Voices for the Speechless Part 7

Love and charity being the basis of Christianity, it is as much a question for the Church to ask, when a person wishes to be admitted into her bosom, "Are you kind to animals?" as it is to ask, "Do you believe in such or such a doctrine?" Certainly the question would be pertinent to Christian life and consonant with the fundamental and distinguishing principle of the Christian religion; and the mere asking of it at so solemn a juncture could not but do much to a.s.similate and draw closer the heart and life of the novitiate to Him who sees every sparrow that falls.

E. HATHAWAY.

FEELING FOR ANIMALS.

The power of feeling for animals, realizing their wants and making their pains our own, is one which is most irregularly shown by human beings. A Timon may have it, and a Howard be devoid of it. A rough shepherd's heart may overflow with it, and that of an exquisite fine gentleman and distinguished man of science may be as utterly without it as the nether millstone. One thing I think must be clear: till man has learnt to feel for all his sentient fellow-creatures, whether in human or in brutal form, of his own cla.s.s and s.e.x and country, or of another, he has not yet ascended the first step towards true civilization nor applied the first lesson from the love of G.o.d.

MISS F. P. COBBE.

HEROIC.

Nay, on the strength of that same element of self-sacrifice, I will not grudge the epithet "heroic" which my revered friend Darwin justly applies to the poor little monkey who once in his life did that which was above his duty; who lived in continual terror of the great baboon, and yet, when the brute had sprung upon his friend the keeper, and was tearing out his throat, conquered his fear by love, and, at the risk of instant death, sprung in turn upon his dreaded enemy, and hit and shrieked until help arrived.

CHARLES KINGSLEY.

EFFECT OF CRUELTY.

The effect of the barbarous treatment of inferior creatures on the minds of those who practise it is still more deplorable than its effects upon the animals themselves. The man who kicks dumb brutes kicks brutality into his own heart. He who can see the wistful imploring eyes of half-starved creatures without making earnest efforts to relieve them, is on the road to lose his manhood, if he has not already lost it. And the boy who delights in torturing frogs or insects, or robbing birds'-nests, or d.o.g.g.i.ng cattle and hogs wantonly and cruelly, can awaken no hope of an honorable after life.

E. HATHAWAY.

ASPIRATION.

Oh may I join the choir invisible Of those immortal dead who live again In minds made better by their presence: live In pulses stirred to generosity: In deeds of daring rect.i.tude, in scorn For miserable aims that end with self; In thoughts sublime that pierce the night like stars, And with their mild persistence urge men's search To vaster issues.

GEORGE ELIOT.

THE POOR BEETLE.

The sense of death is most in apprehension; And the poor beetle that we tread upon, In corporal sufferance finds a pang as great As when a giant dies.

_Measure for Measure_, Act 3, Sc. 1.

THE CONSUMMATION.

It is little indeed that each of us can accomplish within the limits of our little day. Small indeed is the contribution which the best of us can make to the advancement of the world in knowledge and goodness. But slight though it be, if the work we do is real and n.o.ble work, it is never lost; it is taken up into and becomes an integral moment of that immortal life to which all the good and great of the past, every wise thinker, every true and tender heart, every fair and saintly spirit, have contributed, and which, never hasting, never resting, onward through ages is advancing to its consummation.

REV. DR. CAIRD.

PERSEVERE.

Salt of the earth, ye virtuous few Who season human kind!

Light of the world, whose cheering ray Illumes the realms of mind!

Where misery spreads her deepest shade, Your strong compa.s.sion glows; From your blest lips the balm distils That softens mortal woes.

Proceed: your race of glory run, Your virtuous toils endure; You come, commissioned from on high, And your reward is sure.

MRS. BARBAULD.

A VISION.

When 'twixt the drawn forces of Night and of Morning, Strange visions steal down to the slumbers of men, From heaven's bright stronghold once issued a warning, Which baffled all scorning, when brought to my ken.

Methought there descended the Saints and the Sages, With grief-stricken aspect and wringing of hands, Till Dreamland seemed filled with the anguish of ages, The blots of Time's pages, the woes of all lands.

And I, who had deemed that their bliss knew no morrow (Half vexed with their advent, half awed with their might)-- Cried, "Come ye from heaven, Earth's aspect to borrow, To mar with weird sorrow the peace of the night?"

They answered me sternly, "Thy knowledge is mortal; Thou hear'st not as we must, the plaints without tongue: The wrongs that come beating the crystalline portal, Inflicted by mortals on those who are dumb.

"Ye bleed for the nation, ye give to the altar, Ye heal the great sorrows that clamor and cry, Yet care not how oft 'neath the spur and the halter, The brutes of the universe falter and die.

"Yet Jesus forgets not that while ye ensnared Him, And drove Him with curses of burden and goad, These gentle ones watched where the Magi declared Him, And often have spared Him the long desert road.

"They crumble to dust; but we, watchers remaining, Attest their endurance through centuries past, Oh, fear! lest in future to Judgment attaining, These woes, uncomplaining, confront you at last!"

JULIA C. VERPLANCK.

SPEAK GENTLY.

Speak gently! it is better far To rule by love than fear: Speak gently! let not harsh words mar The good we might do here.

Speak gently! 'tis a little thing, Dropped in the heart's deep well, The good, the joy, which it may bring, Eternity shall tell.

O, it is excellent To have a giant's strength; but it is tyrannous To use it like a giant.