THE ETHICS OF HORSE-KEEPING, 3 
have taken no harm, but rather good, from the walk; 
and yet neither when he hired the horse nor when he 
related the transaction did it occur to him that the 
act was one of inexcusable cruelty. How many peo- 
ple, indeed, know or care what is the condition of 
the livery horses that they hire from time to time? 
How many, when they summon a cab, so much as 
glance at the beast in the shafts? But it is almost 
always possible to make a selection, rejecting the 
palpably unfit, choosing the fit horse; and if every- 
body took even this slight amount of trouble, the em- 
ployment of broken-down cab horses would cease to 
be profitable. 
There is a good deal of hard-heartedness in our 
Puritan blood as respects dumb animals. I once spent 
several weeks on a farm where many beasts of vari- 
ous kinds were kept. The family was of pure New 
England stock, farmers for many generations back, — 
stalwart, intelligent, honest people, pillars of the 
church, leading men in the village, but in their treat- 
ment of dumb beasts without feeling or compunction. 
If the cows did not enter their stalls at the proper 
moment, they were pounded with whatever weapon 
came handy; horses were driven when they were 
lame, and neglected when they were tired. Every 
animal on the place was in a continual state of hunger, 
and none ever received a kind word or a pat of the 
hand. That on all convenient occasions I surrep- 
titiously fed the occupants of the barn, horses, cows, 
oxen, and bull, is a fact which I may be permitted to 
state, lest I should include myself in the condemna- 
tion of these hard-hearted farmers; and I recall with 
pleasure the anticipatory neighing, the scraping of 
