



civilisation, where the brute holds little com- 
munion with man. An Arab chief and his 
horse were captured. The chief was bound; 
and the horse was suffered to graze in the 
neighborhood. During the night the: chief 
distinguished the neighing of his own horse, 
like the voice of a friend. He dragged him- 
self towards it, on the ground; to bid it a 
last farewell. The two friends met. The 
one talked, and the other listened. De- 
termined to set his horse at liberty if his own 
escape were hopeless, he undid with his teeth 
the rope that tied it. The animal thus 
liberated made no ungenerous use of its 
liberty ; but clearly understanding its master’s 
fettered and helpless condition, it seized him 
gently by the clothes with its teeth, and 
made straight for the distant and well-known 
tent in the mountains of Arabia. It arrived 
in safety ; laid its master down at the feet of 
his wife and children, and dropped down 
dead with fatigue.* Can man or woman’s 
love exceed this? And what better under- 
standing could we desire in an inferior animal 
than to know how to act ina state of ex- 
tremity ? 
When we see how much can be done by 
the law of kindness, and how very willing 
the inferior animals are to work for us when 
they are able (and how very melancholy 
their speechless condition must be when they 
are not able), it seems desperately depraved 
in man to force them as he does, by torture. 
The whip is ever cutting the flesh of the 
horse on the steep acclivities of streets and 
highways. Patience there is none. The 
animal stops. In a few minutes, it would 
go on or make another attempt; but these 
few minutes are not accorded. Crack 
goes the whip, and crack again. Sparks of 
fire flash from the feet. The collar sinks 
into the flesh of the brute. The eyes almost 
burst from their sockets. Intense is the 
effort. The very maximum of strength is put 
forth. But so great is the load; so steep is 
the hill; that the effort is very often made 
in vain. Yet, instead of pity there is too 
often wrath; and if we blame the driver, he 
simply tells us that his master would dis- 
charge him if he were such ‘“‘a muff” as not 
to be able to surmount the difficulty. The 
whip is the instrument by which it is accom- 
plished; and he must use wt. He is the 
foreman of the slaves—the excutiouner of the 
law of brutes. 
Ladies’ work, too, is accomplished by the 
exercise of much cruelty. This, not in respect 
to needlewomen alone, but im respect to brute 
animals also. But then,—the delicate crea- 
tures must not see it done. They must go 
into the drawing-room, and lie down on the 


































































































* Lamartine’s Travels in the East. 


KIDD’S OWN JOURNAL. | 

sofa till itis over ; as inthe Land of Liberty, 
329 
when the slaves are getting their stripes and 
stars. Moreover, great is “ the delicacy ” of 
the fair sex in these matters. The Society for 
the Suppression of Cruelty to Animals aver, 
that one great difficulty which they have to 
encounter in the exercise of their mission is 
—the objection felt by many very “refined” 
ladies to listen to the details. They do not 
want to know that such things are done. 'They 
do not care about them so long as they do not 
hear about them. They are perfectly indif- 
ferent about the cruelties committed—so 
long as they are not described. Not being 
described, their interest is not excited; and 
thus their “ pretended refinement” becomes 
actual cruelty. 
There is no greater humanity than that 
which not only listens to, but inquires into, 
such matters; and immediately acts with 
energy in alleviating the suffering. Excessive 
refinement is a disease—a mental sore which 
cannot be touched, and which is ever scream- 
ing and fainting with the pain of its own 
sensitiveness. The purest and healthiest, 
and the noblest specimen of humanity, will 
listen to the deepest tale of suffering: and 
instead of screaming and fainting will run for 
succor. They are not the sympathetic, who 
sink into inactivity and make no sacrifice of 
their own comforts for others; even as they 
are not the brave who tyrannise over the 
weak, and have not the courage to defy the 
strong. It is the mission of all superior gifts 
to overcome difficulties, physical, moral, or 
intellectual; not to sink before them. And 
the evils of which we treat specially at 
present, are not of the number of those before 
which noble and generous minds will ever 
give way. 
As an instance of the mode in which much 
cruelty or even severity may be avoided, we 
may instance a fact which took place in 
the streets of London. It was told be 
Dr. Daniell at a public meeting, to the 
credit of an unknown gentleman. Up one 
of those steep ascents to which we have 
alluded, the Doctor saw this gentleman 
leading a horse in a cart, and a number 
of people following him; some abusing him. 
Thinking he might be of service to him, the 
Doctor approached, and asked him why he 
was leading the horse? ‘“ Because,” said the 
gentleman, “the driver was ill-using it. He 
had turned the horse, and was backing him 
forcibly up the street, jerking his mouth and 
kicking his legs at every step. This 1 thought’ 
was a cruel act, and I said to him—‘ My 
man, only be quiet, the horse is not an ill- 
natured animal. Get out of your cart, and 
let me see if I cannot, by kind treatment, 
induce him to go.’” ‘The result was, that the 
horse went very quietly up the street by the 
gentleman’s guidance; and the people at last 
applauded him. 
