Life — December 20, 1888 — page 2: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

“Mile there's Life there's Hope.” VOL. XI. DECEMBER 20, 1888. No. 312, 28 West TWENTY-THIRD Street, New York. Published evi iat $5.00 8 year in advance, fe free. Single ts. be to this o ol. eC TR MN a aR vie Sad Xt bound ori dat sorabers, at ae rates. Rejected contributions will be destroyed unless accompanied by a stamped and directed envelope. Subscribers wishing address changed will greatly facilitate matters by sending old address as well as new. HARLES LAMB, a part of a century ago, mentally contemplating the process of whipping a pig to death in order to enhance the tenderness of the pork when placed upon the table, reflected that the agony suffered by the ani- mal under the rod, was doubtless mitigated to a great ex- tent by the thought that he would taste so much better for the whipping when he was roasted. If similarly self- denying considerations have not influenced the rabbit when pursued by Mr. Belmont's fox-terriers on Hempstead Heath, the rabbit is less high-minded than Mr. Lamb's pig, since the pleasure of furnishing amusement to the fashionables who go to the Coursing Club's exhibitions ought to engen- der glee in the mind of any well-regulated lepus. If this is the case, it seems a little hard that a body Of gentlemen and ladies, who pass their lives in the search for amusement, should be annoyed and hampered by officers of the law in their efforts to achieve the small privilege of observing dogs kill rabbits. What boots refinement, culture and wealth if a society, organized primarily to prevent the maltreatment of horses by draymen of no education or breeding, takes it into its head to interfere with the pleasure of ladies and gentlemen who kill rabbits for fun? . . . . R. BELMONT'S arguments ought to be sufficient to convince any intelligent jury that the Creator had the fox-terrier and the Hempstead Coursing Club in mind when he created the rabbit. As Mr. Belmont says: “The object of the coursing is to test the speed and hunting powers of the fox-terrier. The contest is entirely between thé dogs, the rabbit only serving as a means of producing a race of a varied character, which will bring out all the qualities of the dogs, The death of the rabbit at the end is an unavoidable method of finally ending the course and reaching the point at which a decision can be given, That decision, however, is rendered according to what the performances of the dogs have been during the chase, the kill only counting a small portion of the points scored.” If that does not satisfy the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, it is obvious that that organization is shallow enough to consider that it hurts a rabbit just as much to be killed incidentally as otherwise. NOTHER argument of Mr. Belmont's is unanswerable. He shows that it is absolutely necessary, in order to ascertain the qualities of the fox-terrier, to course him after rabbits. He says—and who can deny it?—that owners of these dogs “should have the same right to find out what qualities their fox-terriers have as the owners of pointers or setters or collies.” Yes, indeed, or the same right that dog- fighters have to ascertain the qualities of the bull-terrier; that our ancestors had to prove the qualities of the bear by baiting him with dogs; or that our Spanish brethren have to test the quality of the bull, with the odds against him. The same divine right that the cat has to play with the mouse before dining upon it, or the small boy to pull off the legs of the grasshopper. The cat has no soul, you say, and the boy is too young to know that the grasshopper does not enjoy mutilation? What has that to do with the question? . . . R. BELMONT'S final crusher is found in his argu- ment that coursing is, in reality, a thoughtful pro- vision for translating rabbits from a world of pain and sorrow in the easiest manner possible. What form of eu- thanasia could be more delightful than this? Vsde Belmont: “If the rabbit outpaces the dogs he gets away from them very soon, and when he dogs get away he is entirely unhurt—not a scratch on him and perfectly free. If he is caught, the dog either kills him very quickly—as his back is very tender—or the attendants are im- mediately at hand to kill him instantly by striking him on the back of the neck, which is well known to be equivalent to an electric shock to a rabbit or hare,” And look at the horrible risk the rabbit runs if he is not trapped and shaken by a fox-terrier! Mr. Belmont has actually known of instances where rabbits, not thus benevo- lently provided for, have been shot by unfeeling huntsmen, and have wandered into the wilderness to die of their wounds. O we trust that the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals will see these matters in a true light. It is not, Messrs. Officers, the deed that is committed that is reprehensible—it depends upon those who commit it. Ifa lot of ragged boys should take a rabbit into a vacant lot in this city and amuse themselves and a couple of mongrel curs by torturing it to death, you would fail to do your duty if you did not interfere. But it is a very different matter when the gentlemen and ladies who constitute the mem- bership of the Coursing Club, and attend its exhibitions, participate in the same elevated amusement. comicbooks.com