American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1876-01-22

Man has been distinguished from brutes
as a cooking animal. But he has another
characteristic almost equally distinctive.
He keeps pets. 1t is true that sometimes
this characteristic is shared by individuals
of other races. A horse has been known
to become attached to the stable cat and to
pine in the absence of pussy. So, too,
dogs have allowed n corner of their ken
mel to SOME stray animal dcmcsticatcd
about the house, and odd friendships
have been cemented between creatures ms
different as n goat and jackdaw, or a
rabbit and foxhound. Such brotherhood
between tame beasts, all living in a state
more or less artificial, is only rs natural as
the talking of parrot, the piping of u
bulltinch, or the trained labor of canary
taught to work for its living by drawing
its water with bucket and a chain. We
never heard of n cat that loved a dear
cricket to cheer with friendly chirpings
her leisure on the hearth. No puppy has
been known TO LAVISH tender caresses on
the radiant head of an iridescent bluebOt-
tie. The hen whose limited intellect reels
before the watery instincts of brood of
ducklings is the victim of parental affec-
ton laboring under a base deception.
But men pet many creatures besides their
offspring, suppOsititious or other. 1t is
true that a modern naturalist finds in an
ants nest certain wcll-cared-fo beetles,
and endeavOrs in vain to account for such a
mysterious fact. Are the beetles scavengers
or are they pets? Or are the ants enducd,
like men, with superstition, and do they
vcncrate, like the ancient Egyptians, a
coleopterous insect: Starlings show a
preference for certain sheep. Every croc-
odile may be supposed to be the favorite
of a particular lapwing. But these in
stances answer rather to the sportsman's
prediction for a well-stockcd moor or
the fly fishers love for a shady pool. No
kitten leads about a mouse with blue rib
bon round the little victims neck, as .
child caresses the lamb which it may one
day devour. The child shows its petting
instinct at the earliest age and loves a
woolly rhinoceros as soon as it loves sugar
and apples. Long before the baby can
speak, as soon as it can open and close Its
tiny hands, 1t longs for something soft
and warm, and above all something NOV
ing, which it may grasp and pinch at
will. No worsted poodle, however cum
ningly contrived in the toy country, can
compete for a moment with a real puppy.
The pleasure of breaking all the legs
Ark pale In insignificance beside the
rapture of pulling pussy's tail and half
binding living terrier. The cat and
dog endure from the infant the fortunes of
Damien without complaint, and purr or
wag their tail at each fresh inf1iction as
q new manifestation of regard. Vivisec-
ton is a trif1e compared with some of the
unwilling cruelties of the nursery; but
the victims seem to understand that their
pains are not intended, and it would be
well if like self-sacrificing enthusiasm
could be fOstered in the scientific labOra-
tory.
That people do keep pets and do mis-
use them is q plain and unquestionable
fact. Why they keep them is another
and much more difficult question. Some,
it is true, have dislike to the destruction
of animal life. Cardinal Bellarminc
would not disturb the fleas which got their
livelihood in his famous beard. Others,
again, have been driven to love q swallow
from the mere loneliness OF prison life,
and the only reason for doubling the
name of Bruce with q spider is that sim
liar tales have been told of other famous
men, The story of Lady Berkeley who
insisted on keeping her mcrlins to molt
in her bcd-chamber, and her husbands
consequent displcasurc, occurs among the
annals of the fifteenth century. Little
dogs figure on brasses; and the names of
"Terri," Jake" and DO" have
come down to us as memorials of PETS
beloved 500 years ago. Cowper, beside
his hares, petted all kinds of animals, and
demonstrated in verse with his spaniel for
killing fledgling. Oldys apostrophized
fly, and Burns a mouse. We think it
was Carnot, in the Reign of Terror, that
lavished caresses on his dog, while he
sent hundreds of human victims to the
slaughter. In fact there are few people
come to mature years who at some time
of their life have not loved a dear
gazelle or other domestic animal, and
been gladdened by its affectionate eye. A
taste which is SO peculiarly human may
be humanizing if properly directed The
child, indeed, will rob a nest to satisfy its
longing for pet. But it is easy to demon
strate the cruelty of interfering with natu-
raj laws, and the speedy death of the half
fiedged nesting demonstrates clearly
enough the futiIity of the childish aspira-
tions. The sympathies of Bill Sykes, cal
lOus as he was, were awakened toward his
dog, and even Charon may be supposed
occasionally to bestow friendly pat on
one of the heads of Cerberus Although
it has often been remarked that love of
the horse accompanies, If itdoes not cause,
the degradation of many a man, yet it
would be hard " ascribe the inlquities of
a blackleg to any true love of the ami
NAL on which he lays his money. Doubt
less the horse of Caligula preferred his
oats ungilt, and it is the uncertainty of
racing rather than any fault of the racer
that attracts rogues to Newmarket and
EPSON. A horse would run quite as
well, the race would be even more often
to the swift, if betting could be abol-
ished. And our prize costcrmongers
4nd cabmen find kindness to their
animals, like honesty, the best policy.
The donkey that is starved and beaten
seldom favOrs his driver with more than a
spasmodic gallop, while the sleek ass we
now occasionally notice in our streWs
draws more than his own weight of heavy
men at a cheerful and willing trot. The
principle on which pets are kept is, how
ever, sometimes difficult to find. We were
all Mortified, lately, to read of an old lady
who starved q household of cats, and
every Indian traveller tells shocking tales
of the cruelty of the Hindoo to the hump
backed cow which he worships as adivin-
ity. Cruelty to pets is only one aspect OF
the matter. There are people, especially
in towns, whose Kindness to their pets e
exercised at the expense of their neigh.
bors. So long as they are an amusement
| to their owners without being nuisance
to the public no one can complain. There
are, il is true, crusty people who would
| like the world better if it contained neither
kittens nor babies. But it cannot do real
harm to anybody that an old lady should
turn rabbits loose in her garden in order
to reduce the excessive corpulcnce of hel
darling pugs by little wholesome cours
| ing. 1t is good for her pets and does MOI
hurt the neighbors. Reoieao.
Origin or the Term "BrOther Jona'
than.
A I'M