The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1876-05-25
what animals are Made For.


"For some good, dare say" replied
her papa.
Sophia. But I think they do great
deal more harm than good, for [ am sure
they plague me sadly and in the kitch-
en- they are SO troublesome that the
maids can hardly do their work.
Papa.-Fies eat up many things that
would otherwise become corrupt and
loathsome and they serve for food to
birds, spiders, and many other animals.
S.-But we could clean away every
thing that was offensive without their
help and as to their serving for food, I
have. seen whole heaps of them lying
dead in a window, without seeming to
have done good to anything.
P.-Well, then. Suppose a fly capa-
BILE of thinking would he not be as
equally puzzled to find out what men
were good for? "This great two-legged
monster" he might say, ''instead of
helping us to live, devours more food at
a meal than would feast whole legion
of flies. Then he kills us by hundreds
when we come within his reach and I
see him destroy and torment all other
animals too. Aud when he dies, he is
nailed up in a box and put great way
under ground, as if he grudged doing
any good after his death. f" Now, what
woald you answer to such a reasoning
fly?
ST would tell him he was very i'm
pertinent for talking SO of his betters;
for that he and all other creatures were
made for the use of man, and not man
for theirs.
P.-But would you tell him true ?
You have just been saying that you could
not find out what use flies were to us;
whereas, when they suck our blood,
there is no doubt that we are of use to
them.
SIT is that which puzzles me.
P.-There are many other animals
which we call g1oriOats, and which are so
far from being useful to us, that we take
all possible pains to get rid of them.
More than that, there are vast tracts of
the earth inhabited by few or no men,
and yet full of beasts, birds, insects, and
other living things. These certainly do
not exist there for mans use alone. On
the contrary, they often keep man away.
S.-Then what are they made for?
P.-They are made to be happy. It
is a manifest purpose of the Creator to
give being to life, for life is enjoyment
to all creatures in health, and in posses
sion of their faculties. Man surpasses
other animals in his powers of enjoy
ment, and he has prospects in future
state which they do not share with him.
But the Creator equally desires the hap
piness of all His creatures; and looks
down with as much benignity upon these
flies that are sporting around us as upon
ourselves.
S.-Then we ought not to kill chem,
if they are ever so troublesome.
Pr do not say that. We have 8
right to make a reasonable use of all an
i1nals for our advantage, and also to free
ourselves from such as are hurtful to us.
So far our superiority over them may
fairly extend. But we should never i'll
use them for our mere amusement, MOI
take away their lives wantonly. Nay, 6
good-naturcd man will rather undergo 6
little inconvenience than take away from
a creature all that it possesses. An In
FAINT may destroy life, but all the kings
upon earth cannot restore it. I remem
Der reading of good tempered old gen
tleman who, having been a long time
plagued with great fly that buzzeC
about his face all dinner-time, at length
after many efforts, caught it. Instead o.
crushing it to death, he held it carefully
in his hand, and opening the window
&c.," said he, "get thee gone, poo
creature. [ won't hurt hair of tn,
head surely the world is wide enough
for thee and me-"
ST. should have loved that man.
P.-One of our poets has written som,
YER pretty lines to fly that came t,
parfake with him of his wine. The.
begin
Busy curious, thirsty fly,
Drink with me, and drink as /;
Welcome freely to my cup,
Could'st thou sip and sip 1t up"
Slow pretty I think they vii
almost make me love flies. But pray
papa, do not animals destroy one onother
P.-They do, indeed. The maiorit
of them only live by the destruction 0
life. There is a perpetual warfare goini
on, in which the stronger prey upon tn
weaker, and, in their turn, are the pre-
of those stronger than themselves. Eve
the innocent sheep, with every mouthfu
of grass, destroys hundreds of small in
sects. In breathing air and drinking
water, we infict death on thousands @
invisible creatures.
S.-But Is not this very strange? ]
they were created to live and be happy
why should they be destroyed so fast
P.-They are destroyed no faster tina
others are produced; and if they eli
.joyed life while it lasted, they have nc
been made in vain. By making an
mails the food of animals, Providenc
has, as it were, filed up every chink {
existence. You see these swarms {
flies. During all the hot weather the
are continually coming forth from til
state of eggs and maggots, and as 500