INTRODUCTION 



its capacity for any and every other worthy 

 object — 



" Who loveth one, he loveth all." 



The love of animals is the primary course in 

 the school of humanity, and a child once 

 taught to love its pet, not because it is its 

 personal property, but because it needs and 

 reciprocates the love given it, and the pro- 

 tection our superior power and position 

 enables him to give it, is better prepared to 

 understand any humanitarian work. The 

 Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to 

 Animals is the logical predecessor to that 

 for the Protection of Children ; and as the 

 sense of property is the mother of thrift, so 

 the love of our pets is the beginning of the 

 love of all living things. I have always been 

 a lover of animals, but never kept one in 

 close confinement, and perfect intimacy with 

 a creature born in freedom can never be 

 gained from one in a cage. The healthy 

 enjoyment of them can only be full, there- 

 fore, when such a liberty is accorded as gives 

 full play to their peculiarities. The squirrel, 



