Proceedings OF the Far3iers' Club. 323 



generally be governed with perfect suocess by kind attentions. Not 

 only cattle and horses, but pigs, poultry and all the birds are in per- 

 petual fear of civilized man, because he shamefully and wickedly 

 abuses the sovereignty he wields over them in the use of a lash 

 and a gun. Their dread of man's power seems to be transmitted 

 from one generation to another. Wild ducks, geese, and pigeons 

 invariably become alarmed at his approach, as though conscious of 

 the depredations made on their ranks by the hunter ; improperly 



• denominated sportsman, on the reprehensible theory that the pain 

 they inflict with shot and bullets on inoffensive animals, with which 

 they might live on mutual terms of peace and advantage is genuine 

 rational amusement. It is not so in Mahomedan countries, which is 

 a notable rebuke to our boasted progress. There it is not uncommon 

 for forest birds to nestle about the feet of the farmer as he turns up 

 the soil in the field, to pick up vermin, seeds, &c., which are brought 

 to the surface with a plow or hoe. They even permit their beauti- 

 fully feathered visitors to fill their little crops with the grain they 

 are sowing. Such treatment inspires confidence that once reigned in 

 Eden. "A sower went forth to sow," is regarded as one of the 

 Savior's parables abounding in wisdom and poetical force, whereas it 

 was a scene with which he was constantly familiar. He therefore 

 fixed upon it for the inculcation of a great moral truth. I have per- 

 sonally witnessed the same gentle intercourse between the husband- 

 man and the delighted birds in the very town of Betlehem in which 

 the Son of God first appeared on earth. One shepherd in Austria 

 safely manages an immensely large flock of sheep without the least 

 diflSculty, because each one of them regards him as a special friend 

 and protector. When alarmed the bleating multitude cluster as 

 closely to his person as possible. They have learned by experience 

 that ferocious enemies dare not approach when their guardian is near. 

 Very nearly the same exhibitions of confidence are witnessed in the 

 highlands of Scotland, where small dogs are the vigilant assistants 

 of the shepherds. Writers who strictly enjoin a more generous and 

 humane intercourse with domesticated animals are not very nume- 

 rous. They seem to hesitate, and leave topics incomplete which 

 demand thorough elucidation. ISTo one has boldly become the 

 champion of outraged horses and oxen, and pointedly enough 

 condemned the very general practice and bad effects of 



• emasculation on their intelligence. If the brain is kept 

 •down to a feeble standard, so that in a mysterious way its functions 



