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THE POOR MAN'S HYMN.

As much have I of worldly good

As e'er my Master had,

I diet on as dainty food,

And am as richly clad,

(Though mean my garb, though scant my board,) As Mary's son, and Nature's Lord.

The manger was his infant bed,

His home the mountain cave,
He had not where to lay his head;
He borrowed e'en his grave:
Earth yielded him no resting spot,—
Her Maker, but she knew him not.

As much the world's good-will I bear,
Its favours and applause,

As He, whose sacred name I bear,
Hated, without a cause;

Despised, rejected, mocked by pride,
Betrayed, forsaken, crucified.

Cruelty to Animals.

Why should I court my Master's foe ?
Why should I fear its frown?
Why should I seek for rest below?
Or sigh for brief renown?

A pilgrim to a better land,

An heir of joys at God's right hand.

461

Sent by P. B.

CRUELTY TO ANIMALS.

The following Extracts are taken from the first Annual Report of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. (Instituted 1824.)

"THE wise, the liberal, and the humane, among our countrymen had long been impressed with the necessity of checking a disposition too prevalent among the less reflecting minds, towards barbarity, in their treatment of the inferior animals.-Persons of feeling and judgment considered, that such cruelty was not only evil in itself, but tended to degrade and brutalize the character, and to produce acts of violence and outrage, in the intercourse of mankind with each other. These reflections produced many religious and moral exhortations from the pulpit and the press; and at length the Legis❤ lature interposed its authority for the repression of this species of cruelty. Still it was obvious, that an Institution directed to this object, could alone produce a steady and permanent effect on the general habits and manners of the community. Such was the origin of the Institution which several zealous and excellent individuals determined to form i and the result was the establishment of the present Society, on the 25th of June, 1824.

It is the fate of all laudable undertakings to encounter, in their outset, prejudice and ridicule. This Society, undaunted by such opposition, has pursued its progress with a steady pace. Its objeet

was to promote and extend the practice of humanity to all the classes of animated beings in the creation; and the means which it resolved to employ for this purpose, were, in the first place, rational persuasion, and, should that fail, then, legal compulsion. No sooner was the Society established than its attention began to be turned, with great anxiety, to the best methods of effecting the desired change. It was obviously most congenial to benevolent feeling to act by the gentlest inducements, to introduce elementary works, impregnated with humane sentiments, into schools, to cause short tracts and essays (having kindness to brutes as their subject), to be circulated among the lower classes; to interest the professors of physical science in the cause of humanity, to engage divines to dwell upon that part of the scriptural duties in their sermons; and lastly, and above all, to enlist that powerful and ceaseless engine, the Press, in the same sacred

cause.

This course has been unremittingly pursued. It was, however, soon found (what in fact was anticipated would be the case) that the force of persuasion alone would not be sufficient to effect the desired change in the habits and manners of certain classes of individuals, and that it would be absolutely necessary to proceed, in some instances, by the terrors of the law. It was, therefore, determined to exercise a vigilant inspection, especially over drovers, and others habitually employed in the care of cattle. In the course of the year, one hundred and forty-four convictions for cruel and improper treatment of animals have taken place, chiefly among bullock drovers; but partly also among those who have the care of horses, and who by furious riding or driving not only injure these animals, but incur great hazard of destruction to hu man life.

The success of the combined methods of exhorta

Cruelty to Animals.

463

tion and prosecution has been most satisfactory. If there was one spot in the kingdom more disgraced than another, by the repetition of barbarous cruelties, wreaked on poor dumb and defenceless animals, it was Smithfield-market. The scene there is now so much changed, that we can hardly recognize the same unfeeling class of men, that used to be employed in driving, or rather torturing, cattle.

The cruel sport (as it was deemed) of bull-baiting, had disgraced the populace of many parts of England for centuries. There were even towns in which it was regarded as a legal privilege of the inhabitants to indulge their savage delight, once a year or oftener, with the contemplation of a noble animal chained down to a spot, and there worried into a state of fury; while he, on his part, gored, tossed, and mangled the poor dogs which were set upon him by their cruel masters.-The Committee used every means to impress persons, possessing influence and authority, with the odious and inhuman character of this misnamed pastime; and it is gratifying to state, that those efforts have led, in many instances, to the suppression of so disgraceful and unmanly a practice; and there is a ground to hope for an entire abolition of bullbaiting.

What has been said of bull-baiting may be applied to similar diversions, such as bear-baiting, badger-baiting, and cock-fighting. They all alike spring from the indulgence of an unfeeling barbarity; they have all alike been denounced and decreed by the principles of the Society; and they are all alike becoming daily less frequent.

Thus may we venture to believe that their labours, during the last twelvemonth, have produced a salutary impression on two very different classes of society they have induced the drover to remit his brutality, and they have taught the medical student that cruelty was no essential requisite to

his professional pursuits. The general effect on the public mind has not been less gratifying. We have been cheered by the approbation of the virtuous, the wise, and enlightened; and we have had occasion to learn that many persons, formerly unused to reflection and the government of temper, in their treatment of inferior animals, have, by the publicity given to the proceedings of this Society, been led to feel the propriety and the duty of a different conduct; thus demonstrating that the seeds of humanity, though dormant in the heart for a while, may yet be elicited by proper cultivation. Perhaps a more unequivocal proof of moral improvement among such men cannot well be afforded than this, that some of the very individuals before alluded to, who were associated in the rudest offices of life connected with the care of cattle, and who partook of the coarseness and asperity of their companions, have actually become Members of this Society.

The Committee are far from claiming to themselves the merit of those beneficial changes which have been produced in relation to the conduct of individuals towards the animal creation. They feel that the main and principal cause of such a moral improvement is owing to the existence of this Society; but they also feel, and they deem it a duty to acknowledge, that incalculable benefit has resulted from the manner in which the people at large have been awakened to this branch of their duties, by the voice of Religion sounding from the pulpit, and by several able productions of the periodical press. Let all efforts conspire, in this labour of love and disinterested benevolence, to produce one humanizing and grateful result. Let us not be weary in well doing, but go on, so long as there remains any such blot on the character of our country, as inhumanity or cruelty in any shape.. If it be shown to the lowest of the animal tribes, it

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