216 DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 



the immense pleasure which life gives to most wild animals. 

 That instinctive, and in its foundations utterly irrational and 

 animal joy which men have, or should have, in their day, 

 is part of the birthright of all sentient beings. As yet we 

 have not recognized that this privilege of enjoyment should 

 be confessed. We do not hesitate to slay or maim for mere 

 sport. It is true that some of the ancient forms of this 

 sport, such as bull-baiting and cock-fighting, have been con- 

 demned, but the best of men go afield with the gun to slay 

 for pleasure. In a measure they keep up the pretence that 

 they are in some way contributing to the needs of the 

 larder, but so far as needs are concerned the pretence is 

 mostly idle. It seems to me clear that in shaping our 

 sympathetic relations towards animals in the light of our 

 present knowledge, the huntsman will soon become un- 

 known in civilized life. So long as men looked upon ani- 

 mals in the childish, ignorant way, viewing them as utterly 

 commonplace things, hunting or fishing, for the reason that 

 they rested on a foundation of ancient emotions, might well 

 be indulged in. But to the man who knows what science 

 has to teach him, and who discerns the marvels which the 

 animal form enfolds, the destruction of such objects, except 

 for need's sake, is sure to be painful. I judge this from my 

 individual experience. In my youth I was very fond of 

 hunting, and could even wring the necks of wounded birds 

 without trouble of mind. A better sense of what life means, 

 a sense which is no better than that to which alk educated 

 men are soon to attain, has made such work very repulsive 

 to me. 



When the knowledge of our time is so brought down 

 among the masses of men that it may afford the foundations 



