The Alexandria herald. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1811-1826, 1824-06-25
:Snlsrelfaneous.
CoBBETr ON RURAL SPORTS.

wild animals which are called game
Such persons, however, claim the RICH,
of killing fores and hazykes; yet these
have as much right to live, and to follow
Their food, as hheasanfs and hartridgcs
have. This, therefore, in such persons,
is nonsense.
Others, in their mitigated hostility to
the sports of the field, say, il is .yanton
/ cruelty to shoot or hunt and thar we XIII
animals from the farm yard, only because
their flesh is necessary to our eua e.ris
fencc. Prove that. No, you cannot.-
ifyou could, it is bot the tyrant's plea ];
but you cannot for we know that men
can and do live without animal fond, and.
1t their labor be not of an exbaustinp
kind, live well too, and longer than those
who eat it 1t comes to this, then, that
we kill hogs and oxen because we choose
to kill them; and we kill game for pre-.
SiSSiy Viz sdi1C reason.
A third class of directors, seeing the
weak position OF THE two former, and still
resolved to eat flesh, take their stand up-
on this ground that sportsmen send
some game off zcounded, and leave them
IN state of suffering These gentle.
men forget the operations performed
upon calves, pigs, lambs, and sometimes
on poultry. Sir Isaac Coffin prides him.
self upon teaching the English ladies
how to make turkey cahons Only think
oil the separation of calves, pigs, and
lambs. at an early age, from their moth
ers 10, you sentimental eaters of veal,
sucking pig, and lamb, and hear the
mourntul lowings, winnings, and bleat.
ings observe the anxious listen, the
wls'tul look, and the dropping tear, fthe
disconsolate dams f; and then, while YOU
have the carcasses of their Young ones
under your TEEN, Cry out, as so,J-I 40 yrsu
can empty your mouths little, against
the cruelty ofhunting and shooting. Get
up from dinner (but take care to stuff
we'll fitsD, and go and drown the pup.
pies of the bitch, and the kittens of the
cat. lest they should share aliuIe in what
their mothers had guarded with so much
fidelity ; and, as good s,uffng may tend
10 make you restless in the night, order
the geese to be picked alive. that, how.
ever your coDsciences may feel, your
bed at least may be easy and soft. Wit
ness all this with your own eyes land then
so weeping TO bed, at the possibility of a
hare being terribly frightened without
being killed, or of bird having been
left in the thicket with shot in its BODY
or fracture in its wing. But before
you so upstairs, give your servants or
ders to be early at market for fresh fish
out OF the water, they may be scaled or
skinned atiDe ! A truce with you, then,
sentimental eaters of f1esb and here
propose the terms Of lasting compro
mise with you, We must, on each side,
weld something; we sporsmen will con
tent ourselves with merely seeing the
hares skih and the birds fly; and you
shall be content with the flesh and fish
that come from cases Of natural death, of
which am sure your compassionate dis.
position will not refuse US trifling al
lowance
Nor have even the Pythsgoreans a
much better battery against us. Sin
Richard Philips, who once rang a pea
III my ears against shooting and hunting
does, indeed, eat neither flesh, fish, mol
foul. His abstinence surpssses that o
Carmelite, while his bulk would no
disgrace Benedictine Monk, or Pro
testant Dean. But he forgets that hi;
shoes, and 6reecheS, and gloves, are
made Of the skins of animals he forget'
that he writes (and very eloquently too,
with what has been cruelty taken from
fowl and that in order to the book:
which he has made and sold, hundred.
OF hocks, and scores Of droves must have
persisted nay, that to get his beaver hat
beaver must have been hunted and