Page images
PDF
EPUB
[merged small][merged small][graphic][subsumed][merged small]

AS a true lover of animals, may I beg of you

to make your paper the medium for sale, or exchange, of pets. It was whilst casting about in my mind for a good home for a cherished donkey, that the idea occurred to me. Your readers would be only too glad to pay for advertising in your paper, where the advertisement would be read by lovers of animals. I think that so many would be relieved at the chance thus given of some old favourite, from whom they are bound to part, it may be with tears, meeting with humane and "animal-friendly treatment, besides the help that the advertising fees would be to a paper which all, professing a love of animals, must be anxious to aid. LINCOLN.

[We are very glad to adopt our correspondent's suggestion. We once had a column of this sort in our advertising space, but it was poorly supported, although one humane and charitable lady living in Surrey found it very useful. We have again instituted this advertising section at a charge of one penny for every three words, address counted; the minimum charge will be 6d., which will cover eighteen words or less. No advertisement offering for sale, or seeking for captivated wild animals will be accepted on any terms. Orders should go to the Animals' Friend publishing offices, 4 and 5 York Street, Covent Garden, London, W.C.]

Record of the Month.

We hear from America that a pneumatic horse collar has been invented which adjusts itself to the shape of the horse's neck and shoulders, and does away with the chafing which is such a common cause of suffering.

[blocks in formation]

We know it does take a long time for some brains to grasp a simple idea, and we must not hurry them unduly, but we are very glad to see that Mr. Walter Long has announced that he has in preparation a Bill to oblige dog owners to use a collar and badge. We shall be interested to see what Mr. Long will do about the long-haired dog who, he told us at one time, made such a measure impracticable. It is whispered that Government shears of special pattern will be made compulsory wherewith to clip the dog's hair at stated intervals (all sporting dogs exempted).

[blocks in formation]

NAPLES SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF ANIMALS.

The Princess Mele Barese, president of this society, writes from Naples :-"The work done by our inspectors during 1896 was far more considerable than in any former year, as is shown by the following statistics :-Carts, to which more animals were attached, 44,321; of which the load was diminished, 17,321. Confiscated-sticks used for beating, 34,563 ; stakes used for beating, 6,448; spikes on curb. chains, 897. Convictions-working in an unfit state, 957; beating, etc., 901; overloading, 424. There can be no doubt that the society has already effected a great improvement in the treatment of animals in Naples and the neighbourhood, but nevertheless there is a vast amount still to be done. I shrink from writing of horrors, but, to give your readers an idea of the fearful cruelty with which we have to deal, I will mention that of the drivers convicted for beating, II had knocked out their animals' eyes and four had beaten their horses until they fell dead in the street. Contributions are most earnestly

solicited; they may be sent to Miss P. H. Johnston, The Beeches, Carlisle.

*

*

[ocr errors]

HOME OF REST FOR HORSES.

A festival dinner in aid of the funds of this institution was held at the Hotel Cecil, London, on June 29th. Sir Henry Harben presided, and the company, numbering nearly one hundred and fifty, included Lady Harben, the Countess of Cardigan, Lady William Lennox, Lord Haddington, Lord Borthwick, Count Vinci, General Lowry, the Hon. Albany Erskine, Mr. Skewes-Cox, M.P., Mr. Swift MacNeill, M.P., Mr. T. Lough, M.P., General Nuthall, Mr. Candy, Q.C., and Canon Rawnsley. The Chairman, in proposing the toast of the evening, “Prosperity to the Home of Rest for Horses," made an earnest appeal on behalf of the charity. He said that if there was one thing which would distinguish the Victorian era more than another it was the change which had come over the feelings of the people in regard to the treatment of animals. This institution provided what was, in reality, a convalescent home for horses, providing rest and skilled treatment for animals who, from the vicissitudes and hard work of London life and accidental causes, were temporarily incapacitated. General Lowry responded. Subscriptions were announced amounting to £1,068, including £220 from the chairman and £100 from an anonymous donor.

[blocks in formation]

DISHORNING CATTLE.-Dr. Jas. Taylor, of the Square, Tanderagee, County Armagh, writes:-" Permit me space to urge upon those who have influence with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to use it now that the season has arrived when means can be adopted to prevent the growth of horns on calves by the use of caustic potash. In no way could the society prevent more needless suffering than by promoting this simple means for avoiding the necessity for dishorning. The reasons it is not more universally used are carelessness, want of skill in application, prejudice, and the fact that those who rear calves are not as a rule those who benefit by dishorned cattle. To my mind these difficulties may be removed by the appointment of agents in districts who can use the caustic and supply it free from charge. By the society giving prizes to the agents, who can produce the best results, interest in the movement would be taken. Act of Parliament could also be promoted to make it illegal to dishorn any animal calved after a certain date except under license to properly qualified persons. As dishorning is now unnecessary, and a license would meet exceptional cases, no hardship could result to the farmers. There are few who have witnessed the agony of freshly dishorned cattle or the brutal operation who would not contribute to means to abolish the unnecessary torture."

An

[graphic][subsumed][subsumed]

THE HUMANE POETS.-No. 4. ROBERT BROWNING. (From a Painting in the National Gallery, London.)

The Humane Poets.

No. 4.-ROBERT BROWNING AND THE ANIMALS.

BY DR. EDWARD BERdoe.

a

T was a happy coincidence in my career that shortly after my introduction to Miss Frances Power Cobbe, at the residence of Mrs. Frank Morrison, I was powerfully attracted by the works of Robert Browning. I say it was happy coincidence because my medical training had taught me a passionate love for scientific pursuits, and led me to repress, if not to suppress, the emotional side of my nature, so that I was rather fearful that in throwing in my lot with Miss Cobbe and her following, "chiefly composed of ladies," as the reporters say of our meetings, I was in danger of sacrificing science to emotion, or head to heart. Having heard a lecture on Browning's Sordello about this time, I determined to join the Browning Society, whose meetings had just started at University College. The scientific bent of the poet's intellect, and his well-reasoned theism, came as a corrective to the agnosticism I had insensibly absorbed during my hospital. career, and when I learned that Browning was a Vice-president of the Victoria Street Society for the Protection of Animals, and had always expressed the utmost abhorrence of the practices which it opposes, I felt that my head was in as good company as my heart, and that Victoria Street and its crusade had supplied me with a helmet as well as a breast-plate.

Miss Cobbe very kindly allowed me to copy for my book, entitled "Browning's Message to his Time," the following letter addressed to her by the poet on the occasion of the presentation of the memorial to the R.S.P.C.A. in 1875

19, Warwick Crescent, W.

December 28th, 1874.

DEAR MISS COBBE,-I return the petition unsigned, for the one good reason, that I have just signed its fellow forwarded to me by Mrs.

You have heard, "I take an equal interest with yourself in the effort to suppress vivisection." I dare not so honour my mere wishes and prayers as to put them for a moment beside your noble acts; but this I know, I would rather submit to the worst of deaths, so far as pain goes, than have a single dog or cat tortured on the pretence of sparing me a twinge or two. I return the paper, because I shall be probably shut up here for the next week or more, and prevented from seeing my

[blocks in formation]

In his poem "Tray " the poet describes an incident which was witnessed by one of his friends in Paris.

A little girl fell into the Seine. None of the spectators went to her rescue; but a dog plunged into the river and saved the child; then, to the astonishment of the bystanders, dived again, and after battling with the stream, appeared with the child's doll in his mouth, brought that to land also, and then trotted off as if he had done nothing worthy of praise.

"Up he comes with the child, see, tight
In mouth, alive too, clutched from quite
A depth of ten feet-twelve, I bet!
Good dog! What, off again? There's yet
Another child to save? All right!

'How strange we saw no other fall!
It's instinct in the animal.

Good dog! But he's a long while under : If he's got drowned I should not wonderStrong current, that against the wall!

'Here he comes, holds in his mouth this time-
What may the thing be? Well, that's prime !
Now, did you ever? Reason reigns
In man alone, since all Tray's pains
Have fished-the child's doll from the slime!'

'And so, amid the laughter gay, Trotted my hero off,-old Tray,Till somebody, prerogatived

With reason, reasoned: 'Why he dived, His brain would show us, I should say.

'John, go and catch-or, if needs be, Purchase that animal for me!

By vivisection, at expense

Of half-an-hour and eighteen pence, How brain secretes dog's soul, we'll see!'"

[ocr errors]

In the poet's latest volume, entitled Asolando," given to the world at the moment of his death, for it was published on December 12th, 1889, the day Robert Browning died in Venice, there is a poem entitled "The Lady and the Painter." A lady visitor to an artist protests against the nude in art, and declares that it is a degradation of womanhood to employ a virgin "to strip and stand stark-naked" as a model. The painter looks at his visitor's head-dress, and asks, "What clings half

The

savage-like around your hat?" "Wildbird-wings," replies the visitor. indignant artist reproves the hypocrisy. of the woman "clothed with murder of God's best of harmless beings," and bids. her strip off the spoils she wears and stand to help art like his model.

"Who granted to my reverent gaze,
A type of purest womanhood."

In another poem in the same volume, entitled "Arcades Ambo," he pours scorn and contempt on the man who is not ashamed to say,

"I, who would have no end of brutes Cut up alive to guess what suits

My case and saves my toe from shoots." He considers such a man as great a poltroon as the soldier who runs away in battle when the balls fly about. Both shun death, and both are cowards.

When the proposal was made to start a hospital on Anti-vivisection lines, which was to be called the Shaftesbury, I asked Mr. Browning to become one of its patrons, and received the following letter in answer to my request :—

29, De Vere Gardens, W.
August 27th, 1889.

My dear Dr. Berdoe,-

I shall be delighted if the association of my name with those of the patrons of the proposed scheme for an Anti-Vivisectionist

[blocks in formation]

It was found that the work of establishing a hospital on the proposed lines was too great for the Victoria Street Society for the Protection of Animals to carry through, as it must have considerably diverted the energies of the Committee from its proper work of opposing vivisection, and the matter remained in abeyance for several years. It has now, in this Diamond Jubilee year, been revived, and appears before the philanthropic world. as a separate scheme, standing on its own foundation with a strong Committee, whose efforts will be devoted to its accomplishment. That such a scheme was dear to the heart of our great Victorian poet, whose body rests by the side of Lord Tennyson, in Westminster Abbey, who also was a Vice-President of the Victoria Street Society, should be a sufficient inducement to those who have the means to help it forward by the double incentive of suppressing scientific cruelty to animals and of relieving human suffering without making educational profit the chief factor in the work of mercy.

[ocr errors]

EDWARD BERDOE.

Record of the Month.

THE REV. J. STRATTON, M.A., Wokingham, addressed several meetings in Reading during July on behalf of the Anti-Vivisection Cause, and at a gathering in the Greyfriars' Mission Room had the assistance of the Rev. A. H. Cunningham.

BUXTON, through the endeavours of the Manchester Society, possesses an active branch working for the Anti-Vivisection Cause. The annual meeting was held on July 27th, when Mr. Herbert Philips, J.P., of Macclesfield, presided. Dr. Arnold, of Manchester, spoke, and the Revs. C. S. Green, A. Whymper, and R. Rew also assisted by their presence, etc. According to the annual report just issued, the beginning of the work in Buxton was a large drawing-room meeting held in the Old Hall Hotel, on November 4th, 1894, at which the Vicar presided. Mrs. Herbert Philips (Macclesfield) attended and read an exhaustive paper, and in the result a strong working branch was formed. We congratulate our Buxton friends on their spirit, and, recognizing

their earnest educational efforts in the past, wish them God-speed in the future.

*

*

*

IN the House of Commons on July 13th, Mr. Goschen presented a petition from a meeting of the Pioneer Anti-Vivisection Society, London, Helen Bouchier, M.D., in the chair, praying for the total prohibition of vivisection.

[blocks in formation]

THE BRITISH ANTI-DUBBING ASSOCIATION has sent us a pamphlet setting forth the arguments against the practice which they are formed to combat. Dubbing, we may explain, is cutting off the comb, wattles, and deaf ear-lobes of fowls, as is usually done in the case of game cocks. There is absolutely no justification for the practice, which is very cruel, and we are glad to see steps are being taken to bring it into disrepute and disuse. Mr. F. R. Holmes, Wingham Well Farm, Wingham, Kent, is the Honorary Secretary (pro tem.), The British Anti-Dubbing Asso

ciation.

« PreviousContinue »