OUR LOVE FOR ANIMALS. (FIELD.)

Waikato Times, Volume V, Issue 304, 23 April 1874, Page 2

OUR LOVE FOR ANIMALS. (FIELD.)

The agreeable fallacy that in the iphereof the- animal kingdom not only primitive impulses or dc3vre»,- of whioh we shj nothing here, but artifioial. and complex sentiment weie {apparent, it what painters and poets and others constantly support and affirm. Once we have subscribed to this belief, it undoubtedly enlarges our sympathy and capacities lor attachment to the brute creation ; while it possibly also interferes or interrupts serious and constant eflorts to discover in truth andinl fact many lecrets of animal organisation and of animal manifestations, winch arc glossed over but not accounted feu, .by tbe^simpje process of attributing to animals feelings and sentiments vrhioh we can analyse in-> ourselves. Tho lovo of animals shows itself strangely in different people. The sportsman's- eM.icliinent for his dogs, fure\ample, may bi> composed of half a dozen varieties of sentiment and of numerous msociatioss. The-n there is thnt singular pussion for pet», winch, while useful and healthful in many respects, may, often degenerate ir.ira jn absuid mania. 'Fancying' also- requires to* be kept within rluo bounds. We are constantly affronted, and perhaps embarra*ssed, by the- attention*- bestow ed on Inp Jogs, j-.nb pugs, nnd 1 the like. The love for* oy terriers is, however, very often the most cruel ainl exacting form of affection. If the £&ye -could give an opinion on the subject, he ■Jtould, forr all we know, bs-indined lohate rather than mere them tut" and writers who have brought him into fashion. But for them he might' b* a happy dog o:j« the loose. It is not a rtuli or genuine love for animals which prompt fiw ladies to> pamper them judiciously Lint season a -lady used to nolle, in the Row of an afternoon accompanied by two chikhen.' and one Italian Greyhound. The dwarf hoimd alvrajs woroclothes en iiiife in colour with those of the littte folk inwhose company .life trotted. 1 The spectacle wnsnot altogether so pleasing or effective as the contrivrr of iHmagincd ; mid we may take it for granted I lint both greyhound ant] ehil<lren< hud a bad time of it when they went home. ITie sufferings which pet coned birds must endure from the ignoiance nnd* the ciipi'icrs of their owners must be something dreadful if we were to gp info them in the style in which snaring a. chaffinch* is regnrded as a crime of deep dye. People who indulge m keeping dogs, cat*, rabbits, or oirds, or pets of any kind, should not treat them as it they were pieces of mechanism for passing an idte hoiw with.. They should beable to understand of all things their manner of displacing: pain us well us pleasure, their ways in sickness as well us in health. Nothing is more common than to find the mo»t ostentatiously tender-hearted and susceptible persons offepding against this ordinary rnle. TKoy- ate satisfied if th* thing looks ornamental in a cage or a hutch, on' a rug, in a--porch. It must not seem thin; this would he a reflection . on the resources of the establishment. When the dog visibly ails, it is either given an ayor dosed without inquiry or discretion ;, while birds fare if possible worse. '1 here is little op no excus* for such negligence. . There are plenty of handbooks, guides, and manuals' in which full and explicit directions for the treatment of pets are to be found. The effort made to repress cruelty towards our dumb companions or servants are in part the lesult of a refinement of fueling belonging to our time, added or connected with a < recognition of claims for protection, silently but persuasively urged upon us by the comparative helplessness of the domesticated dog, hone, op cat. Oftr readers may perceive this topic eloquently enlarged upon by Sir Arthur Helps in 1 a recent wort. The early training that children who receive any training at all a»e now put through contributes, of course, to perpetuate what' has become a new development of conscience in this direction. Gruelty and ignorance, cruelty and ' vice,- are almost always associated, but nob necessarily. The navvy may exhibit- a- sincere aflrectioir for his bull-terrier, and be a chronic and determined wife-beater. We have had a great deal of fallacious- speculation on this head, amiable ■ persons carrying the notion so far as to infar that you could cure all the ruffianism of St G-iles or East London by sticking a canary-nnd a geranium in the den of every inhabitant. Wo are obliged just now, to a great extent, to teach humanity through the police, nnd >to put the laws agavnst barbarity to animals irrforce through the agency of a special organization for that purpose. But our national improvement so far, if " slow, is decisive and assured. A vast dead-lift to thought has been given on the subject. Anointing a cat with turpentine, and setting fire to it, \t no longer regarded as a freak of humour. The various thow» and exhibitions bare also a» tendency to make us more considerate towards our fourfooted friends. In one respect we must make up our minds that cruelty to animals will never be entirely eradicttted^ from human nature. The torture of a poor. brute does jjm© indistinct pleasure and excitement to persons -of a warped i and degraded intellect,. and people of this quality we may lessen, bat can never totally abolish, line punishments for offenses of this-sorb to which we-are alluding have been of late exemplary/ to*a>most wholesome degree. It is so far necessary that punishment for cruelty to animals should be severe, inasmu«U as those who are found guilty of it are only likely to be impressed by measures through' ■which they will. > have to endure pain or restraint in their- own persons. We have* often noticed' that when a magistrate inflicts imprisonment on»a miscreant for deliberately maltreating an animal, the reporters tell'us that ' the prisoner appeared considerably astoniahed afc the sentence.' In fact- the prisouer very often cannot realize the ordinary feeling* and sentiments of humanity at all, and cannot understand why he is not permitted to deal\uith a creature of a. different species from himself,'- as if li» had no responsibilities of any kind in connection with it. Tho great artist who was on Saturday laid in his last home in St Paul's did noble and heroic work in< preaching the doctrines of humanity towards animals. Whac came from his brush was always an eloquent plea for tho brutm * D*us< e&& brutoiwm atrium ' — we may not'think this except in a limited sense, but the reflections involved m such a sentence are pregnant with profound lessona for us : lessons which the paintings of Sir Edwin Eandseer enforced, but whose ultimate benefit to us extends further than the artist* could either ormtemplate or imagine.

We hare been requested by Mr Young, who was reported _ to have made a purchase of 200,000 acres in tlieOhinemuri 1 district on beliall of Canterbury capitalists, to state that tho story is a puro fabrication. Mr Young lias been looking at certain lands, but he is well aware of the difficulty of obtaining, a proper title to them, and has made no attempt whatever to buy from tho natives. In the Thames and Piako valleys there are gome 300,000 acre* of swamp land, but unit ss some great colonial scheme of drainage is adopted, it will be of no valuo for years- to come, as private enterprise will scarcsly enter into the enormously expensive process of draining such a large area of country. It is, however, a proper and legitimato undertaking for tho Government, mul [ one which would be highly reproductive in the entl. Wo hope tho Government will moka an effort to obtain the-o swamps, for they oontain some of the most valuable land in the province, and when properly drairod would support » very large population. — Thames Advertiser-