Evening star., 1945-06-30
This and That
By Charles E. TrdceUell.

"HYATTSVILLE,M Md.
Dear Sir:
Thank you sincerely for your reply
to D. G. defending mans best friend
the dog. Any one who has had Just
once. a devoted dog companion would
not have written letter OF like caliber
had they been at all sensitive to such
devotion.
Even the reading of Senator Vests
tribute would not reach very far into
the consciousness of one who believed
as he writes.
I'VE, personally. like all animals and
birds, with few reserva tions. but dogs,
because of their acute intelligence, are
our choice.
"One receives love unsurpassed and
answering devotion from his dog whom
he has treated kindly-he giving all.
asking nothing, only just little love
and care. Sincerely C. w. T."
y X X
~ STREET Sc.
Dear Sir:
Il cannot conceive any human being
whose soul is so small as to begrudge
the kindness shown to dumb animals.
When God created animals and man
he also created food for the birds and
squirrels. etc, but the human animal
is the worst of the lot; he begrudges
even the small amount they eat. He
just can't bear to see them eat cherry
or the poor squirrel eat nut.
when one sums up the good the birds
do by eating worms, etc, maybe the
trees would have very little fruit and
we would have very few trees if the
squirrels did not bury the acorns and
without trees we would have no rain. so
you see our friends of the animal king
dom pay large dividend.
Il have had animals all my life and
I am 30 now, and I have never seen
one that did not respond to kindness
and pay for their keep hundredfold
Your column is JOY to our family.
We look for it after scanning the head
lines on the front page. Thanks for a
lot of good reading.
Respectfully, A. G."
X X
All animals form a sort of chain of
creation, chain which is dangerous
to break. if we want the affairs of nature
to continue at a normal place
Hence individual likes and dislikes
mean little, from the broad viewpoint.
Whether one likes a dog, or a cat, or
squirrel or dislikes dog, or cat, or
squirrel, simply means that little
push up or little push down has been
set in motion.
1t is the aggregate of the pushes that
makes a difference. During the past
300 years the tendency has been all
toward the upward push, until political
ambitions of the Axis powers brought
in human slavery, and with it unnatural
cruelty. and so indifference toward the
animals and the birds.
We of this world of ours will have
to work all the harder, now, to Offset
the inirnical effects of these forces of
hate, cruelty and indifference.
We believe that each one of us should
try to see the good which all animals
do, as our correspondent points out, and
to realize that each one has its place.
Being human, we cannot get away
from our likes and dislikes, but we
should attempt to cultivate our likes,
and to push down our dislikes as far as
possible.
Thus If we like the cardinal, and dis
like the jay, let us admire the cardinal
even more-and at the same time try
to find something to admire about the
jay.
Where our admiration is, there is our
heart also; and if we admire little, at
first, we may end by liking great deal.
This Is the way of the Allied world,
let us hope, In distinction to the ways
OF the discredited Axis powers"