346 FARMING FOR LADIES. [chap. xvii. 



amusing. It forms, therefore, an interesting 

 pet for children, who should be early taught 

 to practise tenderness towards every domestic 

 animal ; and to a cottage, or any one having 

 a residence adjoining a common, it will be a 

 source of both comfort and profit. 



From the pleasure of rearing all these do- 

 mestic inmates, there is, however, the draw- 

 back to every feeling of a sensitive mind, 

 arising from the necessity imposed on us by 

 nature of killing them for our sustenance ; to 

 the pain of which the heart can only be re- 

 conciled by the recollection that the little 

 being is unconscious of its approaching fate ; 

 as beautifully expressed in the well known 

 lines of Pope — 



" The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to-day, 

 Had he thy reason, would he skip and play ? 

 Pleased to the last he crops the flow'ry food, 

 And licks the hand just raised to shed his blood.'' 



