Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1904-05-14

lief held by multltudes; 1t Is a belief
I'm the transmigration OF souls. This
means. in popular Interpretation, that
after a man dies his soul passes into
the body OF a dog or a cat or horse
or a lion and so lives on through the
coming ages. II he is mean man
then he becomes a mean beast like q
tackal or hyena, II good man then
his soul takes upon itself the form OF
a noble beast; but though In Christian
ized America we do not believe In the
transmlgration of souls We may see
around us an analogous phenomenon.
When man abuses dumb brute he
IS not punished by having his soul at
death pass into the body OF jackal,
but he takes on the character OF those
cruel, bestial four lc'ged scavengers
of the desert, and he becomes one OF
them in his nature. Every time the
old Mexican skinned a lamb alive,
thinking that thereby the meat was
made the sweeter, he destroyed that
moral sensitveness which enabled him
to distinguish between right ana
wrong. Every time boy transfxes
fly with a pin and then laughs TO see
It wriggle and squirm In Its death
agonies that boy is fitting himself 10
become a monster, a murderer and q
DESTROYER OF men. Nero, the Roman
demon. became the inhuman monster
he was by first, as boy, learning TO
take pleasure in the sufferings OF his
nursery pets. Every man takes upon
himself the heart Of savage animal
when he abuses the helpless dumb
brutes that God gave to him as de-
pendents.
Cause of Moral Degeneraoy.
What is today one Of the chief causes
of the moral and spiritual as well as
the temporal degeneracy of Spainf IL
is without doubt due to the bestial ana
brutalizing tendencies Of the merclless
bullfight. When on the Sunday follow
ing Easter and on subsequent Sundays
the IL 1000 spectators gather about the
arena Of Seville or the 1900 watch
the arena of Madrid and the 1900 en-
circle the arena Of Valencia, they are
gloryIng In the vice which has been
the moral and spiritual death Of their
country. These Spanish bullhghts al
WAYS take place on Sunday because
| they are held to be the sacred nauonal
| game. A famous American traveller
tells us that at each bull6ght between
six and eight of the fercest Kind OF
bulls and from twenty to forty horses
are killed. The waving Of the red man
tles. the shooting Of the darts, the are
ma soaked with blood, the screams OF
the dying horses dragging themselves
around. sometimes with their entrails
IN full view Of the excited populacei
the mad charges Of the enraged bulls
combine to make scene OF horror In
describable and one which 1t Is I'm
nossIble for the civilized American tc
| fully grasp. When the famous kraRReeiis
co Romero de Runda taught the Span
ish people how to scientifically abuse
and madden and torture to death
| four legged brute he made 1t possible
for the people themselves, by looking
upon such scenes OF horror, to become
worse than brutes. No human beint
can be unmerciful to a beast withou
himself after awhile growing merci
less In his dealings with his fellow
men.
Trained by Kindness.
The Humane Society OF America, II
teaching man to be kind to the duml
brute. has a second practical mission
II teaches that harshness and bitter
ness and cruelty do absolutely no goo'
in the training and the true sub1uga
ton of an animal. A cruel maste
never was able to get the best result
out of a horse Blows and Kicks ant
cuffs only make stubborn horse III
more stubborn and the balky anlma
the more set in his traces. neve
learned this lesson In more lmpres
sive way than when | passed two sum
mers almost within stones throw
one OF the best stock farms In thl
country. What magnificent animal
those were! Racing horses were nc
raised there, but the best blood 10
carriage horses and rOadsters or a
sorts. Their clean limbs, their fasf
ing eyes, their high strung. neryou
organization, made those animals tn
pride Of almost every stable they Ell
tered. Yet the whip was never use
, upon them. They were trained almos
, entirely by kindness. After the COLI
had been allowed to run In the field
Z for about three years, always, howeve
) being petted by their owners, the
were ready for the harness. The mrs
: day on which the bride was put upo
= them O strap was fastened on the FOL
\, hoof to teach them that they mui
II mind. That was all. After the hr'
two or three days the horse learne
that IL be plunged the strap would
applied to raise his forefoot and kee
, him on three legs. Having learne
q the lesson he ceased to plunge, and Il
i use Of the strap was discontinue
Then these colts were quietly hitcht
!. by the sides of the older horses al
q / driven out to plow. The drivers ne
4 er 1erked them, but always talkt
!. kindly to them and cOaxed them. AL
q though those horses seemed to nay
n within them all the pentup ambition
4 Jobs war charger, smelling the Da
:. tie from afar," yet In the hands
4 their kind masters they became gent
q lovable and docile.
eI Power of Gent1eness.
FL An old, grumpy, dyspeptic philo
q opher once said, "The more | see
3 me the better l like dogs That
e not my idea. But the more | see
b dogs and horses and cattle the more
think they are like men. Supposlr
you were horse hitched to carriag
a Supposing every time you made a mi
# step there was whip like kni
q ready to cut into your skin, would N
IS your nerves be continually unstrunl
10 Would you not always be ready