4O OUR HOME PETS 



The reason is plain : to us it is a mere 

 pastime, an amusement ; to the bird it is 

 the absorbing passion, a matter of life and 

 death. 



Few persons are willing to give to a pet for 

 any long time the devoted and unremitting 

 attention demanded by one whose feelings 

 and emotions are cultivated beyond the nat- 

 ural relation between our race and the brute 

 creation. It is far better never to go beyond 

 "good comradeship " with our pets. Delight- 

 ful friendships may be enjoyed within these 

 limits, and more is almost sure to bring mis- 

 ery to the bird, and pain to those who love 

 him. Among many other cases of unhappi- 

 ness and death from excessive emotion in a 

 " humanized " animal, I have known even so 

 cold-blooded a creature as an alligator to 

 show such absolute devotion to his mistress 

 as to make her almost a prisoner with him, 

 to cause him to pine in her absence, and end, 

 most pathetically, in dying of joy on her re- 

 turn. 



Why, indeed, should we wish to cultivate 

 in what we call the lower orders, sentiments 

 and emotions belonging to the higher ? Few 



