We come back into the light of day when we glance at the relations which, according to Jewish tradition, existed between animals and their Creator. We see a beautiful interchange of gratitude on the one side and watchful care on the other. As the ass of Balaam recognised the angel, so do all animals—except man—at all times recognise their God. “But ask now the beasts and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee.... Who knoweth not of all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this? In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.” I will only add to these words of Job a few verses taken here and there from the Psalms, which form a true anthem of our fellow-creatures of the earth and air:— “Beasts and all cattle, creeping things and flying fowl, let them praise the name of the Lord. He giveth to the beast his food and to the young ravens which cry. He sendeth the springs into the valleys which run among the hills; They give drink to every beast of the field, the wild asses quench their thirst. By them shall the fowls of heaven have their habitation which sing among the branches: The trees of the Lord are full of sap, the cedars of Lebanon which He hath planted, Where the birds make their nests; as for the stork, the fir-trees are her house. The great hills are a refuge for the wild goats and the rocks for the conies. Thou makest darkness, and it is night, wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth; The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God; The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together and lay them down in their dens. ... Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself where she may lay her young. Even thine altars, O Lord of Hosts, my King and my God!” ------------------------------------------------------------------------ XI “A PEOPLE LIKE UNTO YOU” A FRIEND who was spending the winter at Tunis asked me if it were true that there was any teaching of kindness to animals in the religion of Islam? She had seen with pain the little humanity practised by the lower class of Arabs, and she had difficulty in believing that such conduct was contrary to the law of the Prophet. I replied, that if men are sometimes better than their creeds, at other times they are very much worse. At the head of every chapter of the Koran, it is written: “In the name of the most merciful God.” If God be merciful, shall man be unmerciful? Alas, that the answer should have been so often “yes”!