OCR Text |
Show ing in minimizing to a great degree the pain and suffering of animals. j Many cities celebrate a "Be kind to animal week" and much good results. re-sults. Children are being educabed through the medium of the Boy Scouts and Girl Scout movements to be considerate of all lesser creatures. crea-tures. The government has in operation opera-tion strict laws and ordinances with reference to many species of birds, and even protects to a great extent the fish of the various bodies of water over which it holds jurisdiction. jurisdic-tion. Every state makes and enforces enfor-ces game laws and drastically punishes punish-es the hunter who disregards the regulations. reg-ulations. And so we see a radical improvement ibeing manifest the country over with regard not only to domestic animals, but also the wild creatures of the forest. Unnecessary cruelty to animals is no longer tolerated toler-ated and the needless slaying or torture tor-ture of the creatures of the wood is a thing of the past. Animals, both domestic and wild, instinctively and eventually turn to man for protection, and thanks to the many warm hearted and humane mien and women of our country who are instrumental in making the laws that protect these creatures, the trust is not betrayel nor is the confidence con-fidence violated. I HUMANITARIANISM How often a small, seemingly insignificant in-significant act of kindness to some dumb creature will admirably serve to attest the caliber of a man or woman. wo-man. Precisely true. The little humani-tarism humani-tarism acts of a person best typify and reflect his or her character. A man may preach an eloquent philosophy philo-sophy of life, contribute lavishly toward to-ward 'chalrities, impress the neighbors neigh-bors by his exemplary conduct and yet spurn a cringing and homeless dog, and in so doing display his real nature, thus upsetting all his good works much as the contented and stoical bovine who gives a brimming pail of milk only to kick the container contain-er over at the expiration of the milking milk-ing process. The man who is kind and considerate consi-derate towalrd all dumb jprteatures . may well be regarded as Nature's nobleman. We recall at this point the gaunt and homely Abraham Lincoln Lin-coln going to the rescue of a captive pig that was penned in a wallow un- , der a snake fence. In the process of extrication, at is related that Mr. Lincoln was freely bespattered with mud and had to attend an important political meeting in that predicament, predica-ment, yet he gladly set the unfortunate unfortun-ate and not too lovely creature at liberty, thus displacing a genuine unselfishness of nature and true nobleness of spirit. A certain well known musical com-fedy com-fedy actor was recently playing ia middle western town and from the window of a stationary Pullman diner saw a tramp dog running up and down the railroad yards in bewilderment. be-wilderment. The thousand-dollar-a-week ;star immediately jumped up from his table and left the car, going in pursuit of the unkempt little animal, ani-mal, finally overtaking him and. returning re-turning , to the diner, ordered a fine meal for the little outcast. Another indication of noble unselfishness. New York City, that hustling, progressive pro-gressive and noisy metropolis, accused accus-ed by its thousands of visitors from every state in the Union, as well as the1 principal cities of Europe, as lacking all humanitarism sentiment in its daily commercial grind, this same city frequently manifests a great spirit of consideration and sympathy sym-pathy in dealing with its unfortunate, unfortun-ate, lesser creatures. Just the other day an immature sparrow fell from its nest in the coping of a large building and, after a vain effort to fly away, settled upon the pavement of a busy street. A number of passerby pass-erby were attracted to the bird's sorry sor-ry plight. Police observing the crowd hastily approached and one of the officers, securing a ladder, climbed up to the coping and carefully replaced replac-ed the small bird safely in its nest. What does this little act prove? A number of people may carelessly careless-ly laugh and make the remark: "Too ridiculous to waste one's time with such common dogs, cats and birds." That may in a measure be true but the man, woman or child who goes out of his or her way to aid a distressed dis-tressed little creature deserves com-jnendation com-jnendation nevertheless. .) It is reassuring to note that-in every American city of any size one may find organized societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals. The men and women who are actively sponsoring and supporting- such co-cieties co-cieties are accomplishing a nuble and unselfish work and are succeed- |