revered friend Darwin justly applies
to the poor little monkey who once in his life did that which was above his
duty; who lived in continual terror of the great baboon, and yet, when the
brute had sprung upon his friend the keeper, and was tearing out his
throat, conquered his fear by love, and, at the risk of instant death,
sprung in turn upon his dreaded enemy, and hit and shrieked until help
arrived.

CHARLES KINGSLEY.

* * * * *

EFFECT OF CRUELTY.

The effect of the barbarous treatment of inferior creatures on the minds of
those who practise it is still more deplorable than its effects upon the
animals themselves. The man who kicks dumb brutes kicks brutality into his
own heart. He who can see the wistful imploring eyes of half-starved
creatures without making earnest efforts to relieve them, is on the road to
lose his manhood, if he has not already lost it. And the boy who delights
in torturing frogs or insects, or robbing birds'-nests, or dogging cattle
and hogs wantonly and cruelly, can awaken no hope of an honorable after
life.

E. HATHAWAY.

* * * * *

ASPIRATION.

Oh may I join the choir invisible
Of those immortal dead who live again
In minds made better by their presence: live
In pulses stirred to generosity:
In deeds of daring rectitude, in scorn
For miserable aims that end with self;
In thoughts sublime that pierce the night like stars,
And with their mild persistence urge men's search
To vaster issues.

GEORGE ELIOT.

* * * * *

THE POOR BEETLE.

The sense of death is most in apprehension;
And the poor beetle that we tread upon,
In corporal sufferance finds a pang as great
As when a giant dies.

_Measure for Measure_, Act 3, Sc. 1.

* * * * *

THE CONSUMMATION.

It is little indeed that each of us can accomplish within the limits of our
little day. Small indeed is the contribution which the best of us can make
to the advancement of the world in knowledge and goodness. But slight
though it be, if the work we do is real and noble work, it is never lost;
it is taken up into and becomes an integral moment of that immortal life to
which all the good and great of the past, every wise thinker, every true
and tender heart, every fair and saintly spirit, have contributed, and
which, never hasting, never rest