for 1,000 cards at 2s. the dozen post free and pledge my word that there shall be no disappointment this time. Very useful they might prove as a reminder to clergymen, magistrates, schoolmasters, etc., of the claims of the non-human animals on the human species. This reminder would come with great effect at a time when the announcements will be about ready of the opening of that new torture palace on the Thames Embankment, near Chelsea Bridge -the (so called) British Institute of Preventive Medicine. This gilded Inferno -a combination of laboratories for the scientific torture of non-human animals, is the last word of Science to a Christian civilization which has grown up for nineteen centuries under the shadow of the Cross!

Before I quit the subject of cards, I must not omit to mention that the reproduction of Landseer's Newfoundland Dog on page 55 has also been printed by us on a large card about 10 inches by 7, with appropriate wording; copies can be had at 6d. each post free 7d. Friends desirous of obtaining a copy should apply early, as only a few are available.

My Stuttgart correspondent writes as follows, under date December 12th, and I am sure the information is most encouraging:

can.

As alas! we have too often need for complaint, it is but just that we should rejoice where we After remonstrating for many years against the cruel method of stuffing geese, as practised in this town, we have lately learnt to our great satisfaction that the practice, kolossal abgenommen hat (has decreased to an immense degree). On inquiring into the reason, we have heard from four distinct quarters that, in the first place, the younger generation will not suffer it, and secondly, people do not like the idea of eating diseased meat, which they now perceive to be the natural consequence where the animals are caused such prolonged suffering. I could not deny myself the pleasure of communicating this good piece of news to you, but must add, at the same time, that I am only speaking of Stuttgart.

My correspondent also forwarded a German price list of steel and other traps for catching birds, foxes, etc. I shall have something to say about this atrocity next month.

My friend, Miss Eleanor M. Beeby, is in great distress again, for W. Johnston, the tram-conductor who lost his employment through refusing to stop his tram when running up a steep hill in South London, and got discharged on the complaint of a lady (!) is still in want of a situation. He has had temporary employ

ment by Sir Stuart Knill, ex-Lord Mayor, and is a man of good character, and with a wife and family dependent upon him. If anyone can help, communication should be made to Miss Beeby, at Walden, Worplesden, Guildford, Surrey.

A lady noted for her generous support of all good causes has made it possible for the Animals' Friend to have a really welldesigned front page to its cover. An attractive exterior goes a long way in recommending a magazine to strangers, and our poverty, but not our will, has hitherto alone consented to submit to anything but the best. But now we

are advertising, in the Artist, a competition for the best design, and offer a prize of £3 3s. The competition is open to anyone.

While I am on this topic of the generosity of our friends, whose good deeds. for the last ten months are duly set forth at the end of this letter, I should like to say that Miss Fanny E. White, who suggested the Santa Claus Fund last year, wanted me to re open it this Christmas. Another lady made a similar request. But I really could not. This fund, I may explain to our more recent friends, was inaugurated as a Christmas Box to the Animals' Friend to help to make good the loss incurred in its publication. We can always do with money, always find a use for it, and a good use, too; but I do not want to be dunning our friends too frequently. When we do make an appeal it is my invariable experience that the great majority of those who respond are always the first to help. When Warren Hastings was impeached for his administration of India he declared himself astonished at his own moderation. If I made another appeal now I should astonish our friends at my own immoderation and justly earn the epitaph-" And it came to pass that the beggar died." No! If surplus cash burns in the pockets of any

humane readers our Sustentation Fund will always relieve them of the burden. We will cheerfully bear it for them. However, to show that we are not so importunate as some of our readers would have us be, I quote the following from a Glasgow correspondent, a gentleman, I may remark:-

DEAR MR. EDITOR,-I beg to enclose postal order for 2s. 6d. to pay for sending to schoolmasters twenty copies of the November issue of the Animals' Friend. You should next month ask your readers for funds to send out 20,000 copies to ministers. I will be happy to again send you 2s. 6d. for this purpose. The

copy sent to them should have a special appeal printed in extra large type, as they very much require stirring up. I am posting a copy of the enclosed pamphlet to all the principal teachers in my locality. You might kindly bring it before the notice of your readers, some of whom might "go and do likewise." Though very much disheartened, I am still pegging away in the gloom. Wishing you continued and everincreasing success in your up-hill work, and promising you my ungrudging support, I beg to subscribe myself,-Yours, etc.

P.S.-In your September issue, on page 215. the statement is made by the Rev. W. Lescher that "cruelty to animals is not so bad as cruelty to man," etc. Now this I indignantly deny. Quite the reverse is the case. I do not see why man's miserable and polluted carcase is entitled to any better usage in this world than that of the other animals. The bare idea that animals have either intelligence or a soul is to some people very much what a red rag is to a bull.

The pamphlet referred to by my correspondent is, "Literæ Humaniores," published by the Humanitarian League. We will adopt our correspondent's suggestion thus far-we will make our Easter (April) number special for clergy and ministers. If sympathisers will help, we will guarantee to send ourselves 2,000 copies, and any further number subscribed for, as in the case of the school teachers.

We are all rejoiced at the action of the Home Secretary (Sir Matthew White Ridley) in aiding the Birds' Protection Committee of the Middlesex and other County Councils to efficiently protect the wild birds, by extending the close time for certain species to all the year round. Sir Matthew is known by political friends and opponents to be a merciful and kindhearted English gentleman, and no mere high-and dry departmental minister. We shall that is, we animal lovers-like him all the more for this practical manifestation of his sympathy with the Humane Cause. But we want very much to get at those lazy rascals-the bird catchers.

In walking from Roehampton to Putney Heath, one Sunday noon, some few months ago, I noticed three of these loafers slouching along with large wicker cages covered with cloths, each cage being sufficiently capacious to contain a couple of hundred birds. And twice have I seen another of this class pursuing his wretched calling on the Thames river bank outside Hurlingham. Now, I have a suggestion for the Field and Rambling Clubs of young fellows which one hears of occasionally, especially in connection with Young Men's Christian Associations: Why not pursue inquiries-carefully, of

course-which will enable you to compile an accurate list of the bird-catchers? ings-follow the loafers from their burrows Then-more especially on Sunday mornto their hunting grounds. You may then have some admirable sport in waiting until their preparations for snaring the songsters. are complete, and when this is done, create a general hullabaloo with whistles, shouts, etc., laid on with all the vigour of fully expanded lungs. The birds will not. then come near the snares, and they will be spared the wretched fate of their fellows. If this policy were generally pursued the bird-catcher would soon be starved out. There is only one precautionary measure to adopt. Let at least one of the party of scare crows"—pardon the definition, but the calling is an honourable onebe well versed in the noble art of selfdefence-it may be required. All the militancy ought not to be on the side of the blackguards. You may think me dreadfully aggressive, but I still retain sufficient British spirit, notwithstanding my "sloppy sentimentality," to enjoy a good fight-always, of course, a good

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cause.

in

That the Humanitarian Movement is cosmopolitan in its scope and interest goes without saying. Our admirable French confrères, the Société Protectrice des Animaux are going to publish an illustrated Christmas Supplement to the existing Bulletin. Some of its members, who subscribe to the Animals' Friend, have long wished to produce a French equivalent. I hope this may be the beginning. Two charming French ladies who spend a great deal of time in London, I have recently been the means of introducing to the French Society through the medium. of my French correspondent. You may be interested in the result (I suppress the names because I have not permission to use them):

Paris, 13th December, 1896. Many, many thanks for your introduction.

We went to see Madame yesterday, my daughter and myself, and we were delighted to make her acquaintance. Madame is very kind and thoroughly devoted to the cause. On Thursday, we shall meet with her at the Society's Rooms and she will introduce us to the President, as we wish to become members. My daughter told you in her letter that the horses looked better in Paris now than two years ago. This is true, and Madame says that Baroness Burdett Coutts noticed it and made the same remark. But much remains still to be done. Lodging-house keepers refuse to take in dogs and Parisian ladies wear such a lot of furs and birds it distresses me. Let us hope they will soon follow the example given by some English ladies. You should try and get the Empress of Russia to leave off wearing feathers; it would be the best way to convert French ladies. We enjoyed reading the editor's letter in the Animals' Friend very much indeed. The Animals' Friend gets nicer and nicer every month. With best wishes for you, the whole society, the paper, all the dear animals and their friends, from my daughter and myself, I remain, &c.

These French ladies discovered the existence of the Animals' Friend, you will be pleased to hear, by seeing it in a London Free Library! (You know we send it free to over 300 every month.) Their enthusiastic approval has set a young French lady to learning English, in order that she may read it, too! Still more recently I have been honoured by a call from two Russian ladies, one of them a sister of the Countess Kamensky, who wrote the charming story of the Cows in our October number. Both are ardent humanitarians, sympathetic thinkers and charming conversationalists. So you see now what I mean by saying our cause is cosmopolitan in its scope and interests. What we want in London is a salon, say a weekly rendezvous for humanitarians of every race. It would be such a help it no less practical than social. gentleman known for his unobtrusive but devoted work in the cause, has, I gather, ideas on the subject, though larger than mine. May the dream have its fulfilment !

You will have observed in this issue a lady's confession regarding furs. Another lady, dating from Torquay, writes me as follows:

I have been informed that the most fashionable fur this winter for those who can afford to buy it, is the "Persian BABY LAMB," and that it is obtained in such an infamously cruel manner that I cannot believe any woman would consent to wear it if she knew the truth! I am told the lambs are taken from their mothers in an awful manner and then skinned alive! That both the sheep and lambs die in frightful torture. Can it be true? And if so will you expose this monstrous cruelty in your

Animals' Friend? Surely the fur of the black Thibet goat is fit for anyone to wear, and that can be obtained after the animal is killed for food. I have made many inquiries about killing seals, and I am assured they are COMPLETELY stunned, if not dead, before they are skinned, and can feel nothing. However, as there may be a doubt on the subject, I never intend to buy any more, though I may finish wearing what I have. I am pleased to see milliners are bringing in some beautiful fine grass which will, I trust, replace "aigrettes' for bonnets. If you can ascertain the truth of this hideous story about the "baby lamb' fur, I sincerely trust you will expose it. It was reported that Astrakhan sheep were skinned alive to make the fur curly! Can it be true? Yes, I have heard of these things; I have read the statements in the Daily Press with painful interest; but-helpless wight that I am! I have no means of testing their truth. Some day I hope the R.S.P.C.A., or the Humanitarian League, will be able to afford to retain a barrister, as one who can be trusted to sift evidence, to inquire into all such matters on the spot, travelling to the most distant parts if necessary for the purpose, and publishing his report, whether it be good or evil. I hope the allegations are not true; but I know human nature, and it is not always lovely and of good report. Meanwhile if you have any doubts or qualms of conscience cut the Gordian knot-do not buy or wear furs at time. any

A lady propound; the following conundrum?

If motor cars are to be the substitutes for cabs as seems to be predicted, what will be. come of the cab horses and omnibus horses? Can you not allude to this question in some future number of the Animals' Friend?

It seems to me the natural law of things will apply here-the supply will cease with the demand. If horses are not required, they will not be bred. But the adoption of the motor car promises at present to be very gradual. Horses will be required for some time yet. When it does not pay to keep them they will be shot, I suppose, as the quickest way out of the difficulty. And a merciful deliverance for many of the poor creatures.

I have taken the Sunday School lesson on page 63 from the November number of the Seed Sower, an admirable little penny magazine published by the Midland Educational Company, Limited, Corporation Street, Birmingham. It may also be had at Essex Hall, Essex Street, London, W.C. The only comment I offer concerns the latter portion of paragraph 16. would be well to explain to children that

It

it is farnabler never to rob the birds of their little ones.

Just one word in closing. A General Protest Committee has been established in London and is hard at work organizing the opposition to the registration by the Home Secretary of the British Institute of Preventive Medicine as a place for experiments on living animals. This is the subject I alluded to before. We all wish the Committee success in its labours. Has it ever occurred to you what a singular perversion of the term "self-sacrifice" the vivisector's

T

definition implies? I shall believe in the self-sacrificing work of the vivisector when he experiments, not on the defenceless animals, but on his carefully protected self.-Believe me, as ever, your faithful and sincere,

EDITOR.

N.B.-I have deemed it better, after all, to hold over until our February issue the list of donations to our Sustentation and School Funds so as to complete the record up to December 31st.-ED.

—

HE blessings of sight are inestimable, and few human afflictions excite more sympathy than blindness-indeed, Nature herself would appear to pity, by rendering more acute other senses as some compensation for the earthly darkness.

Do our sightless animal friends receive a fair share of human sympathy is a question which may fitly be asked through the columns of your humane little journal, and I greatly fear must be answered in the negative.

Yet sightless horses, dogs, and other quad. rupeds are not uncommon, and in my professional capacity I am brought into contact with numerous instances, many of which I regret to say might have been obviated.

Few individuals possessing the boon of sight and a heart of thankfulness for so great a mercy can resist the appeal of the blind man's canine applicant for alms, but in responding to the mute and gentle solicitation, and whilst acknowledging the sagacity and protection over his sightless companion, do they pause to think of the fate that would probably follow a similar affliction to the faithful guardian of

a pitiable state, both eyes being severely ulcerated, clouded with exudation of lymph and injected blood-vessels-the corneal surface of one organ having already burst. It was harrowing to hear the whimpers of pain when the sufferer came into collision with obstacles in her way, and when spoken to and soothed to witness her attempts to follow the speaker, or sit up and beg and paw the sightless organs, as if pleading for help.

After a careful examination I thought it possible to restore partial, if not complete sight of the left eye so consented, to receive the sufferer, though with considerable anxiety as to the result of the operation, and I need

the fellow-being they are relieving? I doubt it. Could, however, such people witness the wild delight of a dog whose eyes have been restored to vision-brought from total darkness into the glorious sun light of heaven-and the glad and grateful expression of the canine recipient-they would more readily understand the poor animal's sense of affliction and depression when sightless.

I could give many illustrations, but one will suffice:-A valuable and very clever chouchou was brought by a lady on Nov. 30th to my "Home of Rest for Animals," having as she in great distress told me, been returned to her after professional treatment as "totally and incurably blind." The poor thing truly was in

scarcely say what a relief of mind followed its success. It is difficult to say which rejoiced most when mistress and dog met after the darkness had been dispelled, and it would be almost impossible to depict the patient's delight and gratitude, and her eagerness to show all the clever tricks she had learnt. I hope to retrieve a portion of sight in the other eye, and thus render Wangi's life a happy one, and repay her mistress's deep devotion and love for her canine pet. May I then earnestly appeal, especially to your youthful readers, to remember kindly all blind animals, particularly those domesticated and brought into subjection for the good, comfort, and welfare of the human race ?-that being sentient creatures they can feel even as we can feel, and if so they can suffer-and God knows how, in these days of so-called "scientific research," they do undergo terrible and unjustifiable tortures under the butchery of the vivisector, whose experiments so far have failed to show us any new method of restoring sight to the sightless, or any great human benefits that have accrued through his licensed cruelty.

St. Leonard's-on-Sea.