The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1873-09-03
LAMBERTyILI4E n. J.. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1873

many dogs are there now in the world who
for ever return blows and Entertainment with
devoted service, and who would in All instant
leap into fire Or water 70 save the man who
the moment before had been kicking or
scourging them OF course it Is common to
slur over all the stories Of such magnauimify
when it is dog who has been the hero, with
that stupid word g Instinct.'' But If We an
alyze what we mean by instinct in such a case,
we win find that, IL the act loses moral eieva-'
ton by the absence of delibeative choice 1t
gains almost as much in lovableness by the
simplicity and Inconsistencies with which
tho grand self-sacrifice Is achieved 1t is not
that dog PUSHES blndly to death and dan
ger. He knows just rs wen as a man does
the risk he runs and fears pain, and clings to
existence as much as we. But with him,
love and generosity are SO overpowering that
he has no need to stand debating whether he
shall give himself for another. 1t is the
spontaneous wish of his fond heart to do SO.
and without one hesitation of self-regaldiul
pity, he performs the act for which saints and
heroes fit themselves by a lifetime of virtue.
did not myself see--I am thankful was
spared-the sight once described to me by
that great artist and tender hearted man,
John Gibson, He said that he was one day
walking in Venice and came upon crowd of
men and boys engaged seemingly in some d.
version. Presently he saw in what the
"sport y consisted. A fine large dog, old and
driven, on a small islet of sand about twenty
yards from the shore. The animal was of
course defenseless and shclterless, and the men
were peltiug it with stones and broken bricks
and pottery. Whenever. one of these missiles
hit the dog the crowd roared with laughter,
all the more lively when the wound seemed
serious, or the dog gave vent to a sudden cry
of pain. 1t was not, however, making much
moan in its misery. One leg was broken,
one eye blinded, its body covered with bruis-
es, and obviously, by-and-by, perhaps after
half an hour more, some stone more merciful
than the rest might crush its brain. Mean
while, the dog stood still and patient, looking
4 piiiul and inquiringly at the men who were
jeering at his death agonies. "What have
done?" Gibson said it actually seemed to
ask)--" What have done but love and serve
you all my life, that you should deal with me
bthus?n But no one, save the gentle-hearied
! Englishman, who could do nothing amid that
savage crowd, needed what the dog might
have been in the past or might be feeling now.
Rather was it special jest to see how mild
the creature looked, how helplessly he bore
the pelting of the stones and shards. And 80
Gibson turned soraowfully away, and as he
passed down tho street the Shouts and laugh.
laughter of fiends over suffering, which, alas
has rung in every land, and many and many a
time has echoed over English fields, or down
the streets of English towns even as we are
told it did in Paris, when the lost retriever
fetched the stick for the geudaimc, who there
with Immediately knocked out his brains.
There are a few men who feel only for them
selves. There are many who feel only for
their own families and friends. Then come
those who feel for their own class, their town
folk or fclow-countrymen Of recent years,
since the interests of men and women have
seemed 10 be distinguished from one another,
it has become apparent that there are thou
sands who cannot thoroughly sympathize with
the wants. suffcrings aud wrongs of the oppo
site sex. Lastly, the power of feeling for an
imals, realizing their wants, and making their
pains our own, is one which is 'irrcgularly
shown by human beings. A Timon may have
it, and Howard be devoid of it. A rough
shepherds heart may overflow with it, and
that of an exquisite fine gentleman and distin-
guished man of science may be as utterly
without it as the neither milestone One thing,
l think must be clear till man has learned
to feel for all his sentient fellow creatures,
whether in human Or in brutal form, of his
own class and sex and country, or of another,
he has not yet assembled the first step towards
true civilization, nor applied the first lesson
from the love of God. sfrf Tk6m senl
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