St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1878-11-15
Be Pitiful.
A PRACTICAL SERMON ON THE CONDUC'
OF MEN TOWARDS ANIMALS.

lie lOllOWluS 10 d pau WI du CACCi'
lent sermon by the Rev. T. S. Perry, O
Cumberland Centre, Maine, from the
text in Peter, iii. 8, "Be pitiful":
Arthur Helps once said, "UpOn {
moderate estimate think | have heard
in my time one thousand, three hun
bred and twenty sermons and do moi
recollect that in any of them | evel
heard the slightest allusion made to the
conduct of men toward animals. | think
it would not have been wasteful ex-
penditure of eXhOrtatiOn, if in two pei
cent. of these sermons the humane
treatment of animals had been the main
subject of discourse"
1t is my purpose to-day, before speak
ing of mutual kindness among men, tC
say something of kindness toward ami
mails. For reproOf and eXhortatiOn on
this subject there is only too good Oc-
cason. 1t is not to be doubted that
mans rightful dominion over the beasts
of the field and the fowls of the air has
been terribly abused; and that, even in
christian communities, the inferior ami
mails have a long dark account against
us. The cruelty that is often, very of
ten, practiced by keeping domestic ami
mails without proper food and shelter
in the treatment of mans nOblest brute
ally, the horse, by overlooking, over
driving, or otherwise abusing him while
vigorous, and by turning him over to
the professional tOrmentOrs when old
and lame; by transporting and slaugh-
tering domestic animals so as often to
cause unnecessary, and sometimes eX-
IRENE suffering by performing, what
Oliver Wendell Holmes calls ''the ac-
cursed tricks of science, "-such as put
ting the smaller creatures to death by
depriving them of air, or in other cruel
ways, or vivisection without an9sthet-
les to destroy sensibility. The cruelty
practiced il these, and know not what
other ways, is not pleasant to think of.
That the Creator intended the lives
of his creatures to be pleasurable, is
perfectly plain and all things in nature
are disposed with an evident view to
this end. Life in its humblest forms is
plainly meant to yield, and under nor
NAL conditions it does yield, its meas
ure of satisfaction. Even those crea-
lures that are designed to be food for
others olive happily up to a certain
point, and then cease to be-" 1t is not
pleasant to think that mans unnatural
inhumanity is one of the great causes,
if not the chief cause, of suffering to
those lower animals, which should find
in him a protector and benefactor.
The advantage that generally results
from treating animals kindly, seems to
me plain indication that the Creator
designed and desires them to be treated
kindly. He has certainly made it for
our interest to treat them so. Cruelty
to the smallest creatures is apt to bring
with it or after it penalty; and kind
ness a reward no less. The vast in
crease of the various pests that so an
noy the farmer, and often render his la
boz fruitless, is largely due beyond
doubt to the ruthless destruction of the
birds. Audubon says woOdcock will
eat his weight in insects in single
night. DR.. Bradlee says a pair of spar
rows will destroy more than three thOus-
and caterpillars in week. A martin
has been seen to feed its young five
times with insects in as many minutes.
The chipping sparrow is known to feed
upon the moth that produces the COM
mon orchard caterpillar. Woodpeckers
are constantly freeing orchards of in
sects and their eggs, which they skillful-
ly discover beneath pieces of dead bark.
Robins are continually hunting for
grubs and worms which they devour in
great numbers. The grasshopper plague
of the West, which threatens to become
as calamitous as that of the Eastern To-
Gusts, is attributed to the wholesale de-
structiou of the prairie-fowl. Austria,
Italy, and Germany, have all taken, OF
are taking, measures for the protection
of their birds. 1t is we'll known that
many of the great cities have had to
import birds to free their shade trees
from vermin. The noble forests of oak,
walnut, and beech, which the squirrels
have planted for us, compensate us
many fold for their rare and trif1ing
depredations. Sailors have an amiable
superstition that the wanton killing OF
a harmless sea-bird will bring storm
and disaster and probably the wanton
killing of anything disturbs the harmo-
ny of nature and brings harm, just as
kindness promotes the universal good.
That kindness to domestic animals
pays, is well known to every observant
farmer. Sometimes striking instances
occur in which the kindness bestowed
is returned many fold. Hiram Taylor
of North Hampton, n. H., a man noted
fol- his kindness and gentleness to his
cattle, was returning home one winter
evening with loaded team, when, en-
deavOring to step upon abe Ox-sled, he
fell before it. The oxen stopped as
soon as they could, and before the man
was crushed but one of his arms was
caught and firmly held beneath the
runner of the sled. He could not pos.
sibly extricate himself, and he saw toe
plainly that if the cattle should start
he must meet horrible death. AnC
the gentle and grateful creatures
though hungry and nearly home, stood
still enduring the intense cold for two
hours, rather than crush the man who
had always treated them kindly. He'll
came at last, and Mr.. Taylor, frGzeI
and nearly insensible, was rescued, =
saved by his own kindness.
1t is not, however, by direct returns
from the creatures we kindly treat, tina
we are best repaid for our kindness
The comfort and satisfaction which
kind man experiences in his kindness
rewards him; and of still greater ant
higher value is that moral culture
which by the exercise of kindness b,
secures.
Our first lessons in harshness or gen
tleness, in cruelty or kindness, are APP
to be learned in connection with on
treatment of animals. John Brigh
lately wrote as follows: 'If children
at school can be made to understan,
that it is just and noble to be human,