The Wilmington daily Republican., 1901-12-02
FATE b THt HIIfII6k
Hs~v II Has shows t6e ssftsalns ~
Ausnoe Of the PrisSiplss
Of Religion.


pervades Sll nature, except among civ.
ilized men. that the old and stricken
shall be left unassistsd to their fate
A veteran South African missionary
tells of lion that in Kaff1rland walked
into church where a religious servics
was being conducted. The congrsga-
ton at first was terror stricken, but
1t soon appeared that the lion was
helpless from age, and incapable of
harming anyone. Upon this two of
the natives seized HIN, one by the
mane and the other by the tail, and
bundled hun out Of the church. Once
outside he was knocked on the head.
1t Is dismal fats, that OF the lion
who survives the combats and aoci-
dents of his youth and prime and
passes into old age. There Is , likeli.
hood that with the weakening of his
fighting powers he will get killed by
some younger rival In one of the con-
tests that lions SO fiercely fight with
each other over the favor Of some lion
ess. But if he survive. the king o
beasts, who once pulled down tn.
giraffe and buffalo, unable now to
catch and kill big game, finds himself
reduced to tramp existence and the
pitifnl indignity of fighting with
hyenas and jaokals for the leavings Of
the meals of younger and stronger
lions. And so he fingers miserably on,
until. weakened to the last degree
through age and starvation, he crawl
to some sheltered spot and dies.
An engineer who lived many yea.
in India told of an experience he had
with tiger IN one of the northern
provinces there. Hewas surveying in
the jungle, and as he stood, with his
bearer, by the instrument, he saw
tiger emerge suddenly from the jungle
and strike down one of the chainmen
a native, a hundred yards ahead
Everyone who has lived In India knows
the terror and confusion that come
upon party Of fi,en in the Jungle when
the cry Of "tiger!" is heard. The en-
gineer took his rifle from the bearer
at his side, determined to fire upon
the iger al whatever risk OF killing
the man. But to his astonishment, an
stead OF picking the native up and
dashing away into the jungle with him
after the usual fashion of tigers in
such cases, the beast actually fumbled
with the man-tried several times to
pick him up and failed At that the
engineer ran toward him to get near-
Ell shot. The tiger did not seem to
perceive him until he got quite near;
then faced him, growing and switch
Ing his tail. At 20 yards away the en-
ginecr gave him two shots in the head,
and the tiger fell dead in his tracks.
The man got up from the ground and
ran for IL in way that showed he was
not seriously hurt. Upon examina-
ton the tiger proved to be a very old
one, with scarcely vestige Of a tooth
in his mouth. His thin condition
showed that he had been on short comI
of his markings were dull. For lack OF
teeth he had been una Bile to carry
away the man, although he had
pinched him severely with his jaws in
the efforts he had made to do so. En-
cept for these pinches, which were
painful enough, leaving the flesh black
and blue, and some claw marks, the
man he had seized was unhurt.
Among some African tribes OF can
nibalistic tendencies, the aged and
feeble members Of the tribe, no longer
useful as working or fighting mem.
bers, are killed and eaten; and in gen.
eral, among uncivilizsd peoples, there
is an utter lack of kindly considera ton
for the old. But how different the
case where the principles of religion
have softened the hearts of men, and |
introduced the idea that human life
IS sacred and the law oflove especially |
imperative In the attitude OF men to-
ward children and the agedl Itis be-
fore such facts as these that all mere
ly technical arguments against reli.
gton go down In defeat. "For every
tree is known by his own fruit
Christian Work.