Kindness to Animals - Charlotte Elizabeth (best authors to read .txt) 📗

spread theirs on the ground that he might ride over them. Ah, the day will come when the King of kings and Lord of lords shall ride in vengeance over the persons of his rebellious enemies, as he then rode in meek and lowly state over the garments of his loving friends. And, as you would avoid his wrath on that terrible day, provoke him not now by wanton cruelty to the creatures which he has made. He is very, very merciful to them, and to you. They do you no wrong; do no wrong to them.

How often have I thought of that beautiful scene on the green side of the gently sloping mount of Olives, which rises eastward of the city of Jerusalem, with the brook Kedron sparkling at its feet! You know the Bible tells us, concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, that by Him God made the world; and again, "All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made." Yet he, the Maker of all things, took upon him the nature of man; and so you see, for once, a poor animal enjoyed even greater privilege and happiness than when the creatures were first brought to Adam; and that animal was no other than the persecuted ass! The Lord showed his tenderness in not separating the dam from her young one: He commanded both to be brought; and the little creature tripped so happily beside its mother, while both enjoyed the sheltering protection of Him who made the worlds! Yes, I very often think of this, when I see the cruelties committed on some overworked animal, in a cart, or ridden by an unfeeling person; and the mischief, the wicked mischief, that Satan finds for idle hands to do, in the field, or by the way-side, where the poor ass is quietly nibbling at such coarse weeds as neither horse, nor cow, nor sheep would touch. The little foal too, with its innocent face, and broad forehead covered with shaggy hair, looking as if it longed to have a game of play with you. Can you put it to pain? Alas! it has a life of cruel labour and suffering before it: and you should not be so inhuman as to rob it of its very short time of freedom and repose. Some boys are cruel on purpose. Satan leads them captive at his will; and if they continue to do his wicked will, they must expect to be with him for ever in the place of fire. But many are cruel from thoughtlessness only; and I hope this little book will lead such to reflect, and to cease from what is a great sin against God, whether they think it to be so or not.

I have said nothing about the wonderful story of an ass which you will find in the book of Numbers, chapter xxii.: you can read it for yourselves. I will finish this subject by giving you a text from the wise and gracious laws which it pleased the Lord God to lay down for his people Israel, when he was himself their own King. It is a most beautiful precept: it teaches at once to overcome an evil feeling against a fellow-man, and to show mercy to a suffering animal. "If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him," Ex. xxiii. 5; and in the 12th verse we read a reason given for keeping holy and quiet the Sabbath day, "that thine ox and thine ass may rest."

This is a long chapter; but I had a good deal to say in it, and I hope you are not tired, and that you will think it over, and pray God to enable you to profit by it.

[Illustration]

 

[Illustration]

CHAPTER V (BEARS, MONKEYS, RATS)

 

Now, I think, you are laughing at the heading of this chapter, and wondering what I can have to say about such creatures; but wait a little, and you will find I am not afraid to put in a good word for them. You must know that I once had a young bear, a mere cub, which was given to me by one of the wild Indians, as they are called. These Indians, by the way, are not half so wild as some boys of my acquaintance, who are a great deal better taught; and they were very fond of me--merely because it pleased God to keep me mindful of a gracious command which he has given us. You will find it in the first Epistle of Peter, chap. ii., verse 17: "Honour all men." Man, whether he be black, or white, or tawny; whether he be rich or poor, bond or free; man was at first made in the image of God, and would have kept the image if Adam had not sinned and lost it; so that none of his posterity are now born in that holy, happy state in which Adam was created. But then, lost as man is, and deprived of all honour, it pleased the eternal Son of God to take upon Him the name and the nature of man, free from all its sinfulness, though deprived of its first glory, and this he did that he might, by suffering death, atone for the sin of the world. So now, as there is no person so miserable, so despised, or even so sinful, that by coming to the Lord Jesus Christ, and believing in Him alone, he may not have his sins blotted out, and himself made an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven, I am sure that every man ought to be treated with some respect, as one of that race whom God created, and for whom Christ died. Indeed, it would be enough for me, if only the Bible said, "Honour all men," without my being able to see why I ought to do so. It is my duty to obey every one of my Lord's commands: but it is very pleasant to think about his gracious commandments, and to see, as we must then do, how very lovely they are. Now you know why I treated the wild Indians of the woods with gentle, kind respect; and they felt it, and loved me greatly, and used to bring me their little gifts. One day, two rough Indian men came to me, in their very strange dresses, with their stiff black hair hanging down, never having been combed in their lives, I should think. They each brought a young bear into my large kitchen; and while I told them to sit down and eat something, the two cubs began to examine the place for themselves. It was a funny sight, so I will tell you about it.

Under a table, there lay a good long barrel on its side, and two very friendly cats had each got some kittens in it. They had made themselves little beds in the straw, one near the mouth of the barrel, the other farther in. So one young bear, (they were but a few weeks old, poor little animals!) in the course of his travels about the kitchen, poked his nose into this barrel, and out flew the old gray cat, in a great rage, or fright, I hardly know which, and began to spit most furiously at the cub, who ran away as fast as he could, into a distant corner, followed by puss. She did not choose to go too near such an odd-looking creature; but sat watching him, to prevent his leaving that corner.

Meantime, the other cub, thinking, I suppose, that, "as the cat was away, the bear might play"--at least with the kittens, went boldly close to the barrel, when lo! out sprang the tortoise-shell cat from the farther end, and this master Bruin was not slower than his brother in scampering away, the cat following him also. No harm was done; none of them had any wish to fight, and the scene was so droll that the servants were in fits of laughter; while the Indians, who I must tell you are very grave, and even sad-looking people, and seldom seen to smile, for once laughed heartily too. I took pity upon the frightened cub, at whom the gray cat was still growling and spitting, and took him up my arms; for which he seemed so thankful, that I continued to stroke his shaggy coat, until one of the Indians, with a grin, offered to give him to me. I accepted him, making a present in return; and for some days I took delight in my bargain; for he was a most innocent little creature, and played merrily with a puppy dog: but those who understood the nature of a bear better than I did, persuaded me to give him up; because they had known a young lady who was killed by a tame bear in a sudden passion.

But I want to convince you how wrong we are in treating any animal as if it could not feel attachment to us. Some soldiers' wives used to pet my little cub, even with tears in their eyes; and they told me the reason. They said, that a short time before, the regiment to which they belonged was quartered in Canada, and the soldiers had a bear, which they brought up tame. This creature had a strange office--he was nurse to all the babies in the barrack. So great was his love for them, that whenever the mothers wanted to have their infants well taken care of, they would place them under this animal's charge, who was delighted to smooth for them the clean soft straw that they gave him; and whose tender care over the babes was, they told me, the most beautiful thing ever seen. The poor bear was always trying to help and oblige his friends; and on washing days he had plenty of babies to mind, when the weather was mild enough to have them out of doors; but one cold day they were all left within, and the bear had nothing to do. So, seeing a woman leave her washing-tub, which she had just filled with boiling water, he thought he would do some of her work, and put his paws into it: the pain made him snatch them out, and in so doing he upset the tub--all the scalding water fell over him--and his agonies were such that, in mercy, some soldier shot him dead at once. The women, when they told me this, sobbed with grief, saying, "He was so kind to our babies! he would have died in their defence, poor fellow!" I assure you, that when I see a poor bear led through the streets, chained, beaten, and made to dance, as they call it, which it is taught to do by cruel tortures, I always remember this story; and think, how much love and gratitude might that miserable sufferer feel, and how happy he might be made, if those who have taken him from his native woods, and made a slave of him, would only show mercy now instead