CHAPTER III 



ANIMAL PETS, IN AND OUT OF DOORS 



ON KEEPING PETS. — It is interesting to notice the different 

 liinds of animals that are now kept as pets, and not the least 

 feature of interest that affords pleasure to the lover of the wild beasts 

 of the world who is desirous of seeing animals whom it is not 

 possible to observe in their own native fastnesses, is the comparative 

 freedom that is afforded to several species which have been proved 

 to be on their best behaviour when not incarcerated in a wretched 

 little cage, unfit for habitation by either beast or body, as they say 

 in Scotland. 



Almost every boy, I suppose, has at some time or other had a 

 pet of some kind, from the humble Guinea Pig or tame Mouse to 

 the pet Teddy Bear. Boys have an innate love and strong passion 

 for the possession of a pet, and so long as the animal is treated 

 kindly and humanely and is well housed and cared for, it is a trait in 

 the boy's character which, in my opinion, is worthy of cultivation. 

 Better still, it is true, if boys would more often express a desire to 

 become field-naturalists, or observers of the wild folk in the great 

 arena of Nature, but we must not lose sight of the fact that there 

 is a period in all our lives when the spirit of intellectual inquiry, of 

 intelligent observation and perception, is dormant, so to speak, and 

 one's outlook on life is far different at such time to the aspect which 

 comes to one after maturer years. Boys will be boys the whole 

 world over, and the sooner we can realize^ — those of us who have 

 reached manhood — that it is unfair to expect the average boy in his 

 teens to have a man's head on his shoulders, the better it will be 

 for all concerned. 



Do we not, as a general rule, expect too much from our young 

 people, who, if they do not see as we see and think as we think, 

 are apt, as a result, to be described as dullards, and to be relegated 

 to the dunce's class? Let us each put himself, as it were, in the 

 boy's shoes, and be a boy again. Then, looking at the subject 



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