Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-12-19
SPECIAL PROVIDENCE, OR WHAT ?

In our issue of Saturday we published
dispatch from Ricevile, Tehama county,
relating very curious circumstance. An
old barn had been used as roosting.
place by flock of turkeys for some time,
and this old barn caught fire and was
burned. But the remarkable fact is that
on the evening before the fire the turkeys
" for the first time deserted the barn, and
:" at roosting time voluntarily chose
"perch near the house." The question is,
how did these turkeys know that the barn
was going to be burned? The easiest way
out of the puzzle would no doubt be to de-
ny the truth of the story. But it is certi-
fed to US by two highly respectable and
intelligent citizens, one of whom happens
to be the district school teacher. 1t is
quite evident from the facts that the tur-
keys had received warning of the danger
that impended, and equally clear that they
considered this warning trustworthy. Now
let US suppose that instead of flock of
turkeys, number of children had been
accustomed to sleep in the barn ; and sup
pose that on heevening before the fire these
children had been impelled mysteriously
to choose another sleeping. place; how
would the episode have been characterized?
Beyond question it would have been called
especial Providence. And if it would
have been called special Providence in
the case of children, how can it be any.
thing less than special Providence in the
case of the turkeys? That animals and
fowls may be the subjects of special Provi.
dence would seem indeed to be believed in !
some quarters, for at religious meeting in
San Francisco last week preacher told a |
story of how on enc occasion he had been |
rewarded for keeping the Sabbath by |
being enabled to steal an egg, the layer of |
which egg, brown hen, had walked into |
his room and there deposited it. This
preacher believed that the brown hen had |
been sent to him by God, but it is to be
observed that when animals or fowls of |
the air play any part in special Providences
of the conventional type, they merely
minister to some devout Christian,
whereas the turkeys of our story |
saved their own lives. The question |
of how they obtained their information |
is really very interesting one, but if they
obtained it in perfectly natural way, as
we suppose most of our geaders will con-
clude, what becomes of the special Provi-
dence hypothesis as applied to Man? The
obvious fact that animals reason pre-.
cisely as men dc, has been evaded by the |
pretense that instinct does for them
what " reason" very often fails to do for
human beings. But to say that such a |
proceeding on the part of an animal is the
effect of instinct, does not explain the pro-
ceeding and when the latter, as in the
present case, actually transcends reason,
the instinct theory lands us in a predica-
ment, for it compels us to admit that what
we call instinct may be much higher de-
velopment of the pereeptive faculties than
is attained by what we call reason. The
turkeys of our story evidently knew in ad-
vance what children would not have known
in advance. The owner of the barn did
not know that it would be burned that
night, but the turkeys knew it. And the
question is, Where did they get their IL
formation And why was this case Lot
special Providence