The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1909-04-24
GEORGE T. AHGELL's GOOD WORK.

If our forefathers were harsher to
their sons than they are now, they
were likewise harder on their animals.
In 1868, two horses were driven to
death in a race in Massachusetts,.
Such an occurrence could scarcely
happen now. 1t was the sight of the
death of these two animals which
spurred on George Thorndike Angel
to devote his life to the prevention of
cruelty to dumb brutes. At the time
George 7. Angel was Boston law
yer, forty-6ve years old. He had al
ways been interested in animals, and
from boyhood had had peculiar gifts
/ n inspiring confidence in them.
Fierce dogs that others feared to ap-
proach would allow him to do as he
pleased with them, and horses so
ugly that men had great difficulty in
handling them, stood quietly for him.
He could quiet noisy dogs on the
country roads, sparrows and pigeons
flew to him for food, and a pet canary
used to follow him about the house.
His letter to the Boston Daily AdSer-
hser describing the cruel horse race
which he had witnessed aroused great
interest and helped forward the for
nation of the famous Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
The mayor of Boston gave George 7.
Angel the services of seventeen po-
licemen for three weeks to collect
money for the society, and it was not
long before the Massachusetts, Legis-
lature enacted the laws Angel want
ed, making 1t illegal to starve, mis-
treat or put to death in cruel ways
any animal or to transport them i'm
properly by train. Angel established
the paper, Ouy Dumb AnimaLs, as the
organ of the society, and in 1882 he
began organizing the American Bands
ofMercy. To-day they number more
than sixty thousand in the United
States and British America, and in
clude a membership of more than
three million boys and girls. 1t was
his conviction that the spirit of kind
ness toward dumb animals must be
instilled into children if the work of
his life was to be suitably crowned
and cruelty was to be prevented every
where. What he has accomplished
for mercy is written in the statute
books of every State in the Union and
in the hearts of millions of young peo-
pie. The movement is so we'll estab-
lished now that his death recently
will make comparatively little differ
ence to 1t, but his kindly heart and
energetic pen will be much missed.
No higher er,logy could be written
on the tombstone of GeorgeT. Angel
than that by which he was known
throughout the United States and
abroad, "The Friend of Dumb Ami
mails" His splendidly active life
was closed at the ripe age of eighty
FIVE, after brief illness. He was,
perhaps, the most conspicuous fighter
for the rights of dumb beasts that the
world has ever known. Henry Bergh
was of similar type. DR.. George
T. Angel, who was graduate from
Dartmouth and from Harvard Law
School, was Intellectually well
equipped for his battle in humanity's
cause and his publications brought
thousands of people, possibly millions,
to his support. He founded the Mas
sachusetts Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals ard for years
was its president. In 1889 he founded
the American Humane Education So
ciety, and during his lifetime had
travelled extensively through this
country and in England, organizing
seventy thousand Bands of Mercy"
He also took an active part in organi.
cation for the prevention Of crime and
for stopping the sale of adulterated
foods. In 1905 DR.. Angel crossed
swords with President Roosevelt when
he criticized the Presidents hunting
trips and wild beast Staying expedi-
tions. His publication, our Dumb
animals, was barred from the Wash
ington public schools. Not even an
approximate estimate of the extent of
DR.. Angell's influence can be made,
but it was very wide; and now that
he rests from his Iabors his works will
follow him. Such lives are not lived
in vain. .-CHrlstiam Work and E0an-
gelia.
"YoUR husband says he works like
a dog" said one woman.
eyes it's very similar" answered
the other. "He comes in with mud
dy feet, makes himself comfortable