OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS.

SHAME upon thee, savage, monarch-man, proud monopolist of

reason;

Shame upon Creation's lord, the fierce, ensanguined despot:

What, man! are there not enough, hunger, and diseases, and fa

And yet must thy goad or thy thong add another sorrow to existence ?

What! art thou not content thy sin hath dragged down suffering

and death

On the poor, dumb servants of thy comfort, and yet must thou rack them with thy spite?

The prodigal heir of creation hath gambled away his all,-
Shall he add torment to the bondage that is galling his forfeit serfs ?
The leader in Nature's pæan himself hath marred her psaltery,
Shall he multiply the din of discord by overstraining all the strings?
The rebel hath fortified his stronghold, shutting in his vassals with

Shall he aggravate the woes of the besieged by oppression from within ?

Thou twice-deformed image of thy Maker, thou hateful representative of Love,

For very shame be merciful, be kind unto the creatures thou hast

ruined;

Earth and her million tribes are cursed for thy sake;

Earth and her million tribes still writhe beneath thy cruelty:

Liveth there but one among the million that shall not bear witness

against thee,

A pensioner of land, or air, or sea, that hath not whereof it will accuse thee?

From the elephant toiling at a launch, to the shrewmouse in the harvest-field,

From the whale which the harpooner hath stricken, to the minnow caught upon a pin,

From the albatross wearied in its flight, to the wren in her covered

nest,

From the death-moth and lace-winged dragon-fly, to the lady-bird

and the gnat,

The verdict of all things is unanimous, finding their master cruel:
The dog, thy humble friend, thy trusting, honest friend;
The ass, thine uncomplaining slave, drudging from morn to even;
The lamb, and the timorous hare, and the laboring ox at plough;
The speckled trout, basking in the shallow, and the partridge,
gleaning in the stubble,

And the stag at bay, and the worm in thy path, and the wild bird pining in captivity,

And all things that minister alike to thy life, and thy comfort, and thy pride,

Testify with one sad voice that man is a cruel master.

VERILY, they are all thine: freely mayst thou serve thee of them all:

They are thine by gift for thy needs, to be used in all gratitude and

kindness

Gratitude to their God and thine, their Father and thy Father,— Kindness to them who toil for thee, and help thee with their all; For meat, but not by wantonness of slaying; for burden, but with limits of humanity;

For luxury, but not through torture; for draught, but according to the strength;

For a dog cannot plead his own right, nor render a reason for ex

emption,

Nor give a soft answer unto wrath, to turn aside the undeserved

lash;

The galled ox cannot complain, nor supplicate a moment's respite; The spent horse hideth his distress, till he panteth out his spirit at

the goal;

Also, in the winter of life, when worn by constant toil,

If ingratitude forget his services, he cannot bring them to remem

brance:

Behold, he is faint with hunger; the big tear standeth in his eye;
His skin is sore with stripes, and he tottereth beneath his burden;
His limbs are stiff with age, his sinews have lost their vigor,
And pain is stamped upon his face, while he wrestleth unequally
with toil :

Yet once more mutely and meekly endureth he the crushing blow;

That struggle hath cracked his heart-strings, the generous brute is dead!

Liveth there no advocate for him? no judge to avenge his wrongs? No voice that shall be heard in his defence? no sentence to be

passed on his oppressor?

Yea, the sad eye of the tortured pleadeth pathetically for him:
Yea, all the justice in heaven is roused in indignation at his woes:
Yea, all the pity upon earth shall call down a curse upon the cruel:
Yea, the burning malice of the wicked is their own exceeding pun-

ishment.

The Angel of Mercy stoppeth not to comfort, but passeth by on the other side,

And hath no tear to shed when a cruel man is damned.

OF FRIENDSHIP.

As frost to the bud, and blight to the blossom, even such is selfinterest to friendship:

For Confidence cannot dwell where Selfishness is porter at the gate. If thou see thy friend to be selfish, thou canst not be sure of his

honesty;

And in seeking thine own weal, thou hast wronged the reliance of thy friend.

Flattery hideth her varnished face when Friendship sitteth at his

board;

And the door is shut upon suspicion, but candor is bid glad wel

come;

For friendship abhorreth doubt, its life is in mutual trust,

And perisheth, when artful praise proveth it is sought for a purpose. A man may be good to thee at times, and render thee mighty service,

Whom yet thy secret soul could not desire as a friend;

For the sum of life is in trifles, and though, in the weightier masses, A man refuse thee not his purse, nay, his all in thine utmost need, Yet, if thou canst not feel that his character agreeth with thine

own,

Thou never wilt call him friend, though thou render him a heart full of gratitude.

A coarse man grindeth harshly the finer feelings of his brother; A common mind will soon depart from the dull companionship of wisdom;

A weak soul dareth not to follow in the track of vigor and decision; And the worldly regardeth with scorn the seeming foolishness of faith. A mountain is made up of atoms, and friendship of little matters, And if the atoms hold not together, the mountain is crumbled into dust.

* COME, I will show thee a friend; I will paint one worthy of thy

trust:

Thine heart shall not weary of him; thou shalt not secretly despise

him.

Thou art long in learning him, in unravelling all his worth;

And he dazzleth not thine eyes at first, to be darkened in thy sight

afterward,

But riseth from small beginnings, and reacheth the height of thy

esteem.

He remembereth that thou art only man; he expecteth not great

things from thee;

And his forbearance toward thee silently teacheth thee to be considerate unto him.

He despiseth not courtesy of manner, nor neglecteth the decencies of life;

Nor mocketh the failings of others, nor is harsh in his censures before thee;

For so, how couldst thou tell, if he talketh not of thee in ridicule ? He withholdeth no secret from thee, and rejecteth not thine in turn; He shareth his joys with thee, and is glad to bear part in thy sor

rows.

Yet one thing, he loveth thee too well to show thee the corruptions of his heart:

For as an ill example strengtheneth the hands of the wicked,

So to put forward thy guilt is a secret poison to thy friend:

For the evil in his nature is comforted, and he warreth more weakly

against it,

If he find that the friend whom he honoreth is a man more sinful

than himself.

I hear the communing of friends; ye speak out the fulness of your souls,

And being but men, as men, ye own to all the sympathies of manhood: (26)

Confidence openeth the lips, indulgence beameth from the eye,
The tongue loveth not boasting, the heart is made glad with kind-

ness;

And one standeth not as on a hill, beckoning to the other to follow, But ye toil up hand in hand, and carry each other's burdens.

Ye commune of hopes and aspirations, the fervent breathings of the

heart,

Ye speak with pleasant interchange the treasured secrets of affec

tion,

Ye listen to the voice of complaint, and whisper the language of

comfort,

And as in a double solitude, ye think in each other's hearing.

CHOOSE thy friend discreetly, and see thou consider his station,
For the graduated scale of ranks accordeth with the ordinance of
Heaven:

If a low companion ripen to a friend, in the full sunshine of thy confidence,

Know, that for old age thou hast heaped up sorrow:

For thou sinkest to that level, and thy kin shall scorn thee,

Yea, and the menial thou hast pampered haply shall neglect thee in

thy death:

And if thou reachest up to high estates, thinking to herd with

princes,

"What art thou but a footstool, though so near a throne?

O rush among the lilies, be taught thou art a weed,

O brier among the cedars, hot contempt shall burn thee.

But thou, friend and scholar, select from thine own caste,

And make not an intimate of one, thy servant or thy master;
For only friendship among men is the true republic,

Where all have equality of service, and all have freedom of command.

And yet, if thou wilt take my judgment, be shy of too much openness with any,

Lest thou repent hereafter, should he turn and rend thee:

For many an apostate friend hath abused unguarded confidence, And bent to selfish ends the secret of the soul.