, 1872-11-03
4 TEXT FOR SUNDAY.


4 TEXT FOR SUNDAY.
There is an excellent opportunity just now for
our clergymen to recall the fact that civilization
began with focIs and herds OF useful animals;
and, in spite of the progress that has been made
in art, science, and the means of transportation
and locomotion, it requires but an experience OF
a day or two with the Horse-Disease to demon
strate that they are IS necessary now as in the
times of Abraham Isaac, and Jacob. It has be-
come go common Of late years to associate the
PROGRESS Of the world with the railroad the
steamboat, the telegraph, and the other useful
inventions and applications Of man's genius,
that nothing less than a general disablement of
the brute forces, such as prevails In Chicago to-
day, could persuade mankind that We arc still
as dependent upon the dumb animals as
the nomads Of Arabia were when Jacob
tended Labana tlocks. Take away horses and
oxen from the world without supplying their
places with corresponding animal forces in ma
ture, and civilization would cease. The earth
could not be cultivated to sufficient extent to
0Q111au l118 LII ElL!ES Lut10 hO04A Do l%A-
rib1e loss of property, By fire and disaster, which
can nov be contronedand ayerted. Everywhere
the greater exposure Of human life would breed
disease and death. The decentralization of society
would inevitably follow, and the ruling idea of
civilized communities would necessarily give
WAY to the selfish rage OF barbarous times.
There is some use, then, even for the Horse
Disease The lesson which it teaches is the
more necessary because it had almost been for
gotten, and certainly it has nowhere been prop
erly appreciated. Now that the wholesale mer-
chants find their business clogged by their in
ability to carry goods to and from the depots,
they begin to understand that = great railroad
centre is not the chief thing requisite for their
SUCCESS Now that the retail merchants find
their stores empty, they will be inclined to place
| higher estimate upon the lines Of street-cars
and stages which the horses propel. Now that the
theatres and concert-rooms present q beggarly ar
ray Of empty benches the managers will compre-
| bend that the horse is somebody. The ministers
| themselves may discover, this morning, that
something more than eloquence is necessary te
draw an audience. Religious devotion may find
practical expression in pedestrianism, and pc
destrianism will increase the growing attach
| ment for the dumb animal that has suddenly
come to the eurface. Everywhere and among
all classes-e1cept, possibly, the veterina'
ry surgeonB,-the result Of the present vista
ton must be q practical revaluation of tht
horse which will tend to give him his true place
in civilization and, it is to be hoped, amelioratt
his condition in life.
It is probable that the preachers, with al
aptitude for hitting the popular topics Of th'
time only second to that Of the newspapers, wil
make the Horse-Dsease the subject of their in
structions for to-day. The topic is fruitfu
one, even from a religious point OF view
Balaam's ass may speak again, and with accent
more sorrowfnl and complaints more narrowing
than Of old. But the ministers Of the gospe
should make their treatment Of the presen
emergency essentially practical. The sermo,
that shall point out, and insist upon, the oh
eeryance of humanity to the brute creation
will be productive of the best results. Il
animal life, horses are like men and womer
They require oxygen, light and rest for thei
preservation and health. The practice G
crowding them together in low, damp, and dar
places is tolerated where the same treatment {
human life would arouse universal indignation
The filth of stable life, where large numbers
animals are kept; the inhuman exactions TIN
are made upon the exhausted Physical cond
tions of the horses the manifold abuses ths
are ordinarily to be found in the stage and c&
, companies, are frst-rate texts for the pulp
Il NAV well be doubted whether the hanging
1iquor-seller would furnish so tine spectac
to point moral and adorn tale as the empt
streets and disordered stables Of our city Al