Volume 22 March, 1924 Number 12

Our Fourfooted Friends

and How VVe Treat Them

EDITED BY MRS. HUNTINGTON SMITH

Published Monthly

Publication Office, Rumford Building, Concord, New Hampshire Editorial Office, 51 Carver Street, Boston, Massachusetts ANIMAL RESCUE LEAGUE Yearly Subscription: 75 Cents To Foreign Countries $1.00

Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office at Concord, New Hampshire, under the Act of March 3, 1879 Acceptance for mailing at special rale of postage provided for in Section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized April 27, 1922

Humane Week

April 6—12

“THAT LOVE FOR ONE FROM WHICH THERE DOES NOT SPRING WIDE LOVE FOR ALL, IS BUT A WORTHLESS THING.”

2 Oo US RA Oe 0 TE ae Hae cae Le Pur)

A WORD TO TEACHERS

The interest in humane education is increasing among school-teachers. This I know because of the letters I receive from teachers and super- intendents of schools asking for suggestions which will aid them in introducing the subject of kindness to animals in their particular school.

In Illinois, Kentucky, Florida and Oklahoma specially good laws have been made similar to the following from Illinois:

“Section 2: In every public school within this state not less than one-half hour of each week, during the whole of each term of school, shall be devoted to teaching the pupils thereof kindness and justice to and humane treatment and pro- tection of birds and animals, and the important part they fulfill in the economy of nature. It shall be optional with each teacher whether it shall be a consecutive half hour or a few minutes daily, or whether such teaching shall be through humane reading, daily incidents, stories, per- sonal example or in connection with nature study.”

Other states are calling for weekly lessons of half an hour, but some of these states do not make it definite enough that the half hour should be entirely given to consideration of the welfare of our fourfooted friends and helpers. For example, the law in Massachusetts reads:

‘“All preceptors and teachers of academies and all other instructors of youth shall exert their best endeavors to impress on the minds of children and youth committed to their care and instruction the principles of piety and justice and a sacred regard for truth, love of their coun- try, humanity and universal benevolence.”

Teachers themselves are expressing a wish to devote at least half an hour a week entirely to the study of the lower animals, their usefulness, their needs, and how they are used and abused. When this little half hour is divided between animals and the vegetable kingdom, nature study, as it is called, it gives so little time for the all-important consideration of the treatment of animals it is almost as bad as no time at all.

A half hour is little enough for this study in humanity, but if the teacher will prepare for it as she does for the other lessons, she can make every one of the thirty minutes count, and much good can be accomplished even in that time.

Bands of Mercy are of very little use if there is not a leader for each band who takes a vital interest in the work and keeps it steadily before the pupils who have joined the band. I have spoken in many schools. I used to ask for the Band of Mercy pledge at the close of my talk, and every pupil was willing to join a band. There is nothing easier than forming a Band of Mercy, or any club among children, but it is another matter to make every pupil feel his or her responsibility after taking the pledge.

I was told by a man whom I met in a country town where a Band of Mercy had just been formed, that his boy, who had been appointed president, came to him two or three weeks later begging for a gun, as he wished to go out into the woods shooting. His father reminded him of his pledge, and his position as president of the Band of Mercy in that town. ‘‘ Which will you do,” he asked, “‘have the gun and give up the Band of Mercy, or give up the gun and keep your pledge?” “I will take the gun,” the boy replied.

I think if that Band of Mercy had been a working band, having interesting exercises every week, the boy might have felt differently.

A Meeting in Lynn

I was asked to speak recently in the Tracy School in Lynn. In that school were sixteen different nationalities,—six teachers with their classes from the Tracy and Lincoln schools were present. The meeting was called and presided over by the supervisor, Mrs. Isabelle D. Mac- Lean,* and when she had spoken a few minutes, introducing the object of the meeting and why I was called in to speak to the children, I knew that the meeting was going to amount to some- thing. I gave a short talk on the life of St. Francis of Assisi, and on the great value of kind- ness to every living creature. Mrs. MacLean

* City Supervisor of Americanization Representative of Bureau of Immigration.

OUR BO UREOO TED FRIENDS 3

followed with another talk, in which she empha- sized what I had said, and added such plain and simple illustrations of the need of kindness to animals that when she asked if the teachers and the children would like to have a Kindness Club in each room, I never heard a more eager and unanimous consent.

This was followed, after the dismissal of the children, by a talk with the teachers and sug- gestions of ways to interest the children every week, and every one of the six teachers was eager and more than willing to take up the work.

Incidentally I cannot refrain from saying that, though I have spoken in many schools, I never had such a quiet, attentive audience as these children,—Russian, Poles, Yiddish, Italians, Swedes, Germans, Portuguese, and other na- tionalities I do not recall. None of them had been in this country over a year, yet they sang, recited in unison the pledge of loyalty to America, gave a little dialogue, all in good English. It was, to me, an inspiring meeting. I came away greatly encouraged, but it was evident that the interest, the quiet attention, was due to the really superior teaching they had been fortunate enough to get. Under different teachers they would have been different children, and I felt sad to think that all teachers do not realize their responsibility for the pupils’ moral character, and enter into the work with the same spirit as these teachers in Lynn manifested.

These are some of the suggestions I made which I told the teachers I realized would have to be adapted to the particular circumstances and needs of their pupils.

First, I offered them a choice of names. It is not necessary to have every club take the same name, but the majority chose the first,—‘‘ Kind-

ness Club.” Motto: ‘Kindness uplifts the world.”” Second: “Knights of Humanity’’; third: ‘‘Animal Helpers’; fourth: ‘‘ Animal

Friends”’; fifth: ‘‘ Animal Rescue Club.”

The same motto would answer for any of these clubs, as Kindness is the leading motive.

The teacher should be the acting president, but she may choose a secretary; she can have a different secretary every month if she likes.

She can have a treasurer, if it is thought best to collect a fee. It is not a good policy to have a fee that will discourage children who have no money to spend, but there might be a voluntary fee to be saved and voted on at the end of the term; it could be used to purchase humane story books, or an old horse, or it could be given to the Animal Rescue League or any other humane society.

The meeting should be opened by a song about kindness, or about animals or birds. There are many such little songs. There is a book, ‘‘Songs of Happy Life,” compiled by Sarah J. Eddy, expressly for this purpose, price fifty cents, a copy of which I sent to each of the teachers in Lynn.

After the opening of the meeting the children can be called upon to relate any specially kind act they have had a chance to do through the week. Rescuing a lost or homeless dog or cat and taking it home, if they are able to take care of it, or to the Animal Rescue League, or one of its Receiving Stations. If there is no place to receive or care for homeless cats and dogs in the city or town where the club is located, let it be the work of the Kindness Club to try, with the help of the teachers, to find someone willing to receive these waifs, and thus form a little Animal Rescue League in that locality, which would be a great work to accomplish.

Have a humane sentiment put on the black- board at each meeting, and every child should read it. In the Animal Rescue League paper issued monthly, Our FourrooTep FRIENDS, such paragraphs, stories, and poems can always be found.

Choose half a dozen children at each meeting to commit to memory a poem on animals to recite at the next meeting.

Take some particular animal at each meeting and ask questions about it,—bring out not only its usefulness, but its capacity for feeling; show the children in how many ways these animals resemble mankind, not only in sight, hearing, taste, hunger and thirst, but in their capacity for love, dislike, fear, dread of suffering, jealousy, obedience, anger, mischief, playfulness,—show how they need amusement. The dog loves to play ball; the cat chases the flying leaf and runs

4 OW Rear O UR OO cle bape rete sN Des

around after her tail; the horse will race and play in the pasture with other horses; the calf runs and frolics, so do the sheep and lambs,— everything wants its freedom, and will play and enjoy itself if it has a chance. We should give them such a chance for happiness.

Do not take the time in telling the children about wool, and skins of animals, and the use of the dead bodies, but impress on them the use they are while living; how the cow provides us with milk, cream, butter, cheese, and how the horse carries us about and brings us our coal, and ice, and ploughs the ground,—there are hundreds of good and useful things he does for man. The dog is our guardian and companion; the cat is employed in post offices and homes, in stores, greenhouses and barns,—nothing is so great a

help in keeping rats and mice away. The cat .

can be taught by talking to her the same as you teach a child,—speak firmly and say “No, no,” or ‘‘Naughty,” if she catches birds, and she will learn in time not to catch them. She is affec- tionate, but must not be handled too much. When a dog bites or a cat scratches a child, find out what the child did to make the dog bite, or the cat scratch, before you blame the animal.

The dog defends himself from illtreatment with |

his teeth; the cat with her claws; the horse kicks; the cow uses her horns. Can you blame them if they try to defend themselves when they are hurt?

If a little play could be written and worked up for exhibition purposes, that would be good.

A bird table in a school yard in winter is good.

Saving the crumbs to feed the birds should be taught.

Keeping cats in the house at night is a very important lesson.

Showing how carefully puppies and kittens should be lifted and handled is another lesson for them.

Never keep a dog unless you have plenty of room for him. Never, on any account, keep a dog chained. It is cruelty to him and danger- ous to his owners, for it usually makes him cross and sullen.

The need of water as well as food for every animal should be impressed on children’s minds.

These are a few of the important things to

teach, and half an hour a week is all too short; but at least every moment of that half hour should be utilized to teach children how to treat these animals right; to protect them from suffer- ing; to be kind to them and to teach others to be kind; to be grateful to them for all they do for us.

Kindness is a necessary foundation for good character. Kindness uplifts the world. We want everyone to be kind to us. ‘‘Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.”

“That love for one from which there does not spring Wide love for all, is but a worthless thing.” —Anna Harris Smith.

The American’s Creed

“T believe in the United States of America as a government of the people, by the people, for the people; whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed; a democracy in a republic; a sovereign Nation of many sovereign States; a perfect union, one and inseparable; established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes.

“‘T therefore believe it is my duty to my coun- try to love it; to support its Constitution; to obey its laws; to respect its flag; and to defend it against all enemies.”—William Tyler Page.

Pledge to the Flag

“T pledge allegiance to my flag and to the Republic for which it stands; one Nation, in- divisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

—_—

‘‘A horse misus’d upon the road Calls to Heaven for human blood.’’

‘“‘A skylark wounded on the wing, A cherubim doth cease to sing.”

“Kall not the moth or butterfly, _ For the Last Judgment draweth nigh.” .

OGRE Orne OvOste br BRT Han irs

There is nothing children learn so easily as poetry—nothing they enjoy so much—nothing that they remember so well and so long. I sub- mit the following poems to teachers who are interested in humane work, hoping they will use them in their weekly lessons throughout the year.

=A’ HS.

Winter Birds

I watch them from the window, While winds so keenly blow; How merrily they twitter And revel in the snow! In brown and ruffled feathers They dot the white around, And not one moping comrade Among the lot I’ve found. Ah! may I be as cheerful As yonder winter birds, Through ills and petty crosses, With no repining words So, teaching me this lesson, Away, away they go, And leave their tiny footprints In stars upon the snow. —George Cooper, in the Woman’s Journal.

The Faithful Ally

All day, all night, they searched the town, The fields, the hills and glens,

Those brave Boy Scouts, five hundred strong, Joining the citizens,

To help find Jimmie, but in vain, And hope changed to despair;

Then through the woods old Rover dashed, Down the ravine to where

Upon a bed of fallen leaves In slumber deep there lay

The little four-year-old whose feet Had strayed so far away.

Unharmed save for the cruel bruise That on his head was seen,

Telling too plainly of his fall Adown the deep ravine.

‘Hurrah for Rover!”’ shouted all, And every heart was glad As safe within his mother’s arms Was placed the little lad. —Louella C. Poole.

Who Stole the Eggs!

“Oh what is the matter with Robin That makes her ery round here all day? I think she must be in great trouble,” Said Swallow to little Blue Jay. ‘“T know why the Robin is crying,” Said Wren, with a sob in her breast; ‘“A naughty, bold robber has stolen Three little blue eggs from her nest.”’

“Oh, what little boy was so wicked?”’ Said Swallow, beginning to cry; “T wouldn’t be guilty of robbing A dear little bird’s nest—not I! I guess he forgot what a pleasure The dear little robins all bring In early spring time and in summer, _ By the beautiful songs that they sing.’ —Mrs. C. F. Berry.

WOU Reb O OFlsE De BR IvN Dis

The Little Dog Under the Wagon

““Come, wife,” said good old Farmer Grey, “Put on your things. ’Tis market day. Let’s be off to the nearest town; There and back, ere the sun goes down.” “Spot?” “No, we'll leave old Spot behind.” Old Spot he barked, and Spot he whined, And soon made up his doggish mind

To steal away, under the wagon.

Away they went at a good, round pace,

And joy came into the farmer’s face.

“Poor Spot,” said he, ‘‘did want to come;

But I’m-very glad he’s left at home.

He'll guard the house and guard the cot

And keep the cattle out of the lot.”

‘“‘T’m not so sure of that,” growled Spot, The little dog under the wagon.

The farmer all his produce sold,

And got his pay in yellow gold;

Then started home, just after dark, Home through a lonely forest. Hark!

Old Spot, he saved the farmer’s life, The farmer’s money, the farmer’s wife, And now a hero, grand and gay, A silver collar he wears today, And everywhere his master goes, Among his friends or among his foes, He follows along on his horny toes, The little dog under the wagon. —Anon.

Twenty Frog¢gies

Twenty froggies went to school Down beside a rushy pool. Twenty little coats of green, Twenty vests all white and clean.

‘“We must be in time,” said they, First we study, then we play; That is how we keep the rule, When we froggies go to school.”’

Master Bullfrog, brave and stern, Called his classes in their turn, Taught them how to nobly strive, Also how to leap and dive;

Taught them how to dodge a blow, From the sticks that bad boys throw. Twenty froggies grew up fast, Bullfrogs they became at last;

Polished in a high degree, As each froggie ought to be, Now they sit on other logs, Teaching other little frogs. | —George Cooper.

A robber springs from behind a tree!

“Your money or else your life!”’ cried he.

The moon was out, yet he did not see The little dog under the wagon.

The toad and the frog are very useful in eating insects that do harm in the garden. It is cruel to stone and kill them. Every boy and girl should protect them from harm.

But Spot he barked, and Spot he whined,

And Spot he grabbed the thief behind,

And held him with a whisk and bound

Till he could not rise from the miry ground,

While his hands and feet the farmer bound, And tumbled him into the wagon.

If boys wish to throw stones let them set up a target in a place where they cannot hurt or frighten any living creature. Throwing stones at animals or birds or at other children is a cruel and dangerous sport.

Osh 7 HOLU hallO-Orl DF R PENG 7

My Cat and I

Every morn, up the fire escape, Four small feet at my window wait. Every morning, rain or shine

That friendly greeting still is mine.

While I sew, on the chair he lies, Watching my face with his crystal eyes. Many a love o’er my life has shone, But never a love so much my own.

O my pussy! the world is round,

In it many a friend I’ve found. |

When I was rich, they bent the knee; When I was poor, they frowned on me.

But, rich or poor, you have loved me still, You share the good as you share the ill. And whether we live or whether we die, May we be together, my cat and I. —Annie Stone, 98 years of age.

Mount Pleasant Home, Roxbury, Mass.

‘*The Snare’’

I hear a sudden cry of pain! There is a rabbit in a snare; Now I hear the ery again, But I cannot tell from where.

But I cannot tell from where He is crying out for aid; Crying on the frightened air,

Making everything afraid.

Making everything afraid, Wrinkling up his little face, As he cries again for aid, And I cannot find the place!

And I cannot find the place Where his paw is in the snare. Little one! Oh, little one! I am searching everywhere. —James Stephens.

Little Lost Pup

He was lost!—not a shade of a doubt of that; For he never barked at a slinking cat, But stood in the square where the wind blew raw With a drooping ear and a trembling paw, And a mournful look in his pleading eye And a plaintive sniff at a passer-by That begged as plain as a tongue could sue, ‘‘CQ mister! please may I follow you?”

A lorn wee waif of a tawny brown Adrift in the roar of a heedless town. Oh, the saddest of sights in a world of sin Is a lost little pup with his tail tucked in! Well, he won my heart (for I set great store On my own red Bute—who is here no more). So I whistled clear, and he trotted up, And who so glad as that small lost pup!

Now he shares my board, and he owns my bed, And he fairly shouts when he hears my tread. Then, if things go wrong, as they sometimes do, And the world is cold and I’m feeling blue, He asserts his right to assuage my woes, With a warm red tongue and a nice cold nose And a silky head on my arm or knee And a paw as soft as a paw can be.

When we rove the woods for a league about He’s as full of pranks as a school let out; For he romps and frisks like a three-months colt, And he runs me down like a thunderbolt. Oh, the blithest of sights in the world so fair, Is a gay little pup with his tail in the air!

O7UGRaE OOS RH Ona rl) a ie Lele mine 1) oc

“Only a little sparrow Counted of low degree, Taking no thought for the morrow For the dear Lord careth for me. : He made me a coat of feathers, Tis very plain I know, With never a speck of crimson For twas not made for show.

“Though there are many sparrows All over the world now found, Surely our Father knoweth When one of us falls to the ground. Our seeds sometimes are scanty, But hunger makes them sweet. I’ve always enough to feed me And life is more than meat.”

‘‘In the Snow’’

Little tiny tomtit, great big crow, Hungry little sparrows, all in a row, Are you very hungry? No place to go? Come and eat my bread crumbs

In the snow. Chaffinch and linnet, fly to and fro, Footsteps of thrushes, mark the snow, Sad, silent blackbirds, come and go, Pecking at the bread crumbs,

In the snow.

Dainty little wings fly high and low, Scatt’ring little tiny flakes of snow; Here comes Robin redbreast—Bob, don’ go! Come and have some bread crumbs, In the snow. —Malcolm Lawson.

The Chained Dog

A poor neglected dog am I, Chained up both night and day; I never hear a kindly word Nor run about or play.

A few dog biscuits all my fare, I seldom get a bone;

Sometimes my trough is empty And I’m left here all alone.

But yet I’m true and faithful, -If I heard a kindly voice,

Or, someone came and stroked my head, ’Twould make my heart rejoice.

Oh! lords of the creation, Whom we our masters call, Don’t you sometimes remember The same God made us all?

And you, ye vivisectors, Who upon our sufferings trade, Do you think for this vile purpose We poor dumb brutes were made?

No! God is good and merciful, And so it must be plain He never meant the human race To profit by our pain. —M.5., in The Animals’ Guardian.

AN UNHAPPY PRISONER

cI. UL? Ey

A Little Kitty’s Prayer

I wonder in my little soul If folks are hard of hearing? I do so want a drop of milk! I’m tired out with purring! A puss can’t purr and purr and play Without one sip the livelong day— My throat’s as dry as sand; Yet what I say In my own way They will not understand!

I hear them call me “poor dumb thing!”’ But what does talking matter? They’re deaf, I think, so I can’t see The good of all their chatter! I’ve rubbed myself against the chairs, With all my pretty silken airs, And tail stuck stiff on end; For milk again I’ve asked them plain, And yet they won’t attend! —Exchange.

“T would give nothing for that man’s religion whose dog and whose cat are not the better for Lis

OU RAB-O OFT ED EF Ril BeNsiss 9

The Cry of the Little Brothers (The good St. Francis of Assisi called all animals his little brothers and sisters.)

We are the little brothers, heat, Fourfooted little beggars, roaming the city street.

homeless in cold and

Snatching a bone from the gutter, creeping thro’ alleys drear,

Stoned and sworn at and beaten, our hearts con- sumed with fear.

You pride yourselves on the beauty of your city fair and free,

Yet we are dying by thousands in coverts you never see.

You boast of your mental progress, of your libraries, schools and halls; But we you call dumb denounce you, as we

crouch beneath their walls.

You sit in your tinselled playhouse and weep o’er a mimic wrong.

Our woes are the woes of the voiceless; our griefs are unheeded in song.

You say that the same God made us. When before His throne you come Shall you clear yourselves in His presence on the

plea that he made us dumb?

Are your hearts too hard to listen to a starving kitten’s cries?

Or too gay for the patient pleading in a dog’s beseeching eyes?

Behold us, your little brothers,—starving, beaten, oppressed ,—

Stretch out a hand to help us that we may have food and rest.

Too long have we roamed neglected, too long have we sickened with fear. The mercy you hope and pray for you can Bra us now and here. —Etheldred Breeze Barry.

10 OUR FOURFOOTED FRIENDS

A CAB DRIVER’S HORSE TAKING A VACATION AT PINE RIDGE, HOME OF REST FOR HORSES, DEDHAM.

The Song of the Old Cab Horse

Trit trot, trit trot, all the live-long day. The wheels turn round, And o’er the ground I’m made to trot away. The sun is hot, the wind is cold, And I am thin, and worn, and old. But nobody stops to think of me, I’m only a poor old horse, you see, Only a horse in an old four-wheel, One of a countless throng. Does anyone think that the horse can feel, Who drags the cab along? Does anyone stop to give a pat, Or a friendly word, or the like of that? Once in a way, perhaps you know, Somebody thinks of doing so Once in a way some word of cheer Brightens my life so sad and drear. Tis little to do, and by hard work it’s won, A kind pat and word—‘ Good old fellow, well done!” —Catherine Comins, in The Animal World.

The humane man will never sell an old horse. It is far kinder to have him put to rest.

Lost—Three Little Robins

Oh, where is the boy, dressed in jacket of gray, Who climbed up a tree in the orchard today, And carried my three little birdies away?

They hardly were dressed,

When he took from the nest My three little robins, and left me bereft.

O wrens! have you seen, in your travels today, A very small boy, dressed in jacket of gray, Who carried my three little birdies away?

He had light colored hair,

And his feet were both bare. Ah, me! he was cruel and mean, I declare.

O butterfly! stop just one moment, I pray: Have you seen a boy dressed in jacket of gray, Who carried my three little birdies away?

He had pretty blue eyes,

And was small of his size. Ah, he must be wicked, and not very wise.

O bees! with your bags of sweet nectarine, stay; Have you seen a boy dressed in jacket of gray, And carrying three little birdies away? Did he go through the town, Or go sneaking aroun’ Through hedges and byways, with head hanging down?

O boy, with blue eyes, dressed in jacket of gray! If you will bring back my three robins today, With sweetest of music the gift ll repay;

I'll sing all day long

My merriest song, And I will forgive you this terrible wrong.

Bobolinks! did you see my birdies and me— How happy we were in the old apple tree, Until I was robbed of my young, as you see? Oh, how can I sing Unless he will bring My three robins back to sleep under my wing? —Author not known.

The birds are our good friends. Do not

frighten or harm them in any way.

0) Ga OU Reh © Ovi Di Fy eee as 11

THE KINDNESS CLUB

“The question is,’ said Johnny Sullivan, who was sitting on an old box which he had turned upside down, chewing a straw he had picked up, “what'll we do with her? My mother told Maggie and me not to bring home any more stray cats. She said she couldn’t have so many around under her feet. We've got four now.”

“‘T’ve got three,” said Sara Lawson, ‘“‘and my mother told me I couldn’t have any more.”

“My mother won’t let me have any,” said Anna Slocum, a pale, sad-looking little girl, who was sitting on the doorstep of a little wooden house in the alley, holding carefully in her lap a thin, wretched kitten that Joe Carson had rescued from some cruel boys who were abusing it.

Joe Carson and the other children, who had met in this quiet alley, were all members of the Kindness Club, which their school teacher, Miss Nelson, had formed after the Christmas holi- days.!

The club now had twenty members, and they met every week in Miss Nelson’s schoolroom, after school had closed. It happened today that these five members, who lived either in or near the alley, were coming home from school to- gether just as Joe was taking the poor little kitten away from the boys who were treating it so cruelly.

Kind-hearted little Anna had taken the kitten from Joe, and was holding it in her lap. ‘It’s purring,’ she cried; “‘I feel its little thin sides shaking, and I can hear it sing.”

‘Twas trembling when I first took it,’ said Joe, ‘‘ trembling awfully, ’twas so frightened, and crying a little feeble cry, likeasick baby. It was "most dead. I don’t see how any decent boy can hurt a little thing like a kitten.”

“Well, it’s purring now just as if it was saying how glad it is to be safe in my lap. I wish I had some milk for it. I expect it’s starved.”’

“T’ve got five cents,” said Johnny Sullivan, feeling round in his pocket. ‘‘ Mother paid me for a big job I did for her. I'll run over to Mr.

1 Story of Miss Nelson’s School in Christmas number.

Scully’s grocery store and buy some milk, and I think he’ll lend me a saucer,” saying which, off ran Johnny.

In a few minutes he was back with a bottle of milk and a saucer. Anna put the kitten on the sidewalk and the saucer of milk before it. The children all watched anxiously to see if the poor little thing was too weak to lap the milk.

‘‘She’s lapping it!”’ cried Anna joyfully. ‘I guess it tastes pretty good, by the way she dips her little nose in it.’’

‘“We’ve carried so many dogs and cats to Miss Nelson, I’m ’most ashamed to take another one to her. She always takes them, but she boards, and she has to keep them somewhere until she can send word to Boston. It’s so far they can’t come right away, she told me so.”

‘“‘T wonder why we couldn’t have a little place here,’ said Sara. ‘“‘I was reading about the Animal Rescue League, and they have what they call Receiving Stations for homeless dogs and cats in other towns. Let’s write and ask them to have one here.”’

“That would be fine,’ cried Joe Carson; ‘I know Miss Nelson would be so glad. Let’s ask her if she won’t write for us.”

The next day was the meeting of the Kindness Club. The poor little kitten had been taken home by Maggie Sullivan, whose mother scolded a little, but was far too kind herself to turn such a miserable, starving little creature away from her door.

As soon as Miss Nelson opened the meeting and the children had sung,

“Dare to do right, dare to be true, You have a work that no other can do,”

12 OUR, SO; Gent Ont cD She Ree

Maggie Sullivan got up and asked permission to speak. She told what a brave and kind act Joe Carson had done in rescuing the kitten from cruel boys who were abusing her, and then she told Miss Nelson how much trouble the children were having to find anyone who would take a home- less or lost dog or cat after the children had rescued it from the streets.

“We want to take them when we see them frightened and hungry, but our mothers won’t let us carry so many home, and we know you can’t take them all,” said Maggie.

Miss Nelson looked very sober. ‘I have been thinking about that very thing,’ she said. “I am asking you to pick up these poor, homeless animals, and you have no place to carry them to. Let us see what we can do.

“Do any of you children know of some good woman who is fond of animals, and pities the homeless ones, who could spare some little room or corner of her house or cellar, and let you take these animals to her to take care of until the Animal Rescue League could send for them? I am sure the League would fit up the place with comfortable cages to keep the cats in, if we could only find a house or shop and someone to take the homeless animals. Then the League would send for them as soon as they possibly could.

‘“We should have to pay something for the use of the place, you know, and this club could promise to try to get a little money towards the expense. What do you think of the plan, chil- dren? It would give you something to work for that would be a great help to this town, as well as to the suffering animals. It would be what we call civic welfare.”

Miss Nelson paused and looked at the children enquiringly. Johnny Sullivan raised his hand. “What is it, Johnny?” asked Miss Nelson. ‘Have you an idea?”’

‘When I went into Mr. Scully’s store to get the milk for the kitten he said, ‘I won’t take your money. It’s a fine thing to help a poor, hungry animal.’ He’s got one or two rooms in back of his store, and perhaps he would let us have our Station there. Ill ask him.”

‘“‘Good!”’ said Miss Nelson. like trying.”’

“There’s nothing

“T’ll go over there now, if you say so,” said Johnny.

‘‘T’ll go with you,” said Miss Nelson, who was just as eager as the children to find a place for the poor, homeless cats and dogs.

‘“May I go, too?” asked first one and then another of the children.

‘“‘T will choose a committee,” said Miss Nelson. ‘“‘Tt shall be the five girls and boys who were the means of starting this club; they may go with me, and you may all meet us tomorrow after school, to hear what we have done.”’

Mr. Scully proved to be a very humane man, who was glad to help Miss Nelson, although it meant some care and extra work for himself and his clerks. After talking it over he agreed to give the use of a back room, and he and his clerks were all willing to receive the cats and dogs that were brought to this kind refuge, and take care of them until they were called for.

The Animal Rescue League very gladly prom- ised to fit the room up for the work and pay some necessary expenses; and the Kindness Club gladly promised to rescue all the animals they could that were needing care, and to raise all the money they could to pay for the milk and food they would need until they were taken to the League’s fine kennels in Boston.

So this little group of five children, with their kind teacher’s help, started not only a Kindness Club, but also a much-needed shelter where lost and homeless animals could be carried and saved from the hunger and often abuse that such un- fortunate animals suffer when there is no one to care for them.

I think there was not a happier teacher or group of children anywhere than Miss Nelson and her Kindness Club when they saw the sign over Mr. Scully’s door: ‘‘ Receiving Station of the Animal Rescue League,” and in the window another printed notice, ‘‘Please bring all the animals that nobody wants here.”

Everybody was glad, excepting a few selfish - people who had no sympathy for these, the least of God’s creatures, and who did not care whether they suffered or not.

Even one of the clergymen preached a sermon on the text: ‘“‘Inasmuch as ye have done it unto

OLU Kiel? OP OR RO Ovni De lh’ Re Honea 13

the least, ye have done it unto Me,” in which he said”’ the line of life does not end with the human being. We might all do well to commit to memory a verse the great poet Pope wrote:”’

““One all-extending, all-preserving Soul Connects each being, greatest with the least. Made beast in aid of man, and man of beast; All served, all serving; nothing stands alone. The chain holds on, and where it ends un-

known.’”’ —Anna Harris Smith.

PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY *

It is generally admitted that there is a great deal of suffering in this world. Perhaps it is meant to be so, yet I do not think it. Mankind surely was not meant to be selfish, or cruel, and I can think of no crime that does not come under the head of either selfishness or cruelty. Think over the crimes you see and read about; are they not, every one, the result of a selfish or a cruel disposition?

This is why we need humane education, and it should be begun in early childhood. Humane education means teaching children to think, not about themselves, but about others. It means putting yourself in the place of the little child; or the old person; or the bird in the nest or cage; the hungry cat; the chained dog; the overworked horse; the little wild animal caught in a cruel trap and left to suffer agonies for hours (I think the steel trap is an invention of the Devil); the cattle crowded and freezing on the trains; the little calf trampled under the feet of the larger animals. I am told that calves are sometimes born on the train and are immediately trampled on, then they are taken out dead from the train, the wretched cow mother suffering worse than death. Often and often I hear of calves sent to the butcher,—baby calves carried perhaps for hours in farmers’ carts, their feet tied, nearly dead, moaning pitifully in their misery. Who

*A paper written by Mrs. Huntington Smith for a Grange Meeting at Sherburn.

can eat the flesh of calves? Veal should be tabooed from every table. Some, and I fear many calves, are taken from their unhappy mothers, are carried to the yards of the slaughter houses and are left there unsheltered and unfed for hours, dying of hunger and exposure, before they are killed,—these unfortunate creatures are treated far worse than any machine. I have not eaten the flesh of animals for years; I cannot, when I think of how they suffer and die.

What are we doing to remedy these evils, these crimes against mercy and common human- ity? What are you doing?

D6 you say that nothing can be done? That these cruelties to our fellow creatures must be?

Emerson said, ‘‘ Nothing is impossible to him: who can will. Is this necessary? This shall be. Such is the law of success.”

If every man and woman would put himself or herself in the place