IBB 



THE UNIVERSAL FAMILY PAPER FOR INTER-COMMUNICATIONS ON 



NATURAL HISTORY-POPULAR SCIENCE— THINGS IN GENERAL. 



Conducted by WILLIAM KIDD, of Hammersmith,— 



Author of the Familiar and Popular Essays on "Natural History;" "British Song 

 Birds;" "Birds op Passage;" "Instinct and Reason;" " The Aviary," &c. 



"the OBJECT of our work is to make men WISER, without obliging them to turn over folios and 



QUARTOS.— TO FURNISH MATTER FOR THINKING AS WELL AS READING."— EVELYN. 



No. 33.— 1852. 



SATURDAY, AUGUST 14. 



Price M. 



Or, in Monthly Parts, Price Is. Id. 



APPEARANCES OFTEN DECEITFUL. 



THE HEDGEHOG. 



He prayeth best, who loveth best 

 All things both great and small ; 



For the dear Goo who loveth us, 

 He made and loveth all. 



Coleridge. 



Dear Mr. Editor, — Until the timely 

 advent of " Our Journal," I have been 

 accustomed to consider myself singular in 

 the interest I take in animals. I have there- 

 fore kept my feelings as much as possible to 

 myself, — finding an avowal of my senti- 

 ments usually designated an " affectation." 



Such it must seem to those who resemble 

 in character the three " sister Graces " 

 — of whom it was told me, each had a 

 pet lamb. The three pet lambs were 

 washed, duly beautified, and decorated with 

 gay ribbons. They followed the footsteps 

 of their fair mistresses, and licked their 

 hands. (A pretty picture it must have been, 

 — the three maidens and their lambs, a la 

 Watteau!) But lambs, alas ! become sheep. 

 The sheep were sent to the butcher ; their 

 skins to the tanner ; and thereof the " gentle 

 shepherdesses" caused to be manufac- 

 tured tippets for their use, and muffs, — 

 tender souvenirs of the animals which 

 trusted and loved them ; and which they, in 

 return, consigned to slaughter. (Fact !) As 

 a pendant to this, a sheep, a sailor's pet, 

 on board one of H. M. S., which went 

 round to each mess, and partook of sailors' 

 fare, — was, by their united request, turned 

 out to a run for the natural term of his 

 life. When the ship was paid off, the sailors 

 (God bless them !) would not turn " Tom " 

 into mutton, nor his skin into a jacket. 



The papers in your amiable Journal, 

 headed " Persecuted Animals," and your 

 obliging notice of my debut, my dear 

 Sir (see vol. I., p. 361), encourage me 

 again to address you. The theme is a 

 grateful one to me ; and I intuitively know 

 it to be so to you. I have ever taken part 



with the " persecuted," whether human or 

 animal — a peculiarity which, so far as the 

 former are concerned, has caused me to be 

 identified with their (so called) errors. 

 I am accused of defending, — not so much 

 the individuals, as their faults ! 



Greatly to my consolation, I have some- 

 where read that, " amongst the world's re- 

 prouves are often found individuals endued 

 with far higher capacities and qualities both 

 of heart and intellect, than can be boasted 

 by many who have been advanced to high 

 consideration among the world's ' respecta- 

 ble children.' " * But my brother — souvenez 

 vous f — has given me a nudge, muttering 

 something about " Ne sutovy" 1 &c, which, he 

 says, means 1 have forgotten my Hedgehog. 

 I will then abstain from endeavoring to 

 account for, or justify, my avowed penchant 

 to take the part of the " persecuted." 



Before however bringing my favorite into 

 the foreground, let me, as it bears very 

 closely upon my subject, introduce briefly 

 (from " St. Giles' and St. James ' ") a short 

 dialogue between Kingcup and Capstick : — 



" Humph," said Kingcup, " 'tis an odd crea« 

 ture for a bosom friend." 



" Give me all friends like ldm;" cried Cap- 

 stick, " for there's no deceit in 'em. You see 

 the worst of 'em at the beginning. Now look at 

 this fine honest fellow. What plain, straightfor- 

 ward truths he bears about him ! You see at once 

 that he is a living pincushion, with the pins' pointa 



* We are more than delighted at the free ex- 

 pression of our correspondent's thoughts ; and fra- 

 ternise with her from our very heart. There are 

 many of our fellow-creatures who might and 

 would inevitably perish, but for the sustaining 

 arm of such a Samaritan, — among her own sex in 

 particular. Women, by a strange law (certainly 

 not a natural law), are irreconcileably cruel 

 towards each other, — when " under misfortune.'' 

 Hence, the cause of so much existing depravity. 

 Three-fifths of it, at least, might be averted by 

 only common Christian kindness and considera- 

 tion. But we " labor in vain" in such a cause! 

 —Ed. K. J. 



Vol. II. 



