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MORALS. |
201 |
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cruelty, whether wanton or malevolent, be rebuked : let them be required to observe this rule even toward the brute creation. The Scripture says that the merciful man is merciful to his beast. If, therefore, you would educate your children thoroughly in this virtue, require its exercise even toward insects, and birds, and quadrupeds, and every thing that can feel. It is lawful to make these creatures subservient to our pleasure and our comfort, and to this end we may take their lives; but we may never wantonly subject them to pain or deprive them of existence. If we do this, we not only commit a sin, but cultivate the spirit of cruelty in our own hearts.
There is one trait of character in our American boys which 1 think deserves to be checked; and that is the incessant war that they carry on against familiar birds and the lesser quadrupeds. As soon as a boy can hurl a stone, he becomes a Nimrod, and goes forth as a mighty hunter against the bluebirds, cat-birds, swallows and robins that venture into our gardens, orchards and fields. Not even the little wren, that comes with his fair oiler of a dozen beautiful songs a day for the rent of some nook or cranny about the house, is safe from the whizzing missile. Not even the little sparrow, that |
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