MORAL DUTY TO BE KIND 249 



done to the poor than when done to the rich. We 

 feel more deeply when injury is inflicted upon the 

 widow and the orphan, than upon those who 

 are surrounded with friends, and in the midst of 

 prosperity. We feel more when injury is done to 

 a helpless infant, than to a man in strength and 

 vigor, and able to defend himself. Now, were man- 

 kind guided by this principle in regard to the 

 lower animals, how careful they would be not 

 to inflict cruelty, and how tender would be their 

 treatment. When man is oppressed or injured, 

 however so helpless, he can tell his wrongs, and 

 point out the person who inflicted them. The poor- 

 est of the earth can publish the shame of those who 

 grind their faces with oppression; they who re- 

 ceive unjust punishment can raise their voices 

 against the guilty tyrants. 



But the poor and often unpitied animals have 

 not this power and this privilege. Though the 

 barbarity with which they are treated be ever 

 so cruel, they cannot complain of their merciless 

 usage. With a sensibility to suffering as strong as 

 that of a human being, they are doomed to submit 

 to whatever man may inflict without the possi- 

 bility of making it known, and without the aid 



