Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1858-04-07
From the Country Gentleman.
INnUMANITT TO ANIMALS PUNISHED BY PROV
IDENCE

Some poet has truthfully said that
"Man's inhumanity to man
Makes countless thousands mourn"
Of mans inhumanity and downright cruelty to
dumb animals, something equally true and still
more severe might be said, and easily sustained
For, though there seem to be good reason 70
thinking that humane sentiments and dlsTost
tions towards the dumb creation are bectnihg
deeper and stronger in those who possesSes U's;
nally the germs thereof by inheritance o consul i
tuition, aud are being imbibed from II prevail, evan
ing current of feeling, even by thos1 'ho seem &c IN
to have been born with very hard tsarts, ye. sun
;S ;ns abunJant ] foundation for /; asiderably wide
aau to his care his conduct express
those guilty Of it, to the ~ treprehension Of the
more mercful and the Gore excellent ones of
the earth; and it is arInquiry of no little inter.
p,t to determine howsuch persons are regarded
and am y treoted bv q i,,t and merciful Providence.
~ How then, dos Providence deal with those
| who are pulty inhumanity and Indifference to
| the comt0rt oithose animals which have been
committed their care and charge? Those
wbo corr,,,ut this inquiry as far as their own
observaopf, aided by those of others, will ad-
init vii BIZ led to the discovery Of considera-
t;on, which very few seem to have attended to
sS laid to Yeart. They will discover, for exam
pie, that tbs species Of wrong doing and guilt
does not Escape any more than any other, the
| lust and evere retributions Of a bene6cent and
watchfulG lGovernorship, which is really kind, even
| when it junishes with apparent severity. They
will fin, to condescend to q few details, that
| those po are 80 inhuman and Indifferent to the
needs nd comfort of their brute animals, as to
let thd pick up in the latter portion of the fall
| or eaE part Of winter, an insufficient amount of
nutrij tent from the scanty and frost injured
grssJs of their meadows and pastures, and in
a4S9kn, let them be out in the cold and chilly
Soos1a of that season, have their stock become
uphill YORK OF rnpuss1u1e to get them through
the ,rfnter, while at the same time they obtain
ndch less milk or wool, or meat, or work from
animals so mistreatcd, than those who deal with
their stock more justly and humanely. Under
such treatment, with continuance of insufficient
food and shelter through the winter, sheep die,
calves become little stunted runts, cows give lit.
tie or no milk lambs come still.born or die in q
few days, cattle become so week that they cannot
do the work that should be done in spring, and
damage and losses accrue in other forms beside.
Want of sufficient food and shelter in fall, winter
and early spring, produces such results. Teams
so mal.treated cannot draw plow put down to
a proper depth, and thus the scanty crops, from
fields plowed only three or four inches deep, con-
tinue the providential punishment throug ghout
the whole year.
Such are some of the ways in which wrong
doing is rebuked and punished, evil-doers warned
and called to repentance and reformation, and
the experimenting watchfulncss and regard for
rights, justice aud mercy, Of the Supreme Gov.
ernor and Disposer Of all things vindicatcd and
made manifest before the eyes of His intelligent
and responsible creatures. Alas that so many
shut their eyes that they see not these reributive
nor heed the lessons they were
wisely and mercifully intended to teach and in.
culcate! A.