The treatment of animals.—The difference between them and man.—Parental
affection of a dog.—Brutality punished.
After breakfast, Mrs. Mason gave the children _Mrs. Trimmer’s Fabulous
Histories_; and the subject still turned on animals, and the wanton
cruelty of those who treated them improperly. The little girls were
eager to express their detestation, and requested that in future they
might be allowed to feed the chickens. Mrs. Mason complied with their
request; only one condition was annexed to the permission, that they did
it regularly. When you wait for your food, you learn patience, she
added, and you can mention your wants; but those helpless creatures
cannot complain. The country people frequently say,—How can you treat a
poor dumb beast ill; and a stress is very properly laid on the word
dumb;—for dumb they appear to those who do not observe their looks and
gestures; but God, who takes care of every thing, understands their
language; and so did Caroline this morning, when she ran with such
eagerness to re-place the nest which the thoughtless boy had stolen,
heedless of the mother’s agonizing cries!
Mary interrupted her, to ask, if insects and animals were not inferior to
men; Certainly, answered Mrs. Mason; and men are inferior to angels; yet
we have reason to believe, that those exalted beings delight to do us
good. You have heard in a book, which I seldom permit you to read,
because you are not of an age to understand it, that angels, when they
sang glory to God on high, wished for peace on earth, as a proof of the
good will they felt towards men. And all the glad tidings that have been
sent to men, angels have proclaimed: indeed, the word angel signifies a
messenger. In order to please God, and our happiness depends upon
pleasing him, we must do good. What we call virtue, may be thus
explained:—we exercise every benevolent affection to enjoy comfort here,
and to fit ourselves to be angels hereafter. And when we have acquired
human virtues, we shall have a nobler employment in our Father’s kingdom.
But between angels and men a much greater resemblance subsists, than
between men and the brute creation; because the two former seem capable
of improvement.
The birds you saw to-day do not improve—or their improvement only tends
to self-preservation; the first nest they make and the last are exactly
the same; though in their flights they must see many others more
beautiful if not more convenient, and, had they reason, they would
probably shew something like individual taste in the form of their
dwellings; but this is not the case. You saw the hen tear the down from
her breast to make a nest for her eggs; you saw her beat the grain with
her bill, and not swallow a bit, till the young were satisfied; and
afterwards she covered them with her wings, and seemed perfectly happy,
while she watched over her charge; if any one approached, she was ready
to defend them, at the hazard of her life: yet, a fortnight hence, you
will see the same hen drive the fledged chickens from the corn, and
forget the fondness that seemed to be stronger than the first impulse of
nature.
Animals have not the affections which arise from reason, nor can they do
good, or acquire virtue. Every affection, and impulse, which I have
observed in them, are like our inferior emotions, which do not depend
entirely on our will, but are involuntary; they seem to have been
implanted to preserve the species, and make the individual grateful for
actual kindness. If you caress and feed them, they will love you, as
children do, without knowing why; but we neither see imagination nor
wisdom in them; and, what principally exalts man, friendship and
devotion, they seem incapable of forming the least idea of. Friendship
is founded on knowledge and virtue, and these are human acquirements; and
devotion is a preparation for eternity; because when we pray to God, we
offer an affront to him, if we do not strive to imitate the perfections
He displays every where for our imitation, that we may grow better and
happier.
The children eagerly enquired in what manner they were to behave, to
prove that they were superior to animals? The answer was short,—be
tender-hearted; and let your superior endowments ward off the evils which
they cannot foresee. It is only to animals that children _can_ do good,
men are their superiors. When I was a child, added their tender friend,
I always made it my study and delight, to feed all the dumb family that
surrounded our house; and when I could be of use to any one of them I was
happy. This employment humanized my heart, while, like wax, it took
every impression; and Providence has since made me an instrument of
good—I have been useful to my fellow-creatures. I, who never wantonly
trod on an insect, or disregarded the plaint of the speechless beast, can
now give bread to the hungry, physic to the sick, comfort to the
afflicted, and, above all, am preparing you, who are to live for ever, to
be fit for the society of angels, and good men made perfect. This world,
I told you, was a road to a better—a preparation for it; if we suffer, we
grow humbler and wiser: but animals have not this advantage, and man
should not prevent their enjoying all the happiness of which they are
capable.
A she-cat or dog have such strong parental affection, that if you take
away their young, it almost kills them; some have actually died of grief
when all have been taken away; though they do not seem to miss the
greatest part.
A bitch had once all her litter stolen from her, and drowned in a
neighbouring brook: she sought them out, and brought them one by one,
laid them at the feet of her cruel master;—and looking wistfully at them
for some time, in dumb anguish, turning her eyes on the destroyer, she
expired!
I myself knew a man who had hardened his heart to such a degree, that he
found pleasure in tormenting every creature whom he had any power over.
I saw him let two guinea-pigs roll down sloping tiles, to see if the fall
would kill them. And were they killed? cried Caroline. Certainly; and
it is well they were, or he would have found some other mode of torment.
When he became a father, he not only neglected to educate his children,
and set them a good example, but he taught them to be cruel while he
tormented them: the consequence was, that they neglected him when he was
old and feeble; and he died in a ditch.
You may now go and feed your birds, and tie some of the straggling
flowers round the garden sticks. After dinner, if the weather continues
fine, we will walk to the wood, and I will shew you the hole in the
lime-stone mountain (a mountain whose bowels, as we call them, are
lime-stones) in which poor crazy Robin and his dog lived.