Fad and Fashion 203 



cise that he is steadily racked by all the throes of in- 

 digestion and biliousness throughout his obese, asth- 

 matic little body ; and when the wretched brute 

 reaches the pitiful stage where it is unpleasant to 

 have him about, she orders James to dispose of him 

 that another more attractive may replace him, or 

 abandons him to the tender mercies of some caretaker 

 at her country place, where he shivers and whines 

 away his wretched life. 



The inhumanities of the poorer classes are gener- 

 ally the result of thoughtless and absolute ignorance 

 of the suffering they cause. The working man does 

 not mean to abuse the animal who represents to him, 

 in proportion to his means, a considerable — a gi- 

 gantic — investment, and which he will, as a usual 

 thing, care for as ably as his limited knowledge en- 

 ables. Reared himself in rough and ready style, 

 cuffed about from childhood, it never occurs to him 

 that non-performance of w^ork is not to be corrected 

 by beating; and he thinks that if the punishment is 

 severe and long continued it is bound to effect the 

 desired ends. It alwavs did in his own case, when 



