Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1892-07-07
MAN AND DUMB ANIMALS.
HAVE ANIMALS RIGHTS AND MORAL
CLAIMS UPON Us.

llVered IN faris before convention u
vegetarians recently:
THAT animals have rights and moral
claims upon us is al essentially modern
nineteenth century idea. Antiquity
will be searched with very little result
for the trace Of such genuine feeling
for animals as is manifested IN the
present DAYS Animals have beea re-
garded by some with supersttiOus rev.
erence little akin TO love, as by the
Egyptians or HindoOs, or again as the
mere tools and slaves of man, as by the
mass of European nations, but bro
therhood and right to pity, fOrbear-
ance and equal justice has been no.
where conceded to them. Perhaps in
ali he writings of antiquity the nearest
approach TO this is the relation of the
Eastern shepard AMI nis sheep. In the
vast Solitude bordering on the desert,
the shepard wandered many lonely
mile with no companion but his ileecy
charge, he came to feel union and
fellowship with them which the dweiler
in cities could not understand. And
no words have come nearer to the
hearts Of millions than the references
to the shepards life and care Of his flock
scattered through the psalms, or still
more the imagery in the new Tesla
ment of the Good Shepherd, whose
voice his sheep know. who knows his
sheep and is known 10 them. VINO cares
for his flock and goes into the wilder
ness TO find one straggler, which he
carries back IN his arms. and who fin
ally lays down his lie for bis flock.
But even IN the Scriptures animals are
chatels, food. or victims, not friends
Of men or fellow creatures.
"ln the the Had there are the horses
who weep over the body OF PatrOcus.
In the Odyssey the touching picture of
Ulysses hound, grown old aud neglig-
ent in his absence is presented The
hound is he first t. recognize his old
master lie wigs his tail To greet him
and droops his ears Ulysses, indeed.
lets fall tear, but passes Oa, and The
old hound drops aud dies with that one
look at his Muster after twenty year,
The PRACTICE II sacrifice. especially on
i large scale, had the effect It'd olden
times If hardening men hearts to-
ward. baas... assuredly the slaughter
III beasts III Roman amphtheatcrs aud
uf bulls and horses in Spain have had
the effect Of that kind Cicero, in this
as in many ways ahead ut his g9nora
ton in moral feeling, had limited 40
opinion of the cruelty OF these shows.
bat he was almost alone in his view.
The objection entertained by the early
Christian teachers to the same shows
were rather on the ground of the per
secution. If which they were made the
instrument, aud OF the immortality
which the theaters and amphltheaters
encouraged. and not on the ground of
the cruelty practiced just as in latter
times Macaulay afiirms that the Puritans
objected to bear bait ny not because it
was painful TO the bear. but because il
gave pleasure to the spectator. There
are few signs in Latin literature Of
kindly or noble feeling toward ami
mails Catulus lament over the spar
rows death has more feeling for the
mistress than the bird Indeed the
keeping OF pet dogs, pct birds aud pet
lambs is no more a sign for true feel
ing for animals than the taste for splen-
didly bound books IS a sign for true
love for literature.
Even Virgil has no conscious feel
ing of mans brotherhood 10 beast. Ii
never occurred that there was any
cruelty in the spectacle OF an OK
slaughtered ut the altar in the presence
of a holiday crowd even when the blow
vas awkwardly given and the poor
beast broke believing away. But
nevertheless he felt the mute tragedy
of their lives. In the third book of his
Georglcs in passage of great power
and minuteness, Virgil describes a
great cattle plague. aud tells, among
other incidents. how il ften happened
that rs Il pair of oxen were dragging
the plow through the fnrrow one OF
them would suddenly drop down and
die. The plGwman sadly unyokes the
survivor. The stricken beast lies ut
tering his last groans No more can
meadow land or pure stream touch his
heart, his head grows heavy and his
eyes grow dim. As he thinks of the
poor beast Iviug helpless, the poet sees
its glazing eve and its mute, help
less appeal He thinks OF all it has
done tor man now So powerieSs to help
it, He remembers tn sweet natural
ness and temperance of is life, and in
voluntary compares it with the ntem-
perauce and ambition which IN the case
1T men bring their own punishment,
while they diminish the claim 10 pity.
iniSh Ga, claim to pity Tho fancy of
The poet ia fact is concentrated on the
,utleriues If the aniaal rs it might be
we're be dies riding tile ike death Of
human cr. allure. He feel, tor the mo-
meut E0l 0ulN the tfauadX of tina ami