The Washington bee., 1909-02-06

~ "a elN POSii, lllC pOSt says
that she was
"By all who came to know her
For her tender heart beloved"
But, alas, how different when we
pass from poetry to the rough, tough
world.
She, the living Westmoreland girl.
what does she get in return for her
immeasurable services in a hallowed
course? Love and esteem? Not by
the multitude To her mary other
difficulties is added the difficulty in
an age of vulgar prejudice that the
African race can boast of her as par
TALLY theirs.
People who pretend to understand
and appreciate the thought in the
Ancient Mariner"
He prayeth we'll who loveth well
Both man, and bird, and beast.
He prayeth best who loveth best
All things both great and small,
For the dear God who loYeth us
He made and loveth all; ;"
not only remain absolutely indiffer
ent to the actual suffering of their
non-human fellow-beingS, - brought
about through the dire cruelty
of man, but go to work and with the
time-honored weapons of sneers and
ridicule, not reason; desecrate every
movement in behalf of their rescue.
To give to the haunted, prosecuted
cats of city a place of refuge is not
a "joke" except in the imagination
of barbarians. Yet Mrs. Beckley,
who keeps shelter for stray cats, has
often told me of the insensate ridiculc
to which she is exposed. But she
has the strength to ignore it, for she
is mature enough, sympathetic
enough, to realize the real tragedy of
the situation. She told me of how
she once rescued a cat from sewer,
while a mob stood around laughing.
She heard the faint cry of a cat; she
found out it came from a sewer
wherein representatives of the human
race had sportively thrown the un-
fortunate ;she gave her last quarter
to man who passed by to get his
unwilling help in the opening of the
sewer lid; and there, while a mob
to whom all suffering is sport
except their own laughingly congre-
gated around her she saw the cat
still struggling, swimming, crying,
placing her little paws on the steep
brick wall in the endeavor to get a
foot hold; but all had been in vain
until this fearless reScuer passed by.
If this is a "joke" all tragedy Is, and
if to bring aid in such a case incites
but the laughter of the human race,
so much the worse for the human
race. Yet such is the situation,
Mrs. Beckley's noble soul is afame
with compassion for all that suffer
wrong. Her sympathy knows nc
boundary of race; but, with moth
er's tenderness, she pleads for. al
oppressed. Amid hardships unimag-
Unable, she kept a whole winter
horse whom she had rescued from
cruel hands. Every time she came
to the gate the outraged horse, who
had hitherto known in man but a
fend, responded in joyful neighing'
He knew his protectress full well. He
was a wreck when she received him,
starved, diseased, and his body full
of open sores. She tended him and
healed him; he grew in strength as
she declined. For while she gave to
the horse, she faced starvation her
self. She came home loaded with
food for him, and even the seller
cursed her for feeding worthless
horse. Such was her thanks for res
cuing from dire oppression a being
from whom man exacts all the ser
vices he can without a thought Of
even fair repay. When summer
came. after six months of rest and
loving care, he stood a strong and
able horse, and Mrs. Beckley found
for him a good home in the country.
The parting was sad both for her and
for the grateful horse, and Mrs. Beck
ley never speaks of it to me without
the tears coming into her eyes.
She, poor and wornout did the
deed of rescue which the comfortably