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KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



are generally cruel to animals, — this not 

 arising from provocation, but from an innate 

 love of tyranny, — a true, though by no 

 means flattering type of man. Passion, 

 which so many persons hold as an excuse 

 for what is inexcusable, I consider the 

 worst plea that can be offered. A man who 

 usually possesses an equanimity of mind may 

 commit a fatal act, or one involving the risk 

 of its being so. If so, there can be little 

 doubt that he has received provocation, 

 which, though it might not excuse, would at 

 least palliate the act. Even if he had acted 

 under an erroneous impression in that one 

 instance, it is very improbable such a man 

 would repeat such an offence while he 

 breathed. Now, with a passionate man, 

 neither relative, friend, servant, nor animal, 

 is even safe for a moment. Such a one has 

 only the choice of being thought one df two 

 characters, — a savage, who will gratify brutal 

 passion if irritated, at any moment, any- 

 where, and on any person or thing ; or a fool, 

 who cannot, or will not, call reason to his 

 aid before he acts with blind and brute 

 violence. 



A passionate person usually excuses him- 

 self by saying, " it is soon over." Perhaps it 

 is, after he has said so offensive a thing to a 

 friend that obliges the latter to call him out ; 

 so hurtful a one to an amiable woman, un- 

 fortunate enough to be his wife, that she 

 never forgets it ; or, after he has given a 

 blow to some one, or something, that makes 

 a cripple for life. I would as strongly 

 counsel a woman to refuse a passionate man 

 for a husband as I would a maniac. The 

 only difference between the two is, — the 

 aberration of intellect of one is continual, in 

 the other, as circumstances call it forth. If, 

 therefore, uncontrolled temper in man pro- 

 duces such dire effects to his fellow- creature, 

 what acts of brutality does it not often 

 produce towards objects under his absolute 

 control ? 



I pass over with regret, observations on 

 the nearly extinct race of coach-owners ; 

 which almost makes one reconciled with 

 railways. The true meaning of a " spirited 

 coach proprietor " was not— one who studied 

 the comforts of the passengers rather than 

 his own profit, but one who most disregarded 

 the sufferings of the over-worked, worn-out 

 horses, which were made to do their work 

 " in agony " by means of the double thong 

 and whip-cord. Their " dying shortly after 

 being unharnessed," will readily be imagined 

 to have been no uncommon occurrence. 



" Some ladies," it is observed, " entertain 

 the notion that any knowledge of what 

 causes suffering to animals, is not only 

 beneath their notice, but unfeminine." I 

 make no more stringent observation to such 

 ladies than by truly stating, I never heard 



such a remark made, or idea entertained, by 

 any woman of fashion, education, sense, and 

 good feeling. A remark was made to me by 

 a young lady, since I began this essay, to the 

 effect that she thought the subject, and the 

 promoting its being written upon, was a 

 singular idea in a female. " I grant," said 

 I, " it is singular — very singular, and I never 

 paid so bad a compliment to your sex in my 

 life as in admitting that it is so ; nor would 

 it ever have suggested itself to one whose 

 mind was not of a veiy high order, or who 

 did not possess the moral courage to be quite 

 indifferent to the opinion of the crowd, when 

 certain the motive Will challenge the appro- 

 bation of the highly-gifted as to talent, 

 cultivated mind, and generous feeling, and, in 

 most cases, as to position of life." 



Our street carriages for hire are a strong 

 proof my accusations are not unmerited. 

 Here master, man, and the public must, in 

 many instances, be added to my category of 

 the merciless. All the master, or rather the 

 generality of masters, care about is, that so 

 much money is brought home in a given 

 time; that the carriage is brought in without 

 damage that would put him to expense in 

 repairing it ; and that the horse comes home 

 in such a state as will not diminish his value, 

 or prevent his working the next day. He 

 sees, without remorse, his animal start in the 

 morning with a pair of fore feet that he is 

 well aware it is agony to put to the ground, 

 and that every step he takes is torture ; nor 

 does the idea of selling a horse so circum- 

 stanced ever enter his head ; and for this 

 reason, — if he happen to be a good, game, 

 and high-couraged animal, with sucha disease 

 he will work for months, perhaps years. 



The class of men who drive these street 

 cabs for employers, are not usually those 

 from whom we may expect much feeling or 

 consideration for the animal under their con- 

 trol ; but they are rendered worse by the 

 avarice of their masters. Their wages are so 

 low, that they depend chiefly on the extra 

 work they can get out of the horse, who has 

 (not figuratively speaking, but absolutely) to 

 work for master and man. Thus, after earn- 

 ing the required sum as his day's work for 

 the former, he begins his labor for the latter. 

 This might be no great hardship on the horse, 

 nor reprehensible conduct on the part of the 

 driver, if he only took fares leading towards 

 home. But supposing the cab to be in the 

 Strand, and the animal's home in Moorfields, 

 if a fare offered to go to Knightsbridge or 

 Brompton, the unfortunate brute would be 

 driven there for the benefit of the man, though 

 a full day's work had been performed for the 

 master. Let any one cast his eye on the cabs 

 he sometimes sees returning to their home ; 

 let him observe the jaded gait of the poor 

 horse after the harass of the day's exertion ! 



