Evening star., 1924-11-25
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

Happy is the family where there
are plenty of pets but no petting
parties.
Every household 10 the better for hav-
Ing among Its members some furred
animal, such as a dog or cat, or a
BIRD, maybe parrot or canary, upon
~hlch tne surplus affection of the
family may be Iavished.
Surplus affection, like nets. is
something that every family ought
70 possess. and most of them would.
II, they had something to take them
out of themselves. This Is what a
| pet animal does.
NOT only does dog, for instance,
furnish an inexhaustible topic of
conversation for the whole family.
put ne teaches the children the near :
ing OF Kindness. If you think there
% no necessity for the latter, stop
ana recall some of the terrible ex-
amples of meanness among American
youths which OF recent months have
attracted worldwide attention.
Dogs. cats. rabbits. white mice.
ponies, parrots, canaries. love birds
chickens, pigeons, even raccoons, are
among the favorite pets of bows and
girls OF the United States and OF the
men and women who will never out
grow entirely their childhood.
Wherever you find one OF these
creatures well established in a family
you hnd little community, truly the
primary social group of our land. in
which life is better than In the family
| next door where no dog barks or no
cats meows.
We may live without pets, OF
course, but surely not as we'll
4 x
| recall well known local busi-
ness man. n person of many affairs
whom his associates perhaps never
suspected of having fondness for
animals.
Yet this man had unutterable woe
In his eyes one morning. so much Sc
that he was asked what was the mat
| ter.
Some cuss ran over our little dog
last night" he burst forth, as II glad
to unburden his feelings. Just a
little poodle that had been In our
family for years. not much to look at
but real member of the family. you
| know
I'VE thought the world of that
little dog. And last night some mean
bird deliberately ran over II when II
| was playing out front. Why, that
dog never hurt anybody in the world
a
! had to murder it,"
So. you see. this thing of seeming
deliberate automobile murders has
not grown from nothing. The man
who would delight in Intentionally
| running down dogs and cats would
soon want to try his prowess upon
| larger game
There Is nothing surer. in this
world. than that most acts have some
reason of being; that they had an
! inception some time. somehow, some
place: and that they did not spring
out OF nothing. like Minerva was
supposed to have done from the head
of Jove.
Thus the big problem Of prevention
In all the walks of our complicated
life, runs far back to little things
small things often laughed at by
those who have given no thought to
the matter.
Show me a man who will deliberate
| ly. for no reason at all. kick dog
! will show you one who is all ready
to run his automobile full tilt into
some innocent pedestrian.
That Is one important reason why
every family should have pet animal
! Possession of such a pet allows the OBJ
serving parent to discover any mean
| streaks that may develop in his children
| and so makes IL possible for him to
attempt to correct these faults. which
! if allowed to develop unhampered, might
| lead to prison or worse.
Besides all this, a pet teaches chill