[10]


We  do  not  now  know  the  language  of  the  animals ;  we  do  not
know  whether  they  have  one  or  not.  Their  lives  seem  im-
prisoned within  the  dark  pent-house  of  brute-life  where  no
gleam  of  our  kind  of  intellectual  light  reaches  them.  But  may
it  not  be  that  they  feel  this  imprisonment  and  are  striving  to
escape  from  it.  The  Indians  have  many  legends  that  speak
of  a  time  when  gods,  men,  animals  and  all  nature  had  a  com-
mon tongue.  May  this  not  be  true,  or  if  not  true  of  the  past,
a  vision  of  the  natural  outgrowth  of  the  future?  If  God  be
the  Creator  He  must  comprehend  all  His  creation.  As  we
approximate  nearer  to  Him — and  Browning  asserts  we  are  all
gods,  though  in  the  germ — may  we  not  begin  to  understand
more  fully  the  languageless  animals?

Our  acceptance  of  the  Hebraic  Law  as  set  forth  in  the  Old
Testament  has  made  us  look  upon  the  animals  as  created
solely  for  our  benefit,  ours  to  use  just  as  we  choose.  Unfortu-
nately this  power  to  use  has  given  to  those  with  small  modicum
of  kindness  in  their  disposition  the  feeling  that  they  are  also
within  their  manly  rights  to  misuse  the  animals.  Considering
the  greatness  of  the  Universe  and  the  finiteness  of  man  as
compared  with  the  whole,  does  not  this  idea  seem  preposterous  ?

The  Buddhist  and  Hindu  religions  teach  that  all  life  is  One —
that  on  its  journey  from  unconsciousness  to  self-consciousness
it  passes  through  all  the  kingdoms  of  nature, — mineral,  vege-
table, molluscar,  reptilian,  bird,  animal,  human,  up  to  super-
human. They  say  about  this  life  that  "it  sleeps  in  the  mineral,
dreams  in  the  flowers,  awakens  in  the  animal,  and  becomes
active  in  the  human."  Hence  the  Hindu  treats  the  animals  as
his  younger  brothers,  and  the  slaughter  and  abuse  of  them
tolerated  and  practiced  in  the  West  is  practically  unknown  in
the  East,  except  where  the  so-called  Western  civilization  has
intruded.  This  view,  too,  would  transcend  the  arguments  and
logic  of  Burroughs.
