Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-12-18
KINDNESS TO ANIMALS.

and professional men. This club has recently
taken up the humane work of looking after
animals and prosecuting those who maltrcat
them. That there is plenty of work in this
State as well as in other states, for the hum
anc friends of the dumb creation is lamen-
table fact, and we can but wish the Boosters
success in this undertaking. We hope others
will follow the example
This is a proper time of the year in which
to consider mans duty to all his fellow beings,
for, was not our Savior Graded in a manger?
Did not His blessed mother, crowded out of
the caravansary, find shelter among the
beasts of burden? Does not this furnish
beautiful text for Christmas sermon on kind
ness to the animals?
God, in the beginning, gave to man domin-
ion "over the fish of the sea, and over the
fowl of the air, and over every living thing
that moveth upon the earth Man was crown
ed monarch over the animal kingdom But
his rule was not to be one of tyranny, or
terror. In this kingdom man was to learn
the principles of government by which God
rules. And that principle is love, for God
is love" Only in so far as man learns this
principle of government is he fit to become
ruler, hereafter, in higher kingdom
The Scripture is full of passages dealing
with this subject. "a righteous man, we read,
"regardeth the life of his beast" The law
of Moses instituted the Sabbath for the cattle,
well as human beings. "In it thou shalt not
do any work. thou, nor thy son, nor thy
daughter, thy man-servant nor thy maid
servant, nor thy cattle, nor the stranger that
is within thy gates The life of animals
must not be taken wantonly
"* If mans convenience, health,
Or safety interferes, his rights and claims
Are paramount, and must extinguish theirs;
Else they are all, the meanest things that are,
AS free to live, and to enjoy that life.
AS God was free to form them at the first
Who III His sovereign wisdom makes them
all"
Great men have always been kind to animals.
Abraham Lincoln could not see even such a
lowly specimen of Gods creatures as a pig in
distress without assisting it. The Prophet
Joseph taught his people not even to kill a
rattlesnake, needlessly. The story is told of
theodore Parker that when young boy, he
one day came upon a large spotted tortoise
bask1ng in the sun. He had seen boys torment
squirrels, and the thought flashed through his
mind that he ought to kill this tortoise. He
seized stick and lifted it when suddenly he
heard voice: 1T is wrong" The boy looked
round and saw no one. Then he fastened to
his mother and told her of his experience.
What was it," he asked, that uttered that
voice." The mother said: "Some men call it
conscience, but prefer to call it the voice of
God in the soul of man. If you listen to it,
and obey it, it will guide you right"
Nero, on the contrary, took great pleasure,
III youth, in tormenting animals. And when
he became man he laughed in boisterous glee
over the sufferings of the martyrs There are
a great many incpient Neros among the bows
of our age They like to torture frogs, birds.
insects, cats, and dogs, and to mistreat horses.
COWS, sheep, etc. The effect on their minds
by the practice of such crueltes is most de-
plorabe. The boy who kicks dumb brutes
kicks brutality into his own heart and he be-
comes unfit for the duties of husband, a
Idtner, CltlZen, or an of1Clal IN church or
state, as was Nero.
Plutarch has said that "The obligations of
law and equity reach only to mankind, but
kindness and benehcence should be extended
to animals of every species; and these still
flow from the heart of well-natlred man, as
streams that issue from the living fountain"
This is doctrine that should be taught to
every boy and girl.
The burning words of eloquence often are
naught but hot air.
It will be Merry Christmas in spite of and
not because of high prices.
The House insurgents seem to have aban-
doned the idea of belling "Uncle Joe"
The Nicaraguan embroglo may be tempest
in teapot but it is a hummer of its kind.
In this Nicaraguan business Uncle Sam
cannot do better than to adopt Davy Crockctt's
motto.