In this book I have attempted to bring together many old and new
observations which tend to show the human-like qualities of animals. The
treatment is neither formal nor scholastic, in fact I do not always
remain within the logical confines of the title. My sole purpose is to
make the reader self-active, observative, free from hide-bound
prejudice, and reborn as a participant in the wonderful experiences of
life which fill the universe. I hope to lead him into a new wonderland
of truth, beauty and love, a land where his heart as well as his eyes
will be opened.
In attempting to understand the animals I have used a method a great
deal like that of the village boy, who when questioned as to how he
located the stray horse for which a reward of twenty dollars had been
offered, replied, "I just thought what I would do if I were a horse and
where I would go--and there I went and found him." In some such way I
have tried to think why animals do certain things, I have studied them
in many places and under all conditions, and those acts of theirs which,
if performed by children, would come under the head of wisdom and
intelligence, I have classified as such.
Life is one throughout. The love that fills a mother's heart when she
sees her first-born babe, is also felt by the mother bear, only in a
different way, when she sees her baby cubs playing before her humble
cave dwelling. The sorrow that is felt by the human heart when a beloved
one dies is experienced in only a little less degree by an African ape
when his mate is shot dead by a Christian missionary. The grandmother
sheep that watches her numerous little lamb grandchildren on the
hillside, while their mothers are away grazing, is just as mindful of
their care as any human grandparent could be. One drop of water is like
the ocean; and love is love.
The trouble with science is that too often it leaves out love. If you
agree that we cannot treat men like machines, why should we put animals
in that class? Why should we fall into the colossal ignorance and
conceit of cataloging every human-like action of animals under the word
"instinct"? Man delights in thinking of himself as only a little lower
than the angels. Then why should he not consider the animals as only a
little lower than himself? The poet has truly said that "the beast is
the mirror of man as man is the mirror of God." Man had to battle with
animals for untold ages before he domesticated and made servants of
them. He is just beginning to learn that they were not created solely to
furnish material for sermons, nor to serve mankind, but that they also
have an existence, a life of their own.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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