Aileen Aroon, A Memoir Part 35

"'We are living in an enlightened age.' This is a remark which we hear made almost every day, a remark which contains just one golden grain of truth. Mankind is not yet enlightened in the broad sense of the term.

From the night of the past, from the darkness of bygone times, we are but groping our way, as it were, in the morning-glome, towards a great and a glorious light.

"It is an age of advancement, and a thousand facts might be adduced in proof of this. I need point to only one: the evident but gradual surcease of needless cruelty to animals. Among all cla.s.ses of the community far greater love and kindness is now manifested towards the creatures under our charge than ever was in days gone by. We take greater care of them, we think more of their comfort when well, we tend them more gently when sick, and we even take a justifiable pride in their appearance and beauty. All this only shows that there is a spirit of good abroad in the land, a something that tends to elevate, not depress, the soul of man. I see a spark of this goodness even in the breast of the felon who in his prison cell tames a humble mouse, and who weeps when it is cruelly taken from him; in the ignorant costermonger who strokes the sleek sides of his fat donkey, or the rough and unkempt drover-boy, who shares the remains of a meagre meal with his faithful collie.

"Religion and kindness to animals go hand in hand, and have done so for ages, for we cannot truly wors.h.i.+p the Creator unless we love and admire His works.

"The heavenly teaching of the Mosaic law inculcates mercy to the beasts.

It is even commanded that the ox and the a.s.s should have rest on one day of the week--namely, the Sabbath; that the ox that treadeth out the corn is not to be muzzled; that the disparity in strength of the a.s.s and ox is to be considered, and that they should not be yoked together in one plough. Even the wild birds of the field and woods are not forgotten, as may be seen by reading the following pa.s.sage from the Book of Deuteronomy:--'If a bird's nest be before thee in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be young ones or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young: but thou shalt in any way let the dam go.'

"The Jews were commanded to be merciful and kind to an animal, even if it belonged to a person unfriendly to them.

"'If thou see the a.s.s of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him.'

"That is, they were to a.s.sist even an enemy to do good to a fallen brute. It is as if a man, pa.s.sing along the street, saw the horse or a.s.s of a neighbour, who bore deadly hatred to him, stumble and fall under his load, and said to himself--

"'Oh! yonder is So-and-so's beast come down; I'll go and lend a hand.

So-and-so is no friend of mine, but the poor animal can't help that.

_He_ never did me any harm.'

"And a greater than even Moses reminds us we are to show mercy to the animals even on the sacred day of the week.

"But it is not so very many years ago--in the time when our grandfathers were young, for instance--since roughness and cruelty towards animals were in a manner studied, and even encouraged in the young by their elders. It was thought manly to domineer over helpless brutes, to pull horses on their haunches, to goad oxen along the road, though they were moving to death in the shambles, to stone or beat poor fallen sheep, to hunt cats with dogs, and to attend bull-baitings and dog and c.o.c.k fights. And there are people even yet who talk of these days as the good old times when 'a man was a man.' But such people have only to visit some low-cla.s.s haunt of 'the fancy,' when 'business' is being transacted, to learn how depraving are the effects of familiarity with scenes of cruelty towards the lower animals. Even around a rat-pit they would see faces more revolting in appearance than those of Dore's demons, and listen to jests and language so ribald and coa.r.s.e as positively to pain and torture the ear and senses. Goodness be praised that such scenes are every day getting more rare, and that the men who attend them have a wholesome terror of the majesty of human laws at least.

"Other religions besides the Christian impress upon their followers rules relating to kindness to the inferior animals. Notably, perhaps, that of Buddha, under the teachings of which about five hundred millions of human beings live and die. The doctrines of Gautama are sublimely beautiful; they are akin to those of our own religion, and I never yet met any one who had studied them who did not confess himself the better and happier for having done so. One may read in prose sketches of the life and teachings of Gautama the Buddha, in a book published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, or he may read them in verse in that splendid poem by Edwin Arnold called 'The Light of Asia.'

Gautama sees good in all things, and all nature working together for good; he speaks of--

"'That fixed decree at silent work which will Evolve the dark to light, the dead to life, To fulness void, to form the yet unformed, Good unto better, better unto best, By wordless edict; having none to bid, None to forbid; for this is past all G.o.ds Immutable, unspeakable, supreme, A Power which builds, unbuilds, and builds again, Ruling all things accordant to the rule Of virtue, which is beauty, truth, and use.

So that all things do well which serve the Power And ill which hinder; nay, the worm does well [Note 1]

Obedient to its kind; the hawk does well Which carries bleeding quarries to its young; The dewdrop and the star s.h.i.+ne sisterly, Globing together in the common work; And man who lives to die, dies to live well, So if he guide his ways by blamelessness And earnest will to hinder not, but help All things both great and small which suffer life.'

"Those among us who have tender hearts towards the lower animals cannot help day after day witnessing acts of cruelty to them which give us great pain. We are naturally inclined to feel anger against the perpetrators of such cruelty, and to express that anger in wrathful language. By so doing I am convinced we do more harm than good to the creatures we try to serve. Calmness, not heat or hurry, should guide us in defending the brute creation against those who oppress and injure it.

Let me ill.u.s.trate my meaning by one or two further extracts from Arnold's poem.

"It is noontide, and Gautama, engrossed in thought and study, is journeying onwards--

"'Gentle and slow, Radiant with heavenly pity, lost in care For those he knew not, save as fellow-lives.'

"When,--

"'Blew down the mount the dust of pattering feet, White goats, and black sheep, winding slow their way, With many a lingering nibble at the tufts, And wanderings from the path where water gleamed, Or wild figs hung.

But always as they strayed The herdsman cried, or slung his sling, and kept The silly crowd still moving to the plain.

A ewe with couplets in the flock there was, Some hurt had lamed one lamb, which toiled behind Bleeding, while in the front its fellow skipped.

And the vexed dam hither and thither ran, Fearful to lose this little one or that.

Which, when our Lord did mark, full tenderly He took the limping lamb upon his neck, Saying: "Poor woolly mother, be at peace!

Whither thou goest, I will bear thy care; 'Twere all as good to ease one beast of grief, As sit and watch the sorrows of the world In yonder caverns with the priests who pray."

So paced he patiently, bearing the lamb.

Beside the herdsman in the dust and sun, The wistful ewe low-bleating at his feet.'

"Sorely this was a lesson which the herdsman, ignorant though he no doubt was, never forgot; farther comment on the pa.s.sage is needless.

Precept calmly given does much good, example does far more."

Note 1. A fact which Darwin in his treatise on earthworms has recently proved.

CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.

MIRRAM: A SKETCH FROM THE LIFE OF A CAT--ABOUT SUMMER SONGS AND SONGSTERS.

"The mouse destroyed by my pursuit No longer shall your feasts pollute, Nor rats, from nightly ambuscade, With wasteful teeth your stores invade."

Gay.

"Books! 'tis a dull and endless strife, Come and hear the woodland linnet; How sweet his music! On my life There's more of wisdom in it."

Wordsworth.

Ida continued to improve, and she did not let me forget my promise to resume my office of story-telling, which I accordingly did next evening, bringing my portfolio into Ida's bedroom for the purpose.

Ida had her cat in her arms. The cat was singing low, and had his round, loving head on her shoulder, and his arms buried in her beautiful hair. So this suggested my reading the following:--

MIRRAM: A SKETCH FROM THE LIFE OF A CAT.

"Mirram: that was the name of p.u.s.s.y. It appears a strange one, I admit; but you see there is n.o.body accountable for it except the little cat herself, for she it was who named herself Mirram. I don't mean to say that p.u.s.s.y actually came to her little mistress, and said in as many words, 'Mirram is a pretty name, and I should like to be called Mirram.

Call me Mirram, please, won't you?'

"For cats don't talk nowadays, except in fairy tales; but this is how it was. She was the most gentle and kindly-hearted wee puss, I believe, that ever was born, and if you happened to meet her anywhere, say going down the garden walk, she would look lovingly and confidingly up in your face, holding her tail very erect indeed, and 'Mirram' she would say.

"You see, 'Mirram' was the only English word, if it be English, that p.u.s.s.y could speak, and she made it do duty on every occasion; so no wonder she came to be called Mirram.

"If she were hungry she would jump upon your knee, and gently rub her shoulders against you and say, 'Mirram.'

"'Mirram' in this case might be translated as follows: 'Oh, please, my dear little mistress, I am _so_ hungry! I've been up ever since five o'clock this morning. With the exception of a bird which I found and ate, feathers and all, and a foolish little mouse, I've had no breakfast. Do give me a little milk.'

"This would be an appeal that you couldn't resist, and you would give her a saucerful of nice new milk, telling her at the same time that it was very naughty of her to devour poor birds, who come and cheer us with their songs both in winter and in summer.

"Another morning she would come hopping in through the open window, when you least expected her, and say 'Mirram' in the most kindly tone. This would, of course, mean, 'Good-morning to you. I'm glad to see you downstairs at last. I've been up and out ever since sunrise. And, oh!

such fun I've been having. You can't conceive what a fine morning it is, and what a treat it is to rise early.'

"And now, having introduced this little puss to you by name, I must tell you something about her playmates, and say a word or two about the place she lived in, and her life in general, and after that show you how p.u.s.s.y at one time came to grief on account of a little fault she had. Of course, we all have our little faults, which we should strive to conquer, and I may as well confess at once what Mirram's was. Well, it was--_thoughtlessness_.

"The first and the chief of p.u.s.s.y's playmates, then, was her child-mistress. Would you like to know what her name was? I will tell you with pleasure; and when you hear it I'm sure you will say it is a strange one. She had two Christian names--the first was Fredabel, the second was Inez--Fredabel Inez--the latter being Spanish.