AUNT ESTHERS RULES. 1 55 



This was real brave humanity. Many people call them- 

 selves tender-hearted, because they are unwilling to have a 

 litter of kittens killed, and so they go and throw them 

 over fences, into people's back yards, and comfort them- 

 selves with the reflection that they will do well enough. 

 What becomes of the poor little defenceless things? In 

 nine cases out of ten they live a hunted, miserable life, 

 crying from hunger, shivering with cold, harassed by cruel 

 dogs, and tortured to make sport for brutal boys. How 

 much kinder and more really humane to take upon our- 

 selves the momentary suffering of causing the death of an 

 animal than to turn our back and leave it to drag out 

 a life of torture and misery ! 



Aunt Esther used to protest much against another kind 

 of torture which well-meaning persons inflict on animals, in 

 giving them as playthings to very little children who do 

 not know how to handle them. A mother sometimes will 

 sit quietly sewing, while her baby boy is tormenting a help- 

 less kitten, poking his fingers into its eyes, pulling its tail, 

 stretching it out as on a rack, squeezing its feet, and, when 

 the poor little tormented thing tries to run away, will send 

 the nurse to catch dear little Johnny's kitten for him. 



Aunt Esther always remonstrated, too, against all the 

 practical jokes and teasing of animals, which many people 

 practise under the name of sport, like throwing a dog 

 into the water for the sake of seeing him paddle out, dash- 



