REV. LEANDER S. KEYSER. 



39 



SLAUGHTER OF THE INNOCENTS. 



BY REV. LEANDER S. KEYSER. 



Many persons seem to be possessed of carnivorous, or at 

 least semi-carnivorous, proclivities. They do not appear to 

 be happy unless they can see blood flow. From the small 

 boy with his air-rifle to the professional collector, they have 

 an itch for killing. The other day I encountered several 

 doughty lads who had just shot three Chipping Sparrows, and 

 when I asked them why they had committed such a wanton 

 crime against the bird creation, they became mute, unable 

 to assign any reason whatever for their conduct ; for, of 

 course, like their fellow-slaughterers of larger growth, they 

 did not like to admit that it was their natural depravity — 

 otherwise, unnatural meanness — that prompted them. I am 

 sometimes tempted to believe that the strongest argument 

 for the theory of the evolution of the human family from 

 lower animals, especially wolves, hyenas and other blood- 

 thirsty creatures, is their propensity to pursue and kill. 



Be that as it may, it still is man's business as a moral and 

 rational being to overcome the carnal inclinations of his 

 nature. He must set up a stout Captain Resistance in his 

 soul, as Bunyan would have it, who shall guard well the 

 portals against external foes, and quell any mutiny that may 

 arise within the gates. It is not in place, perhaps, to deliver 

 a moral lecture at this hour, but I may be permitted to say 

 that it might be a good and necessary moral discipline for 

 the man or boy who is tempted to shed innocent blood, 

 stoutly to stay his hand. 



