Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-04-17

Now that Be Kind to Animals week
is about ended, some bright soul ought
ito promulgate Be Kind to Humans
week.
There is a week for everything
why not for us?
There is a Thrift week and an Eat
Apples week and a week for flowers
and a week for gas ranges, as well as
this very happy Be Kind to Animals
week.
1t would seem, with so many weeks
in the year, that place might be left
for seven consecutive days devoted
to thinking on the problem Of human
kindness.
1t is all very we'll to be kind to
animals. The growth of this move
ment has been one of the heartening
facts in modern civilization. If any
one becomes pessimistic, and imag-
ines that the world is getting worse,
he has but to think back over the
history of animals in relation to hu-
manity.
The four-footed friends of man have
not always been treated as they are
now. Once it was common to torture
cats, to throw them into fires keen
them there until almost reduced to
jelly, and then let them escape to
stagger around for the edification OF
inhuman humans.
Wild tribes of the Cobb Desert, il
Is declared. still indulge in the prac.
tice of skinning wolves alive, then
or raw flesh, to run themselves to
frantic death.
Unpleasant?
Then thank God for Be Kind to
Animals week and the humanity
winch the movement represents
Every man who cherishes his dog or
cat can feel sure that men and women
are getting better and better.
Yes, 1t is all very we'll to be kind
to anfmals-but we want folks to be
kind to us, too!
We are essentially animals. despite
the clouds of glory which trail be
hlnd US to this earth. Our immorta
souls do not mitigate against the fac,
that 1t Is our first duty to be good
animals, as Herbert Spencer said.
SO comes about the demand for BE
Kind to Humans week. Amid the
hurly-burly of life, set around with
Springtime and lilacs, cool, sweet
breeZes and odors, comes the feeling
that we might be kinder to each other
Just as some ministers are so en-
crossed with the technique of the pull
pAI anu lilc uulIeS Oh lnelr ONCE thai
they forget sometimes to be quite as
good Christians as nine-tenths of thei,
flock, so most of us are so deep in life
that we ordinarily forget the necessf
ty for human kindness.
We are kind to our own, but seldom
bother much to be kind to others. We
watch out for our own family, we are
good providers" and besides that we
do not see much duty calling US.
1t Is this trait in human nature thai
makes for all the everyday unkind
ness which one is forced to witness.
Let the preachers take care of the
gross lniquities, l am more concerned
with the little, day.by-day things thai
are not ordinarily regarded as serious
enough to merit attention.
1t Is, however, by paying attention
just to these little things that we
grow into the stature of real great
ness.
Show me a man who is kind to his
own dog, VINO burns with indignation
| when he sees a boy mistreat a cat
and 1 will show you one who has
taken the first step toward being KIND
to all children and animals.
Many folks have a precious tender
ness for savages in far-off lands who
would not move a step to help the
| little savages just around the corner
With them we have no quarrel. They