e both very cruel indeed. One is to kill all
her little ones, which not only causes great distress, but severe pain
too, to the poor mother. God gives her milk to nourish the little
creatures, and if one is not left to draw it off, the animal suffers
much torment and fever from it. The other thing is one that no
kindhearted person could do, or allow to be done, after being once told
how exceedingly inhuman it is: I mean, putting the young ones to death
in the mother's sight. The agonies of a bitch, when she sees her puppies
drowned, are really a call for divine vengeance on the wretch who could
purposely be guilty of such an outrage on the tenderest feelings of
nature. The cat, though inferior to the dog in many points, is a most
loving mother, and very sagacious in protecting her young. She will
often hide them so cunningly, that nobody can reach them; and I have
seen a family astonished by the return of a cat which they had supposed
was lost, with four or five wild-looking, lean kittens behind her, all
their faces being well scratched by the sticks or other rubbish among
which they were hidden. The dog never does so: its confiding character
leads it to commit its young to its master's care, little as he
sometimes deserves such a trust.

[Illustration]

Have you a cow? People who live in cities very seldom indeed have one;
but in the country, many, who are not rich, contrive to keep one; and a
more gentle, quiet, patient animal is not to be found. Jack's mother
was a poor Irishwoman, but she had two cows, and sold their milk to
support her family. I have often met her, stepping so stately and
steadily, because she had a brim-full pail of milk balanced on her head,
and never even put up her hand to support it. Jack was very fond of his
mother; and next after his parents, brother, and sisters, he certainly
loved the cows. It was his business, when quite a little fellow, to
serve up to them the pail of hot potatoes in winter; and many a walk he
took to the green fields where they pastured in summer, to see that all
was safe and right about them. Three years after his leaving home, we
also kept a cow; and Jack insisted on having the care of it, and milking
it himself. It was quite a lesson to see how kind and thoughtful the
dumb boy was about the poor cow: and what a happy life she led under his
management might be easily known by her being always good-tempered and
fearless. Often, when standing on the lawn, feeding my ch