passing by a village，when he heard terrible cries of pain coming from one of the outlying houses.Hurrying to the place，he was shocked to find a peasant boy torturing a dog.
2.The Polish gentleman，finding the dog mortally injured，shot it through the head and put it out of its pain.The boy was very angry at being interfered with，and called for help.Up came his father，who wasindignantthat any one should have dared to interferewith his son.“It is his dog，”said the father；“he may do what he likes with it.”Finally，the Pole only escaped from a very unpleasant scene by giving the boy some money to keep him quiet.
3.“What a pair of brutes！”you will exclaim；and indeed they hardly deserved the name of human beings.Only a savage can be so stupid as to inflict pain for its own sake，or so unfeeling as to take pleasure in looking at suffering.Cruelty is natural to the savage，and tochildren who are quite untaught；civilized people areproud of ceasing to be babe men.and of learning to4.It is man’s nature to live together in families and tribes，and cities and nations，and therefore men have learned to prize those qualities in each other which make social life happiest and best.Of these qualities one of the most important is sympathy-fellow-feeling.If a man had no fellow-feeling，we should call him “inhuman；”he would be no true man.We think so much of this quality that we call a kind man “humane”-that is，man-like in his conduct，first to other men，and afterwards to all living things.
5.If you are cruel to animals，you are not likely to be kind and thoughtful to men；and if you are thoughtful towards men，you are not likely to be cr uel and thoughtless towards animals.This is why the wise man of old wrote，“The merciful man is merciful to his beast.”He could not be unkind to creatures that are dependent on him；he would feel unjust.
6.What a pleasure it is also to be loved by our pets or domestic animals，and to feel that we are eating for them and are deserving of their love；or to watch the ways of wild creatures，and gradually to make friends with them！Kind treatment makes animals far moreuseful to us than unkindness，so that from every point of view-from justice to ourselves，from pleasure and interest，and from profit as well-it is good to treat animals kindly.
7.Treating animals kindly does not mean that we must never inflict any pain on them.We ourselves are trained by pains as well as by pleasures；so，too，punishment is sometimes needed to train our dogs and horses to obey us.We endure Pain at the hands of thesurgeon，to cure some wound or to heal some disease；so，too，animals must submit to be doctored.
8.We send out our bravest men to face wounds，sickness，and death，for the good of the nation；so，too，we let our horses share the risks of battle.For similar reasons，we cannot hesitate to destroy dangerous creatures like wolves and tigers and poisonous snakes，or creatures which cause loss and suffering；but todestroy them cruelly only shows senseless ferocity .
It is no excuse to say that these animals deserve to be treated cruelly on account of their own cruelty；they are not really cruel，for they tear and kill not from love of unkindness，but because they must do so in order to live.