It is remarkable how many great men have been noted for their interest in birds and beasts. We have seen how devoted Scott and Dickens were to their pets. Daniel Webster's dying request was that his beloved cattle might be driven by his window, so that he might see them once more. Abraham Lincoln often went out of his way to do a kindness to some weak or suffering creature. [Footnote: The following incident is related by one who knew Lincoln: "We passed through a thicket of wild plum and crab-apple trees, and stopped to water our horses. One of the party came up alone and we inquired: 'Where is Lincoln?'

"'Oh,' he replied, 'when I saw him last he had caught two young birds which the wind had blown out of their nest, and he was hunting for the nest, that he might put them back in it.'"] A great German poet so loved the birds that he left a sum of money with the request that they should be fed every day on his grave.

Thoreau, who has written many beautiful books about nature, had a great love for the little wild creatures of the woods, and they in turn loved and trusted him. "Even the fishes came into his hand when he dipped it into the stream. The little mice would come arid playfully eat from his fingers, and the very moles paid him friendly visits. Sparrows lighted on his shoulders when he called them; the phoebe birds built their nests in his shed, and the wild partridge with her brood came and fed quietly beneath his window.

"After he had lived two or three months in the woods the wild birds ceased to be afraid of him, and would come and perch on his shoulder, and sometimes on his spade when he was digging."

Amiel, a great French writer, said in his journal: "I have just picked up on the stairs a little yellow kitten, very ugly and pitiable. Now, rolled into a ball on a chair at my side, he seems perfectly happy and asks for nothing more. He followed me from room to room as I went to and fro. I have nothing for him to eat, but a look and caress satisfy him, at least for the present.

"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