" * Faugh ! ' said one, stopping his nose ; ' it pol-
lutes the air.' * How long,' said another, ' shall this
foul beast offend our sight P ' * Look at his torn
hide,' said a third ; ' one could not even cut a shoe
out of it.' ' And his ears,' said a fourth, all drag-
gled and bleeding ! ' 'No doubt,' said a fifth, ' he
hath been hanged for thieving ! '

" And Jesus heard them, and looking down com-
passionately on the dead creature. He said, ' Pearls
are not equal to the whiteness of his teeth I '

" Then the people turned towards Him with
amazement, and said among themselves, < Who is
this P this must be Jesus of Nazareth, for only He
could find something to pity and approve even in a
dead dog;' and being ashamed, they bowed their
heads before Him, and went each on his way."

I can recall, at this hour, the vivid, yet softening
and pathetic impression left on my fancy by this
old Eastern story. It struck me as exquisitely



144 ETHICAL FRAGMENTS,



. humorous, as well as exquisitely beautiful. It gave me
a pain in my conscience, for it seemed thenceforward
so easy and so vulgar to say satirical things, and so
much nobler to be benign and merciM, and I took
the lesson so home, that I was in great danger of
falling into the opposite extreme, — of seeking the
beautiful even in the midst of the corrupt and the
repulsive. Pity, a large element in my compo-
sition, might have easily degenerated into weakness,
threatening to subvert hatred of evil in trying to
find excuses for it ; and whether my mind has ever
completely righted itself, I am not sure.
