“A RIGHTEOUS MAN REGARDETH THE LIFE OF HIS BEAST”
By Mrs. B. J. Cady
(Papeete, Tahiti, Society Islands) It is painful to see the indifference with which many parents allow their children to tease and torment domestic animals. Animals have feelings, and suffer pain in the flesh just as we do. Notice how a bird or a cat will often cringe when you reach out your hand to touch it. If your touch is always gentle, it soon learns not to fear you, but it will always shrink from a rough hand. We should take a kindly interest in all the live members of our household, and see that they are properly cared for, and not ill-treated. Children who really love animals, often treat them unkindly, having never been taught why it is wrong to do so. We ourselves should have a regard for the feelings of the helpless, dumb animals, and should help the children to understand why these creatures should receive kind and gentle treatment. The kitten should not be given to the baby for a plaything, to be squeezed and choked till it cries out with pain. There is no better way to teach a child to be cruel and hard-hearted than to let him abuse the cat as he may see fit. When he cries for it, then is the time to begin to teach him that animals are not to be ill-treated, but handled tenderly, that they may not be hurt. The baby can easily be taught to be kind and tender toward his pets, if the older ones set a right example before him, and take a little pains to teach him. Children often have a sort of mania for pets, and are sometimes permitted to keep quite a number. When they first get one, they take the best care of it; but after the novelty wears off, they usually become quite careless and negligent. Their minds are occupied with other things, and they do not notice that the water cup in the canary’s cage is quite empty. Perhaps the bird is allowed to suffer thirst for several days, and also hunger, and its cage is seldom cleaned. The children are at last brought to a sense of their carelessness by finding their little pet lying dead in the bottom of the cage. The cat and dog also often suffer from hunger and thirst, as well as from cold, but especially from lack of food. The responsibility should not be laid entirely upon the children; for they are inexperienced and thoughtless, and do not realize how much their pets may suffer. It is the parents’ duty to help the children to understand why their pets need food and drink and kind treatment, and that without it they suffer just as we should. If the parents are unkind to the domestic animals, and regardless of their comfort, the children will be the same. But if the parents are kind to these creatures, and careful to see that they are properly fed, the children will readily learn to take an interest in them, and will enjoy caring for them. Children are quick to notice and imitate the habits of their elders. Household pets afford the parent an opportunity to teach children lessons of kindness and thoughtfulness. And if parents will not take the trouble to see that their children care for their pets and treat them kindly, they had better not allow the children to keep any pets; for in doing so, the parents would be teaching cruelty and unkindness. There is a great deal of unnecessary suffering among animals, caused by the hardness of men’s hearts. As Christ’s followers, we should seek to alleviate the sufferings of the dumb animals as well as those of mankind. We read about Jesus as a child, that “the little creatures of the grove, the patient beasts of burden,—all were happier for His presence. He whose word of power upheld the worlds, would stoop to relieve a wounded bird.” Let it be so with us and with our children,—let us so treat every creature that it will be happier for our presence. When the animals confide in and love us, it gives us a sense of satisfaction and joy that we can not feel when they fear the sound of our voice and flee from our presence.