Kindness to Animals | Page 4

ill-tempered; spoils their growth, and prevents their loving
you. A puppy or a kitten is very fond of play, and will jump and bounce
about with you for a long while; but the moment they begin to get tired,
they should be left alone, to rest as much as they like. You may
suppose, that if, when you are comfortably going to sleep at night, a

rough-handed man were to come and shake you, and bawl out in your
ears, and wake you continually, you would soon become fretful and ill
too, and feverish, and be very glad to get out of the way of such a
tormentor. So my rule is, when creatures are young, to let them have as
much sleep as they will. It may sometimes prevent their being
playthings when you want them; but it will be made up in their health,
and good-temper, and gratitude to you.
Next, all creatures like liberty: a horse or a dog is never so happy as
when bounding across the fields in perfect freedom. Why does chaining
or tying up a dog make him savage? Because he then looks on mankind
as his enemies, and fancies that everybody he meets is going to take
away his liberty. My dogs have known as little about chains as possible:
two of them had been used to be tied up before I had them, and I never
could break them of being savage. As to beating it out of them, it would
be like putting on coals to keep a fire from burning. That, you know,
makes the fire look dull for a little while; but the moment you stir it, up
it blazes, much higher and brighter than if no coals had been put on. I
knew a horse that was not naturally good-tempered, and bad usage had
made him much worse: he was then bought by a gentleman, who gave
him enough of the whip, and spur, and sharp iron bit to cure him, if that
could have done it; but it only made him cunning and revengeful. Poor
beast! a little patient kindness would have gone much farther. I will tell
you an instance of this.
Once I had a mare, and such a beautiful creature she was! She lived on
a sort of farm, where they had not put her to work, and where the
children had been used to play with her. She was hardly full grown. I
lived then in a house with very low windows, and the pretty mare was
grazing on the outside. One warm day, the windows were all open, and
I was sitting at work, when she popped her beautiful head and neck in
at the one nearest to me. I gave her a bit of bread that was lying by me,
and told her to go away; but she would not. I said to myself, "Why
should I drive her away? God made the animals to be loving and
confiding towards man; and if this lonely creature wants me to be a
friend to her, why should I not? The Bible says, 'A righteous man
regardeth the life of his beast;' and what is life to a poor animal that has

no hereafter to look to, if its life be without comforts?" So I put down
my work, and went and rubbed her forehead, stroked her long white
face, patted her shining neck, and talked to her. After this when I was
alone at my morning work, she was sure to put her head in at one of the
windows, to ask, in her dumb way, to be petted; and many an apple,
many a handful of oats, did she get by coming there. She would soon
listen for my footstep about the house, and I seldom could look out
from any window without seeing her under it, or before it. She would
also follow me like a dog when I walked in the grounds where she
grazed.
[Illustration]
One day, a gentleman's groom undertook to ride her; but he began by
whipping and by jerking the bridle, which is a very cruel thing. My
mare did not like this; and as he went on doing it, she lost her patience;
and after a long trial as to who should be master, she threw him over
her head, and trotted home to her stable. He was not hurt, but very
much mortified, being a soldier, and a great horseman; and he told his
master that she was the most vicious beast in the world, not safe for
anybody to ride. I did not like my pretty mare to get such a bad name:
so I told my own groom to put on the side saddle, and I asked the
gentleman to mount his