Beason or Instinct. 117 



mad with glory when he lands it and takes it off the hook^ 

 and the dog carries the fish and puts it into the basket ; and 

 if he plays the fish and happens not to land it, Moses howls 

 and refuses to be comforted. 



Anyhow, whether animals have reason or not, it is a 

 great comfort to know that they are amply protected now, 

 both by law and by common consent of thinking men. Tom 

 Nero butt-ends the hackney-coach horse at his peril ; and a 

 costermonger who thrashes his donkey unmercifully finds 

 plenty of his own class to ask him to " put up his hands " on 

 Mr. Moke's behalf. Dog's tails and ears must not be 

 cropped, poultry must not be plucked alive, and calves must 

 not be bled to death ; but there is one thing which the 

 Royal Society should look after, and they must fly at very 

 high game, which is to summon the City authorities, who 

 are answerable for the asphalt pavement, for not roughing 

 it with gravel or some other substance in frosty and slippery 

 weather. Money and expense are of no importance as 

 regards the footway for stout aldermen — why neglect the 

 horses ? One winter I counted seven horses down near 

 Lombard Street within five minutes, and those which kept 

 their footing were in a lather of sweat from fear. No 

 animal knows better than the horse what he can or what he 

 cannot do, and no animal is more willing to do his best, 

 and to a horse in a two-wheeled vehicle it must be just the 

 same to feel himself slipping with a weight on his back as 

 it would be to any of us to carry as heavy a weight as we 

 could walk under on dry land across slippery ice. 



And there are two other evils against which a wholesale 

 crusade should be made : the first is mostly found on Bank 

 holidays and Sundays, and such days, on commons and open 

 spaces, near London especially — which is the cruelty shown 

 to half -starved saddle ponies and donkeys by the owners. 

 Hour after hour these wretched animals are galloped up 



