“I have been told that weak and feeble creatures feel happy near me.  I know that this is true, but I take no credit for it.  I know that it is a gift.  With a little encouragement the birds would nest in my beard.

“This is the true relation of man with the weaker creatures.  He would be heartily adored by the animals if he were not a tyrant...  So that all unnecessary murder and torture are not only cowardly actions, but crimes.  A useful service imposed on the animal world demands in return protection and kindness.  In a word, the animal has claims on man, and the man has duties to the animal.”

St. Francis of Assisi not only cared for the birds and the harmless creatures of the fields and woods, but he is said to have fed a fierce and hungry wolf until it followed him like a dog.

Some years ago, General David S. Stanley, of the United States Army, was leading a force across the plains.  He was laying out the route for a great railroad.  There were two thousand men, twenty-five hundred horses and mules, and a train of two hundred and fifty wagons heavily laden.

One day the general was riding at the head of the broad column, when suddenly his voice rang out, “Halt!”

A bird’s nest lay on the ground directly in front of him.  In another moment the horses would have trampled on the nestlings.  The mother bird was flying about and chirping in the greatest anxiety.  But the brave general had not brought out his army to destroy a bird’s nest.

He halted for a moment, looked at the little birds in the nest below, and then gave the order, “Left oblique!”

Men, horses, mules, and wagons turned aside and spared the home of the helpless bird.  Months, and even years after, those who crossed the plains saw a great bend in the trail.  It was the bend made to avoid crushing the bird’s nest.  Truly, great hearts are tender hearts, and “the loving are the daring.”

“There is one language that all creatures comprehend—­the language of loving-kindness.  Love to an animal is what sunshine is to a plant.  It has a tonic effect, and they thrive on it.  This does not mean fussiness —­it means a combination of sympathy, wisdom and justice.” 
                                          The Humane Pleader

LINES TO A SEABIRD.

Bird of the stormy wave! bird of the sea! 
Wide is thy sweep, and thy course is free;
Cleaving the blue air, and brushing the foam,
Air is thy field of sport, ocean thy home.

 Bird of the sea!  I could envy thy wing,
 O’er the blue waters I mark thy glad spring;
 I see thy strong pinions as onward I glide,
 Dashed by the foam of the white-crested tide. 
                              M. A. Stodart.

THE TRUE HERO.

Four ways of looking at it.

Four boys were standing at the corner of the street.  Bound the next turn, with a great burst of splendid music, came the regiment on its way to the troop-ship.  Along the street were lines of eager faces, some sad and anxious, to be sure, but all interested and full of excitement.