WHAT OUR FELLOW MORTALS ARE 



DOING 



T may seem to some as if it were needless to 

 set down what should be a matter of com- 

 mon observation to all ; but the truth is, 

 that it is not commonly observed by the 

 many. Let us suppose, for instance, that 

 we wish to catch a train, and hailing a 

 hansom, promise cabby an extra sixpence if he enables us to 

 do so. He gets his sixpence, cabby and fare alike interchange 

 cheerful smiles ; but does either of them think of the horse 

 who is really the benefactor of both, who has given sixpence 

 to one, and to the other, it may be, an inestimable boon ? 



So in a thousand ways. How many sportsmen ofFer up 

 thanksgiving to St. Grouse or St. Partridge on their respec- 

 tive Saints' day ? Put it more decisively. How many 

 sportsmen lift their linger from the trigger when a barely 

 possible shot comes their way .'' when at best wounding is all 

 they can hope to compass ? And so refrain, not from fear of 

 losing a twopenny halfpenny charge of powder and shot, 

 but from fear of injury to the creatures who supply them 

 with such a vast amount of keen pleasure .? 



Very few. And yet what would the lives of some men 

 be without shooting, fishing, hunting ? 



