"HURT NOT ANIMALS."

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19061, 4 July 1925, Page 6 (Supplement)

"HURT NOT ANIMALS."

BY PANDORA.

Honour your parents; worship the gods; hurt not animals. So runs one of the ancient Greek laws as left to us by Plutarch. It is strange how little human nature has changed since those early days when the law, in tho same breath that it advised the people concerning their attitude toward the gods and their parents, commanded them to " hurt not animals. Yet in the present ago of ultra-civilisation it. is no uncommon thing to hear of, or to actually see, imilv.rcatment of our dumb friends. Walking along a surburban street recently, 1 Was met by a milk cart rattling toward me. For no apparent reason the driver was jerking, wrenching and tugging at the horse's mouth. The animal, obviously bewildered and frightened, and with its mouth cruelly hurt by the wrenching bit, broke first into a gallop, then stopped uncertainly, and finally went racketting down the hill, the driver's raucous voice sounding above tho clatter of rattling milk cans and ringing hoof beats. Upon another occasion an attempt was being mado to back a large furniture van into a narrow passage way. The driver was not skilful, and again and again the wheel of the waggon caught against the wall of the lane, and the horses were dragged back, only to be whipped forward again the next moment. The day was wet, and the animals, as the\* strained every muscle in their efforts to do their master's bidding, were in constant danger of falling on the slippery pavement. Had

the driver liken the trouble to descend and go to their heads the task might have been accomplished in a few moments. These are but two instances of what is occurring every day in our city. Why should these things be? They are so unnecessary, and they cause such untold suffering in the animal kingdom around us. It' all parents would teach their children from babyhood to be kind to their dumb brethren, and to look upon them as capable of feeling pain just as keenly as human beings, much needless suffering might be averted. To a small child a domestic animal is just another toy to play with, and unless an appeal is made to that vivid imagination with which every child is endowed ho will continue to treat it as such. If Betty were told that when she pulled Rover's tail it felt just like having one's hair tugged, and if it were explained to Baby that ruffling Pussy's fur tho wrong way or trying to push tho kittens eves out was very unkind and hurt her furry playmates, the children would readily respond, and would even watch jealously lest anyone elso should make an assault upon their pets. The seeds of character are sown in infancy; atld from such small beginnings the 'habits of a lifetime are formed. If all children were'brought up with these ideas, we 'humans might come nearer to winning " the trust of all dumb living things."