 among their fellow-creatures. It w\as the advice of one of 

 the most kindly Christian men that ever worked among 

 our " lapsed masses," the Rev. Daniel Wilkie, to train all 

 'boys to love pets, it was such a great preventive against 

 the thoughtless cruelty and tyranny so apt to be exercised 

 by them towards all defenceless beings ; and if to this it 

 be replied, that there are few things more to be pitied 

 than a child's pet animal, I still say, and Avill uphold, that 

 it is the loving them, the petting them, in short, that is 



