Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1913-02-13
carry an injunction to so far regard the
lives of animals as not to wantonly
sacrifice them?

carry an injunction to so far regard the
lives of animals as not to wantonly
sacrifice them?
In leading religious paper of late
date is very interesting article en-
titled. Vacation Vagrancy." 1t appears
! that the people had gathered from raj
and near to a Decoration day celehfa-
ton and after TIE formal services We're
concluded, betook themselves to pleas
ure seeking. The writer then says:
We went to the lake, a whole train
load Of us. The leader of our Bap-
fist contingent had engaged boats by
| telephone a few days before. Many
| who had not been so thoughtful had no
access that afternoon to the sea OF
glass mingled with fire..
That was my first lesson. Shall 1t
be SO up there before the Great White
Throne@ Every duty done now is an
order for a divine delight then. Every
dailianee now means deprivation O.
then. We are forever sending ahead OF
US the specifications for our great day
Of rest.
| we shall not soon forget the rest
fulness of that afternoon. The splen-
did fishing. so abundant as to compel
the most awkward angler to catch ms
quota of croppies. pearch and sunflsh.
These good folks We're only thought
less-and they represent the large ma
jority of us But frankly. looking at
it apart from the eXhilaration of a fish
ing excursion with pleasant company,
does it not seem homogeneous to think
| of appearing before the Great White
1 Throne IN the presence of that 600
! without whose loving care no spar,
row comes to the earth, and then at
| once daSkng into delightful descrlp-4
ton Of "dalliance." the pleasure OF
which consists largely in the numbering
of Gods innocent creatures? The fault
10 iv,o, ftoy- hi
with ourselves that the facts so easily
! lend themselves to relations Of this
| kind.
| When the fish or other creatures are
4 taken for food it is very different, but
the character of such company as
that described and probably the quail
| ity of the fish indicate that the angling
was sport-pastime.
1t is argued by many that fish do not
feel pain Even We're this true we have
no right to wantonly deprive them OF
the life which is certainly pleasure.
! have known men, and women too. take
speclSled beauties from the brook and
throw them up on the bank to see the
rainbow ,ints upon the scales as the
/ fish struggle in expiring agony! Bryon
| says:
Parting day
Dies like dolphin whom each pang
Imbues with n new color as it gasps
away;
The last still loveliest tin It's gone,
And all is grey"
1 1t cannot be predicated of fish that
they do not suffer. and they may well
cry out as Shylocl did to the Chris
tians. IF you prick us. do we not
| bleed?"
Cowper says:
"An inadvertent step may crush the
| snail
4 That crawls at evening in the public
path.
| But he that has humanity forewarned,
Will tread aside and let the reptile
| live"
i But what shall we say of those who
in sheer wantonness tread aside from
their way and take pleasure In depriv-
ing harmless creatures OF life!
La 1t not relic of barbarismT-or
sayagery-akin to that detestably muir
derous disposition which leaves the
bones of the last buffalo whitening
\ upon the plain. which rounds up a
promiscuous lot of wild animals, and.
. while the poor creatures are trembling
with fright. shoots them down in cold
blood. which despoi]s the waters of
their beauty and the woods OF their
song. and is unhappy unless engaged In
killing something?
What fine spirit is that which has
its expression in the poets words:
II would not enter on my list o. FRIENDS.
Though graced with polished manners
4 and fine sense
Yet wanting sensibility-the man
Who needlessly sets foot upon worm :
One of Great Britain's foremost
statesmen having, when boy, been
presented with a gun, his father took
him into the copse to shoot something.
The boy carried his gun at the ready
and the father soon said, There's a
partridgez-shoot," and bang went the
shot. The bird fell but was not killed,
and as the boy went up, 1T fluttered
through un the grass to it's nest where her
chicks-just about fledged-saw their
poor mother put her breast against the
side of the wee bit housie" and give
up her life. Throwing the gun down,
& the how. with tears in his eyes, turned
to his father and vowed that he would
never shoot again.