The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1883-07-21
A Human Society.

A Humane Society.
Several meetings have been held in this
city at which preliminary steps We're taken
to form a Humane Society on these Is
lands. The purpose intended to be accom-
pIished by the organization is to prevent,
as far as possible, cruelty. net and to en-
animals, but also mfGanity in all.
That such q society is needed here no one
will we think, for n moment doubt. We
all know that there are many acts of cru
city practiced daily both on beasts of bur
den and household pets, and not only that
hut we regret to say, on children as well.
Experience elsewhere has shown that the
general laws of a country are not usually
framed so as To- adequately and promptly
meet cases of unprecedented cruelty, and
where the punishment for such acts is only
administered after some time has elapsed
ii is generally inadequate.
From the fact that ''what is everybody's
business is ~nobody's," these general laws
remain a dead letter. 1t is to bring about
an active enforcement of existing laws, and
to further the enactment of such others as
may be found necessary, 10 prevent cruelty
to living creatures, that this society is pro-
posed to be formed. 1t may be remembered
that we advised some little time ago
that such Il society should take into cOnsid-
Grafton plans for preventing cruelty to mon
human beings-and we are pleased to no.
tice that the committee chosen were in
structed to broaden the platform of the pro-
posed society so as to embrace the idea that
children shall nave rights which their 2Uar-
dams are bound to respect.
We feel especially that careful watchful-
ness should be exercised in regard to the
treatment of tender little children. The
eminent New York society was organized
solely for such a purpose, which might
seem to be utterly superficial to all persons
in possession of ordinary human faculties
who would presumably be tender to chill
dren, yet a good deal of watchfulness is
necessary to save them from the cruelties
practised by those who are supposed to be
their best and only friends. Cruelties in
dress should be inveighed against, cruelties
in discipline and what is considered as the
cOnquering of stubborn wills, which inva-
Tiably brushes a child's ardent spirit and
makes him moody, gloomy and sometimes
deceitful.
Let us quote q couple OF instances that
AVE come under our notice. \ parent once
~tyrannically insisted upon the consumption
of an article of food that was positively re-
pulsive to his children he had a large
quantity, a firkin, of a certain kind ofbutter
that had arrived at it's last stage of decay,
yet his children were forcibly compelled to
consume the repulsive article, and not one
of them ever forgot or Overcame the sense
of injury awakened by the parental ty-
ranny. In another case a father detected
child Of Fl va or CT Uaa ~ of na IN, fon
ing a falsehood, and held the infants hand
in a burning fire that he might compre-
bend What future punishment awaited him.
What can be thought again of a mother,
are almost ashamed to say it of one of
the sex, who, in a fit of drunken frenzy, so
maltreated and frightened her own son of
two years of age, that he was seized with
congestion of the brain, and has ever since
speechless. Think of the fathers
feelings then and ever since, what respect
could he yer again have for such a woman
or can we blame him for Il hatred of the
whole race. This child as he grew older
loving, affectionate and obedient, with
a single fault, at every opportunity he
would escape from his home and his mother
find his way for miles through
he most busy parts of a large city
III 1T ltdCheu MS ldlHeT place OF
business. Sometimes he got lost in
he crowds for he could not ask his way,
hen the father would watch and search
for the wanderer, who, some
ines was discovered miles away and lays
afterwards. Let us stop. for the very
bought of such deeds and actions makes
Is shudder, yet they are true. ''Children,
emember to honor our parents" and to
we say, "Provoke not your child to
yrath.n
In Boston, on the Revere House, at the
Dot Of a very steep Hill is a notice posted on
he wall asking drivers to ~"unfasten the
heck string before going up the hill"
here are many more less important OPP
ortunities in which a society such as we
peak of can exercise a vast amount of
pod - such as to prevent tying up 1
orses for hours without food, using :
lem with sore backs, striking chill l
rem on the head or breast with the +
and. But enough has, we think, been S
lid with regard TO this most important t
l%ission; we do not hope to reform such a
by legislation, but will endeavor to t
and influence Hawaiian So Il
ETY. to be more humane, especially such b
ltures as do not realize the cruelty that q
lists in their almost every day actions. C