CHAPTER X 



CRUELTY TO ANIMALS 



Humanitarian Objectors Cruelty and Civilization Trying 

 to Hide the Light A Dog's Lapses Nobility of 

 Domestic Animals "The Larger Hope" Our Educa- 

 tive Influence. 



THE hostility of some extreme humanitarians 

 to the view that animals are mercifully spared self- 

 conscious knowledge of their sufferings arises 

 from the fear lest acceptance of the facts will 

 encourage cruelty to animals, or at least will 

 diminish the enthusiasm of those who support the 

 movement for the prevention of such cruelty. 



Now this is not the case. 



True religious feeling and cruelty cannot exist 

 in the human mind together; and the greatest 

 obstacle hitherto to religious feeling has been the 

 apparent cruelty of nature. 



Moreover, the growth of our human tendency 

 to be kind to animals is a process which cannot be 

 checked. It was only the imperfection of human 

 creeds which caused the cruelties that have dis- 

 graced our ecclesiastical histories. To be human, 

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