The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1895-11-01

pathize 10 the memories Rowland
Hill, the great English preacher, was
caricatursd because in his family pray
ers he supplicated for the recovery o.
sick horse, but when the horse go,
we'll, contrary to all the prophecies OF
the farriers. the prayer did not seen
) quite so much of an absurdity.
But what shall ! say Of the maltreat.
ment of this beautiful and wonderful
creature of God? If Thomas Chal'
mers in his day felt called upon to
preach sermon against cruelty to
animals, how much more in this day
is there a need of reprehensive dis
course. All honor to Prof. Bergh, the
chief apostle for the brute creation,
for the mercy he demanded and
achieved for the king of beasts. A
man who owned four thousand horses,
and some say forty thousand, wrote
in the Bible: "A righteous
man regardeth the life of his
beast" Sir Henry Lawrence's
care of the horse was beauti-
fully Christian. He says: II expect
we shall lose Conrad, though have
taken so much care of him that he may
come in cool. always walk him the
last four or five miles, and, as walk
| myself the first hour, it is only in the
middle of the journey we get over the
ground" The Ettrick Shepherd, in
his matchless "Ambrosial Nights"
speaks of the maltreatment Of the
horse as practical blasphemy. do
not believe in the transmigration of
souls, but can not very severely de-
nounce the idea, for, when l
and whack and welt and strike
and maui and outrage and insult
the horse, that beautiful servant of
the human race, who carries our bur-
dens and pulls our plows, and turns
our threshers and our mills, and runs
for our doctors-when see men thus
beating and abusing and outrag-
ing that creature, it seems to me that
it would only be fair that the doctrine
of transmigration of souls should prove
true, and that for their punishment
they should pass over into some poor
miserable brute and be beaten and
whacked and cruelty treated, and
frozen and heated and overdriven; into
an everlasting stage horse, an eternal
traveller on towpath, or tied to
an eternal post. in an eternal winter.
smitten with eternal epizootics! Oh, |
is it not a shame that the brute crea-
ton, which had the first possession of |
our world, should be so maltreated by
the race that came in last-the fowl
and the fish created on the fifth day,
the horse and the cattle created on the
of the sixth day, and the HUI
man race not created until the even
ing of the sixth day? 1t ought to be
that if any man overdrives horse.
or feeds him when he is hot, or
recklessly drives nail into the
quick of his hoof, or rowels him to see
him prance, or so shoes him that his
fetlocks drop blood, or puts collar on
a raw neck, or unnecessary clutches
his tongue with a twisted bit, or cuts
off his hair until he has no defense
against the cold, or numerically alb
breviates the natural defense against
annoyance-thats such a man
as that himself ought to be made to
pull and let his horse ride!
But what shall say of the effort be-
ng made in this day on large scale
10 make this splendid creature of God,
This divinely honored being, an instru-
nent of 'atrocious evil? / make no
ndiscriminate assault against the
turf. believe in the turf if it can be
conducted on right principles and
with no betting. There is no
more harm in offering prize
Tor the swiftest racer than there is
harm at an agricultural fair in offer
n e prize to the farmer who has the
best wheat, or to the fruit-grower who
1as the largest pear, or to the ma
,hinist who presents the best corn
,hresher. or in school offering
prize of copy of Shakespeare to the
best reader, or in a household giving
, lump of sugar to the best behaved
Prizes by all means. re-
wards by all means. That is the way
God develops the race. Rewards for
Ill kinds of well-doing. Heaven
itself is called prize: THE prize
Of the high calling of God in
Christ Jesus" 30 what is right in one
direction is right in another direction.
And without the prizes the horses
ieetuess and beauty and strength will
never be fully developed. II it cost
II. 900 or 5000 or $4,000. and the re-
suit be achieved. it is cheap. But the
lin begins where the betting begins,
'or that is gambling, or the effort to
ret that for which you give no equiva-
ent, and gambling, whether on a
arge scale or a small scale,
ought to be denounced OF men
Is 1t will be accursed of God. II
'ou have won flfty cents or $1,000 as {
wager. you had better get rid of it.