There has been some joking over Mr. Gerry's proposal to bring Mr. Barnum
to legal judgment for violating the statute in exhibiting the young
riders upon the bicycle. Mr. Barnum invited a distinguished company,
including eminent physicians, to witness the performance; the physicians
added that it was no more than healthful exercise. Thereupon the cynics,
who have never given a thought or lifted a hand to relieve suffering or
to remedy wrong, sneer at superserviceable philanthropy. Mr. Bergh also
complained of the killing of the elephant Pilate, and when the matter
was explained there was contemptuous chuckling at the sentimental
tomfoolery of philanthropic busybodies, and the usual exhortation to
reformers to supply themselves with common-sense.
But meantime the mere knowledge that there is an association for the
protection of children from cruelty, and another for the defence of
animals against human brutes, is in itself a protection for both classes
of victims. No parent or employer can wreak his vengeance or ill-temper
upon a child, no driver or owner can torment an animal, without the
consciousness that some agent may learn of it, or perhaps see it, and
bring the offender to justice. Both of these movements, which at first
seemed to so many intelligent persons to be strange and impracticable
fancies, are among the greatest proofs of the deeper and wiser humanity
of the age. These are illustrations of the same spirit which organizes
charity and ameliorates penal systems. Mr. Bergh and Mr. Gerry are in
the right line of moral descent from John Howard and Sir Samuel Romilly
and Mrs. Fry and Miss Carpenter, and when Mr. McMaster brings his
history of the American people down to the last decade he will record
the purpose and work of the two modest societies as among the striking
illustrations of the actual progress of that people.
It is in Lecky's detailed account of the horrible carelessness and
suffering, and of the inhuman desertion of prisoners and the poor of the
last century in England that we get the true key to the actual condition
of the country. Mr. McMaster has thrown a similar light upon the same
inhumanity in this country a hundred years ago. Yet every endeavor to
correct that inhumanity, to remember the man in the criminal, and wisely
to succor a brother in the beggar, has been greeted as an effort to make
a silk purse of a sow's ear, to make water run uphill, as the rose-water
philanthropy and the coddling of scoundrels, by the same spirit which
sneers at the work of Mr. Gerry and Mr. Bergh. Left to that spirit
England would be to-day where it was a hundred and fifty years ago, and
the signal triumphs of the century would have been unwon. Such a spirit
is mingled of ignorance, cowardice, and stupid selfishness. It is always
the obstruction of advancing humanity, always the contempt of generous
and courageous minds.
It is true, undoubtedly, that every forward step is not wisely taken,
and that there are the most absurd parodies of philanthropy, as well as
a great deal of pseudo philanthropy, which is merely the mask of
knavery. We have taken great pleasure in these very columns in stripping
off sundry masks of such philanthropy which is pursued by impostors of
both sexes in this city. Common-sense, careful scrutiny, and
intelligence, are indispensable in every form of charity and
beneficence. But because of the conduct of Shepherd Cowley shall nothing
be done for the relief of wretched children? Because of the elaborate
system of fraudulent charity of the reverend knave who has been exposed
here and elsewhere shall the poor be left without succor?
Everything said and done by the friends of the societies for protecting
children and animals may not be wise; but there could be nothing more
exquisitely ridiculous than to deride the societies and their labors for
that reason. Those who lead the van of reforms are so much in earnest
that they must sometimes offend, sometimes mistake, or nothing would
ever be done. Emerson says that if Providence is resolved to achieve a
result it over-loads the tendency. This produces enthusiasm and
fanaticism, and also the indomitable devotion and energy which cannot be
defeated. It is when the new way to the Indies becomes his one idea that
Columbus discovers America. It is when Luther defies all the opposing
devils, although they are as many as the tiles upon the roofs, that he
establishes Protestantism.
The doctors and the distinguished company decide upon Mr. Gerry's
complaint that the bicycle-riding of the children at Barnum's is
healthful and not injurious; and to Mr. Bergh's remonstrance about
killing the elephant Pilot, Mr. Barnum replies that he is not likely to
inflict a serious loss upon himself by killing one of his animals unless
it were clearly necessary. All this may be conceded. But it is very
fortunate for the community that there are sentinels of humanity who
will summarily challenge and compel a clear and complete explanation. It
appears that the riding of the children is not harmful, and the court
dismisses Mr. Gerry's complaint. The result is not that Mr. Gerry is
"left in a questionable position," but that every circus manager and
every exhibitor of children knows that a vigilant eye watches his
conduct, and that a prompt hand will deal even with seeming cruelty and
severity and exposure. It is very possible that Pilot was despatched as
humanely as practicable. But Mr. Bergh's challenge was not an
impertinent intermeddling. It reminds every brute in the city that he
cannot lose his temper and kick his horse with impunity. Both acts
establish a moral consciousness of constant surveillance, which stays
the angry hand and succors the limping animal and the friendless child.
It is those who relieve pain and suffering, not those who laugh at their
zeal, whom history remembers and mankind blesses.