Waterbury Democrat., 1901-08-09
GAME PRESERVING

There was a time, not so very long ago, when hunting was the chief amusement of the English aristocra- cy. The country squire prided him. self on his thoroughbred horses and hounds, and the care with which his game was preserved for the pleasure of himself and his. friends. This tra- dition was handed down from genera tions long dead. When England was yet partly unreclaimed wilderness hunting was in fact a sport fit for kings, for it takes as much bravery to risk death by the hungry jaws of pack of wolves or fierce wild boar as in the form of an arrow or the stroke of a battle-aXe. But this time did not last very long The life of the. noble was too precious to be risked in this fashion, and so, when the gov erning power became more valuable to the iand than mere brute strength, hunting gradually came to be more or less of a farce, with all the danger taken out of it. There was just enough risk ill riding to hounds to make it the most popular of all sports and just enough skill was required to shoot pheasants or hares to make the business q little more serious than play.
 As time went on, therefore, the pre- serving of game became serious mat ter for the English aristocrat, for the land was becoming thickly populated, and manifestly, if everyone were al- lowed to shoot game there would be none left to shoot in little while, and then wrere would his sport be? He still clung to the idea that there was somehow more amusement i'll shooting at live creature than aiming at d mark 1n6 fhaf in11 was more essentially that of gen. tleman. The feelings of the animals were not considered. Compassion for the victim was held to be womanish and unmanly. All such sentiment was put utterly out of the question.
 We have, therefore, two factors in the situation; disregard for the suf- feringS of animals and a conviction that their slaughter was a business peculiarly fine and manly. Mark the effect of this on the public sentiment of England In the first place, game laws had to be passed making it un- lawful to kill, trap or snare animals of the varieties desired to be preserved This was not all. Forests had to be kept for the purpose of affording this game it's natural home, in the case of animals such as the deer or the wild boar. Early in English history the result of preserving can be seen, for as far back as the time of William the Conqueror the destruction of poor folks huts for the making of the .'New Forest'' reused anger and bitterness among the English peasantry. There was said to be curse upon the forest, of which the death of William Rufus, while hunting there was alleged to be result. That was one of the first effects of the belief that the sport of hunting was more valuable than the welfare of living beings. The poor, who kill animals for food only, were driven from their homes and into towns in order that nobles might have the 'sport' of prolonging the death of the animal by chasing it in the ortho- dox fashion.
 This tradition continued unbroken for almost thousand years Within the memory of persons now living, men have been imprisoned for shoot ing or snaring hare to feed their starving families. The landlords sport was worth so much to him that it was ill his eyes a crime that the poor tenant should interfere with 1t even in case of life and death. He was so possessed with the idea of the importance of preserving game to be shot by himself and his friends that he left the care of his tenants to mid dlemen whose only interest was 10 make as much -as they could out of both parties. iHeepaid more attention to thoroughbred animals than to the condition of his peasantry; it was more important in his eyes to be a good shot than a good landlord. It is curious fact that any sort of un- necessary cruelty seems to pervert the In<,I 1.,4-~ This does not apply to the causing of suffering for q good purpose. The suc- cessful surgeon is often a most tender hearted man, unwilling to inhict u sin gle needless pang the soldier is at his best when he never spends a life needlessly and spares suffering when ever it is safe to do so. But when man begins to lose sight of the useful end to be achieved-when the yiyiSec- tionist becomes interested in his work for it's own sake, or the soldier IS possessed of the lust of battle for the mere sake of killing then that man begins to degenerate. The aristocra cy which made sport an end in itself that is, took delight in the mere kill ing of harmless animals made their estates byword and reproach. Laws were passed forbidding the farmer to kill the hares that rayaged his crops; he must sit up at night, after his hard day's work, to scare them away. He could not remonstrate if a hunting party trampled his standing grain; it was ill the sacred name of sport. Naturally, landlords who so utterly lost sight of the rights of human be- ings in their pursuit of amusement, did not take any great pains to im- prove the physical, mental or moral conditions of those beings. The labor CTS house was a hovel and his fields were farmed in the most primitive way His nature became degraded, and he seemed even less intelligent than his masters hounds, for the very good reason that he was less cared for. The whole business was a peculiarly strong proof of the callousness which overgrows the nature of q man who closes his ears to the cry of suffering, brute or human.
 
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