Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-01-15
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES :. TRAcERELL.

We are coming to the conclusion
that the liking for animals is a special
sense.
May we not say gift?
In this regard the world seems to be
divided sharply into two classes, those
who regard animals with special ten
derness, and those to whom they are no
more than inanimate things.
Those in the latter class may or may
not be cruel. 1t Is not SO much cruelty,
with many, as sheer indifference. To
them a dog or a cat or a horse or q
rabbit or a squirrel is simply a thing.
If it meets certain demands, it is ac-
cepted; If 1t does not, it is brushed out
of the way with no more thought than
if it had been a block of wood.
The psychology of such a person is
utterly outside the understanding of q
person in the other class. And his
mental makeup. OF course, is regarded
with wonder by the other.
The person who has no liking for
animals fails to understand the keen
personal, humanized way in which the
animal lover regards his furry friends.
To him it is absurd that real money
should be spent in order to protect
them, or that inconvenience Is to be
sustained to care for them, or any par
ticular thought be placed upon them
in any way for any reason.
Here one finds as hard and fast q
division of thought as exists in the
everyday paths. It would seem, at the
present state Of human progress, that
both lines of thought are necessary.
No matter how much the animal
lover might desire that all men be even
as he, in their regard for the creatures,
he is willing to admit that 1t Is inn
possible, in the very nature of things.
His susceptibility to the appeal Of
dumb brutes, as they are called-not, it
must be said. with much point, be-
cause they are far from voicelesS-iS not
possessed by the person at any less adj
vanced point in civilization.
Thus the animal lover unblushingly
puts forth his claim to be civilized in
admit the necessity for those whose
livelihood makes them cruel to the
beasts, he claims for himself. by con-
traSt, much higher point in the ranks
Of civilized beings.
* X \ X
Whether this point Is necessarily bet
ter, as viewed as from distant star,
he is not able to say. All that he can
say is that it seems better to him.
Those who are able to MAIN and kill
without compulsion are not his kind,
ana ne kLOWS ~, AIIIlOuBn 1lC OA1cES 4lO
particular structures against them.
Where he differs from them is in
being fair. These others, once they
perceive that he disapproves of them
and their activities, instantly resent
his difference, and Immediately call
him all the names they can think of,
unable to understand that one may
differ and still respect, or at least
what shall we Say?-tolerate.
The inability to differ is one of the
strangest restrictions of the human
spirit Whole groups of men set them
selves into a fury merely thinking about
the way that other men disagree with
them. Nations are unable to stand the
mere thought of difference of their
neighbors. Thousands OF men in the
United States, who by no means have
ever seen member of the Russian
communistic republics, and who never
will see one, nevertheless begin to froth
at the mouth every time the subject
Is mentioned. Yet that land presents
an interesting spectacle to him who is
interested in mankind as it is, not as
he might like 1t to be, or thinks 1t
should be.
The friend Of animals fights an up-
hill battle in world still overwhelm-
ingly utilitarian.- If the fur Of this
creature can be sold for q profit and
thus supply necessary bread and but
ter, who Is the idealist who shall tell
any one that he shall not trap what