The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-11-25

ANIMALS NO THE rOftE.
Animals are having their innings these
days. They are getting fiattering attention
in quarters from which they could hardly
have expected it-namely, in current liter
ature. 1t is nothing new. of course, for
birds, and beasts. and creeping things to
figure in books. The serpent entered into
history along with our first parents. Sam
son had little amusement out of lions and
foxes, while every youngster who has
ever been inclined to treat his father with
disrespect has had narrated to him the sad
fate of the Hebrew children who were
eaten by bears because they spoke rudely
of Elisha's bald head Later on, Aesop
had a good deal to say about animals In
his celebrated fables; they very wise
those beasts in the fables, and possessed
a good many more human attributes than
they are commonly credited with. There is
reason to believe, indeed, that Aesop was
less concerned with them as animals than
with the use he could make of them a
club with which to thwack his fellow-be-
ings.
A disposition to endow animals with a
human intelligence has existed among all
primitive peoples, and their beliefs and
traditions have descended as folk lore.
Horses, dogs, bears and other four-footed
creatures figure in Indian legends, en-
bowed with superhuman intelligence.
Uncle Remus'' has given us glimpses of
the astonishing sagacity of "Brer Rabbit
in his delightful recitals of negro tradi-
tons. There is, in fact, no limit to the ex-
tent to which animals have been persona
fed and made to take on human character
istics whether they really possess them or
not. The modern literature dealing with
them takes a little different direction, how
ever. 1t considers the animals more as
they actually are. Kipling. in his Jungle
Books" endows the wolves. the panther.
the bear and the rest with power to COM
municate and to reason, and with several
qualities they may or may not possess:
but, in the main, his evident purpose is to
set forth honestly and fairly the individu-
atty and real characteristics of the ami
mails themselves. One feels better ac-
quainted with these creatures of the forest
after reading these tales, and in closer
sympathy with them, though no reader of
discretion would presume on the acquaint-
ance. Next comes Seton-Thompson, claim
ing to portray wild animals as they are,
and endeavoring to look at the world of
men from their point of view. He has lived
in the woods next door to them and studied
them in their homes, SO to speak; he knows
methods of thought and action. The word
Thought is used adv;sedly, since no one
who knows animals well can doubt that
they think. Doubtless. he idealizes them to
some extent; perhaps the coyote on his
native heath will not be more pleasing to
sympathetic pen has given a new dignity
even to that pariah among beasts, and be-
cause of his skillful presentation of the
animals side of the case and of it's belief
that it has right to live, it is not unlikely
that more than one hunter. hunting merely
for sports sake, will stay his gun.
But it is not only in literature animals
flourish. A wide and genuine interest is
being taken in them in real life. Probably
all that has been written has stimulated
this interest, but at all events they were
never in such general favor. Domestic ami
mails take on a new Importance. Never
was such heed paid to dogs, their pedigree
and their care Even the despised and long
suffering cat is coming into its own Cats
of pedigree. registered cats, cats of high
price, are now in demand. Books are writ
ten about cats and cat shows are acquir-
ing the dignity OF society functions
Geological gardens are increasing in num-
Der and Importance, and are places Of in
terest to all classes of citizens, from chill
dren TO scientists. Societies for the pre-
vention of cruelty to animals are, every
season. more numerous and more strict in
enforcing their requirements, and every
year fewer broken-kneed horses and
starved dogs are to be seen on the city
streets. 1t is all part of the development
of civilization and of the finer human
qualities. and in that light is to be well
coined 1t is not likely that respect for ami
mails will ever reach. In the western world.
the point long since attained by the Hin