Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1838-04-25


the sad example Of bird-cages before their,
eyes, by parents who. at any moment Of
their lives, would shudder at the thought
fof bunting lheir-moral feelings, or render
ing caIIous the sensibilities of a sing lie hu-
man being; and above all, Of those whose
lives andwhose happiness, present and fu-
ture, are sdearer to them than their own. =,
! For ii is not the individual always-no,
| nor vet often-of coarser feelings and
grossser sensibilities, who accustoms his
| rising charge to the scenes to which We
/ have alluded On the contrary, il is gen
terally the persons whose sentiments are,
in the main, correct; and whose principles,
land, indeed, whose whole nature are, for
the most part, refined and elevated.
But whence arises this mistake? Does
it not originate in want of thought2 Has
the parent, Of this description, ever reflect
ed at all on the subject2 Does he know
any thing ofthe manner in which juvenile
tcharacter is formed2 Does he understand
\ clearly that he is 10 be. the arbiter, not Of
THE fortune only. but ofthe fate of his house
hold? ..........
| Had we not so often witnessed the SEN
EsibiIitY Of most parents in regard to some
of the wants and woes around them, and
Their utter insensibility in regard to others,
lit might be difficult for US to believe that, Of
which we now have the fullest assurance.
We could as soon be induced to put bitter
for sweet or sweet for bitter; and with
nearly as little difficulty, be led to confound
! light and darkness.
There must be something so incompa'-
1 ible in the idea Of a vrtuous, refined and
sensible family, whose social hours present
! scenes-if such can any where be found
which, more thar any thing else below the
sun, give an antepast Of high heaven, with
bird cages and their suffering inmates scat
TERED over their otherwise we'll arranged
and well.ordered premises.
Let US look at the history of these poor
birds. Born 20 milder climate, they are
d with the EXTREMIST difficulty sustained in
tours, when watched with the most assidu-
Gus care. Many die, sooner or later, vic
1tims to the excessive or unnatural heat OF
1.-The rooms in which they are. kept; to say
: nothing of those that die from the long
Lcontinusd cold, Many die from the bad
air tney breathe, and the bad, halfpoison-
ed food they eat Many die for the want
! of the pure light Of that luminary. which
was made for the slave as we'll as the mas
r tiers T..
But it is not the early death of these
-, beautiful creatures alone, which ought to
i call forth. our pity. The living are more
to be commiserated than the dying. W.
mean by this, that the long sickness which
: they must suffer, and the unnulnberet
. pangs they must in all probability endur,
in silence, long before nature gives up th,
= struggle, should awaken, if aught hal
! power to do it, the moss unrehecting; ant
: rouse from their stupor the most stupid.
# We have not yet so much as alluded Il
= the suffering and wo induced by the mer
d CHESS war inflicted on the unofendin!
n tribes, in order to secure them; or to tn
" numbers slain or wounded in the war; O
IS to The loss of thousands on the voyage {
e TRANSFORMATION. Yet this is an item in tn
i grand account; an item too. in the accour
IS Of somebody. at the grand tribunal. w
m are aware, that where there is no la
. there is no transgression; and that ignc
IS rance, when that ignorance is in no wis
10 voluntary, is partial apology for VIII
q. would Otherwise be crime. Yet who
re he-where is he, that can plead an invo
of untary ignorance on the subject before U
,o in a country studded with Bibles, Churc
In es and SchooI-houses? On Somebody "
OF repeat it, then, an awful responsibility mu
3D. rest, The whole weight Of the guilt
- frightening, hunting, wounding, starvin!
nd freezing. roasting, smothering, fetterlu
to Wandering the nyriads, not only Of slngIn
e. birds, but of all other living beings, who
of the folly, the avarice. the cupidity of ma
ed have tempted him to seize and convey fro
ID. country to country, even at the hazard
,ut his own life and the lives of many fello
IN man-the whole weight of all this gui
o. we say, rests somewhere. Not 2artlc
ler Of it is forgotten in the mind Of God. n
eat sparrow faileth to the ground witho
he his notice no, nor ever will. Not drs
of of the blood OF those over whom We we
he placed as lolds, but not as tyrants, to bic
he but not curse, falls to the ground, witho
we eliciting a cry of vengeance that shall
Cor heard. and must be heard before the Etc
is nal Throne. = -.
Il would not enter on my list of friends
- saws Cowper, "the man who needless
seis foot upon a worm" Neither won
we, if we could help it. More than tn
= we would abolish, if we had it in our POI
er, every form of slavery, from the slave
. of the Silver trout, or the gold or silv
RS. fish, to that of the huge elephant. '
Ter would abolish it, by supplying smort
Z of desire to see something new rather than
on imp rove, and to feast ourselves on distt
ton rather than pure nature, with the 10
tn of true, healthy pleasures, and with he