Voices for the Speechless Part 4

GEORGE ELIOT: _Legend of Jubal_.

Nor must we childishly feel contempt for the study of the lower animals, since in all nature's work there is something wonderful. And if any one thinks the study of other animals despicable, he must despise the study of his own nature.

ARISTOTLE.

VIRTUE.

Thus born alike, from virtue first began The diff'rence that distinguished man from man: He claimed no t.i.tle from descent of blood; But that which made him n.o.ble made him good.

DRYDEN.

LITTLE BY LITTLE.

Little by little the time goes by-- Short if you sing through it, long if you sigh.

Little by little--an hour, a day, Gone with the years that have vanished away; Little by little the race is run, Trouble and waiting and toil are done!

Little by little the skies grow clear; Little by little the sun comes near; Little by little the days smile out Gladder and brighter on pain and doubt; Little by little the seed we sow Into a beautiful yield will grow.

Little by little the world grows strong, Fighting the battle of Right and Wrong: Little by little the Wrong gives way, Little by little the Right has sway; Little by little all longing souls Struggle up nearer the s.h.i.+ning goals!

Little by little the good in men Blossoms to beauty for human ken; Little by little the angels see Prophecies better of good to be; Little by little the G.o.d of all Lifts the world nearer the pleading call.

_Cincinnati Humane Appeal_.

LOYALTY.

Life may be given in many ways And loyalty to truth be sealed As bravely in the closet as the field, So generous is fate; But then to stand beside her, When craven churls deride her, To front a lie in arms, and not to yield, This shows, methinks, G.o.d's plan And measure of a stalwart man, Limbed like the old heroic breeds, Who stands self-poised on manhood's solid earth, Not forced to frame excuses for his birth, Fed from within with all the strength he needs.

J. R. LOWELL.

ANIMALS AND HUMAN SPEECH.

Animals have much more capacity to understand human speech than is generally supposed. The Hindoos invariably talk to their elephants, and it is amazing how much the latter comprehend. The Arabs govern their camels with a few cries, and my a.s.sociates in the African desert were always amused whenever I addressed a remark to the big dromedary who was my property for two months; yet at the end of that time the beast evidently knew the meaning of a number of simple sentences. Some years ago, seeing the hippopotamus in Barnum's museum looking very stolid and dejected, I spoke to him in English, but he did not even open his eyes. Then I went to the opposite corner of the cage, and said in Arabic, "I know you; come here to me." He instantly turned his head toward me; I repeated the words, and thereupon he came to the corner where I was standing, pressed his huge, ungainly head against the bars of the cage, and looked in my face with a touch of delight while I stroked his muzzle. I have two or three times found a lion who recognized the same language, and the expression of his eyes, for an instant, seemed positively human.

BAYARD TAYLOR.

PITY.

And I, contented with a humble theme, Have poured my stream of panegyric down The vale of Nature, where it creeps and winds Among her lovely works, with a secure And unambitious course, reflecting clear If not the virtues, yet the worth, of brutes.

And I am recompensed, and deem the toils Of poetry not lost, if verse of mine May stand between an animal and woe, And teach one tyrant pity for his drudge.

COWPER.

LEARN FROM THE CREATURES.

See him from Nature, rising slow to Art!

To copy Instinct, that was Reason's part; Thus then to man the voice of Nature spake:-- "Go, from the creatures thy instructions take; Learn from the birds what food the thickets yield; Learn from the beasts the physic of the field; Thy arts of building from the bee receive; Learn of the mole to plough, the worm to weave; Learn of the little nautilus to sail, Spread the thin oar, and catch the driving gale.

Here, too, all forms of social union find, And hence let reason, late, instruct mankind: Here subterranean works and cities see; There towns aerial on the waving tree.

Learn each small people's genius, policies, The Ant's republic, and the realm of Bees: How those in common all their wealth bestow, And Anarchy without confusion know; And these forever, though a monarch reign, Their sep'rate cells and properties maintain.

Mark what unvaryed laws preserve each state, Laws wise as Nature, and as fixed as Fate.

In fine, thy Reason finer webs shall draw, Entangle Justice in her net of Law, And Right, too rigid, harden into Wrong; Still for the strong too weak, the weak too strong.

Yet go! and thus o'er all the creatures sway, Thus let the wiser make the rest obey; And, for those Arts mere Instinct could afford, Be crowned as Monarchs, or as G.o.d adored."

POPE.

PAIN TO ANIMALS.

Granted that any practice causes more pain to animals than it gives pleasure to man; is that practice moral or immoral? And if exactly in proportion as human beings raise their heads out of the slough of selfishness, they do not answer "immoral," let the morality of the principle of utility be forever condemned.

JOHN STUART MILL.

WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN.

It might have been that the sky was green, and the gra.s.s serenely blue; It might have been that grapes on thorns and figs on thistles grew; It might have been that rainbows gleamed before the showers came; It might have been that lambs were fierce and bears and tigers tame; It might have been that cold would melt and summer heat would freeze; It might have been that s.h.i.+ps at sea would sail against the breeze-- And there may be worlds unknown, dear, where we would find the change From all that we have seen or heard, to others just as strange-- But it never could be wise, dear, in haste to act or speak; It never could be n.o.ble to harm the poor and weak; It never could be kind, dear, to give a needless pain; It never could be honest, dear, to sin for greed or gain; And there could not be a world, dear, while G.o.d is true above, Where right and wrong were governed by any law but love.

KATE LAWRENCE.

VILLAGE SOUNDS.

Sweet was the sound, when oft at evening's close, Up yonder hill the village murmur rose; There as I pa.s.sed with careless steps and slow, The mingling notes came softening from below; The swain responsive to the milkmaid sung: _The sober herd that lowed to meet their young; The noisy geese that gabbled o'er the pool:_ The playful children just let loose from school; _The watch-dog's voice that bayed the whispering wind_, And the loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind,-- These all in sweet confusion sought the shade, And filled each pause the nightingale had made.

GOLDSMITH.