One day a boy was chasing a butterfly, cap in hand, and just as he had
caught it, a bee stung him. He was so angry that he threw the butterfly
down and trampled on it. Was not that cruel? The butterfly had done him
no harm, and the greatest skill in the world could not paint anything so
delicate and beautiful as a butterfly's wing; and yet he destroyed that
beauty. Sometimes children will hunt spiders out of the crevices in the
wall and torture them, and others will torment the little fly, or steal
the bird's pretty eggs that the mother sits on with such care. All this
is cruel and unkind. Remember it is =not noble= to hurt. The truest
gentleman is he who is full of kindness and gentleness and will not hurt
anything.