THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ALTRUISM 305 



man had a dream in which he saw the fortunes of 

 the world reversed. Man was no longer master, 

 but victim. The earth was ruled by the birds and 

 quadrupeds, the mice and monkeys, who pro- 

 ceeded to inflict upon their erstwhile tyrant the 

 same cruelties he had hitherto inflicted upon them. 

 'Multitudes of human beings were systematically 

 fattened for the carnivora. They were frequently 

 forwarded to great distances by train, in trucks, 

 without food or water. Large numbers of infants 

 were constantly boiled down to form broth 

 for invalid animals. In over-populous districts 

 babies were given to malicious young cats and 

 dogs to be taken away and drowned. Boys were 

 hunted by terriers and stoned to death by frogs. 

 Mice were a good deal occupied in setting man- 

 traps, baited with toasted cheese, in poor neigh- 

 bourhoods. Gouty old gentlemen were hitched to 

 night-cabs, and forced to totter, on their weak 

 ankles and diseased joints, to clubs, where fashion- 

 able young colts were picked up, and taken, at 

 such speed as whipcord could extract, to visit 

 chestnut fillies. Flying figures in scarlet coats, 

 buckskins, and top-boots were run down by packs 

 of foxes that had nothing else to do. Old cock- 

 grouse strutted out for a morning's sport, and 

 came in to talk of how many brace of country 

 gentlemen they had bagged. Gamekeepers lived 

 a precarious life in- holes and caves. They were 

 perpetually harried by game and vermin ; held 

 fast in steel traps, their toes were nibbled by 

 stoats and martens ; and finally, their eyes picked 



20 



