The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-08-01 00:00:00

THE TREATMENT OF ANIMALS IN
ITALY.

The Gazetta d' Italia publishes a letter from an
Italian correspondent at Santo Pietro, near Pisa,
affording interesting evidence of the fact that public
feeling, or, at any rate, individual feeling, which must
necessarily be the first to appear, is aroused against the
cruelty to animals in this country which" Ouida "
and others have so forcibly denounced. The writer
says:—" It is truly a shameful thing that in this year
of grace 1885, in cultivated and civilized Tuscany, the
most unheard of cruelty to animals should be tolerated,
and atrocious amusements be permitted even in the
public streets. Let us say nothing for the moment of
boys plucking live birds, robbing nests, or setting fire
to rats after having poured petroleum on them. Let
us say nothing of the brutes who overload, beat, and
maltreat beasts of burden. We know that such
shameful things are done all the world over, that
the laws do not provide for similar cases, and that
only civilisation and religion can in time put an end
to such reproaches. ;But that which cannot and
ought not to be tolerated is that hero at Santo Pietro
a crowd of heartless persons should be permitted to
play all' anitra in the public streets every Sunday
afternoon. Hear what this stupid and barbarous
diversion consists in. A living duck is tied by the
legs to a cord stretched across the street at a certain
height, and the endeavour of the players, who are
blindfolded and armed with sticks, is to knock off its
head with a single blow. It can easily be understood
that the poor creature is struck on the wings, on the
back, and elsewhere, and dies in the utmost agony, for
it is very seldom that a player kills it at the first
blow. Against this infamous amusement well-to-
do people in the town have often invoked the
vigilance of the authorities, but in vain.
It is to be noted that passers-by are ex-
posed to the danger of being struck, or of having their
clothes bespattered with the bird's blood. It is time
that this disgrace should cease. Will my voice be
heard this time? I hope so." This is a step, and it
is not the first which I have noted, in the right direc-
tion. For, as was observed in the Times of the 10th
of July, with an exact appreciation of the case as
regards Italy, "Real reforms can be accomplished
only through efforts from within. . . • The battle
of Italian humanity must be fought in Italy and be
won by Italians." The lovers of animals and the
members of the society for the prevention of cruelty
to them will best serve the object in view by laying
this to heart. Italians are intensely and sensitively
impatient of foreign interference of any kind in their
affairs, and especially in those connected with the
reforms needed in manners and customs. They
reply with indignation, "You should look at
home before you preach to us," and perhaps
they are not always wrong. Interference by
holding up their failings to the public gaze is
not only vain but detrimental. The efforts of the
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals,
established in Rome abut 12 years ago by English
initiative and with an English committee, have been
fruitless of result, and have been simply ridiculed.
But so soon as an Italian society shall be formed in
which foreigners have no part, I am convinced that
it will rapidly produce a widespread effect, for the
Italians are far indeed from being devoid of love for
animals. My long experience of Italians and the
Italian character may, perhaps, entitle me to suggest
that the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals should disseminate in this country its
rules and publications, translated into Italian,
showing what it has done and is doing in Eng-
land. There must be no English or other foreign
participation in what, if it
.is to be done at all
and done well—and I am convinced that it will be—
must be done exclusively by Italians. The period of
15 years since Rome became the Italian capital has
given small scope for the regeneration of Italy, and
yet how much has been done. Instead of sending.de-
nunciations of Italian cruelty to animals to the Times
I should be disposed to follow a diametrically oppo-
site course. I would instead send to the Italian press
reports of English cases of cruelty to animals and of
the fines and punishments inflicted on the perpe-
trators. There would be no savour of national glorifi-
cation in this, and it would be the means of practi-
cally and inoffensively suggesting to humane Italians
that the same remedies should be applied to what
they regret and would willingly see removed.

A Home Secretary should possess an evenly-
balanced temper, and yet the present holder of tilt
office is always Cross.—Fun.
WANTED TO KNow.—Whether, when a man's at-
tention is rivetted, diamond cement is used for the
operation? Whether the possessor of half a million
can be properly described as a capital fellow?
Whether, if cleanliness is next to godliness, it's soap
that's next to charity? Whether, paradoxical as it
sounds, wheels do not go best when they are thoroughly
tired? Whether the best way to overcome your
sorrows is—to strike one of your own sighs Whether
any two apples are not alike when they are pared ?
Adv.

EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.
THE MAHDPS DEATH CONFIRMED.
(Reuter's Telegram.)
CAIRO, July 27.

Major-General Grenfell telegraphs that a trust-
worthy messenger, who arrived at Omdurman from
Kassala on June 13, states that he saw the Mandi,
who fell ill a few days later, and died on June 21, it
was supposed of spotted typhus. The messenger adds
that he saw the dead body and attended the funeral,
after which Khalifs Abdoola assumed the reins of
government. General Grenfell believes the mes-
senger's report to be true.
(From the Morning Post Correspondent.)
Ron, July 27.
A letter, dated Ding')la, June 28, addressed by the
Italian monk, Luigi Bonomi, of Verona, to hi)
family, gives particulars of his flight from the Mandik,
camp. He met with a warm reception on the part ot
Major Turner at Dongola. He hopes to liberate
the other missionaries who were prisoners of the
Mandi.