s this is one of the needs of our progressive system of
education. The day-school, the Sunday-school, and all libraries for the
young, demand the influence that shall teach the reader how to live in
sympathy with the animal world; how to understand the languages of the
creatures that we have long been accustomed to call "dumb," and the sign
language of the lower orders of these dependent beings. The church owes
it to her mission to preach and to teach the enforcement of the "bird's
nest commandment;" the principle recognized by Moses in the Hebrew
world, and echoed by Cowper in English poetry, and Burns in the "Meadow
Mouse," and by our own Longfellow in songs of many keys.

Kindness to the animal kingdom is the first, or a first principle in
the growth of true philanthropy. Young Lincoln once waded across
a half-frozen river to rescue a dog, and stopped in a walk with a
statesman to put back a bird that had fallen out of its nest. Such
a heart was trained to be a leader of men, and to be crucified for a
cause. The conscience that runs to the call of an animal in distress is
girding itself with power to do manly work in the world.

The story of "Beautiful Joe" awakens an intense interest, and sustains
it through a series of vivid incidents and episodes, each of which is
a lesson. The story merits the widest circulation, and the universal
reading and response accorded to "Black Beauty." To circulate it is
to do good, to help the human heart as well as the creatures of quick
feelings and simple language.

When, as one of the committee to examine the manuscripts offered for
prizes to the Humane Society, I read the story, I felt that the writer
had a higher motive than to compete for a prize; that the story was a
stream of sympathy that flowed from the heart; that it was genuine;
that it only needed a publisher who should be able to command a wide
influence, to make its merits known, to give it a strong educational
mission.

I am pleased that the manuscript has found such a publisher, and am sure
that the issue of the story will honor the Publication Society. In the
development of the book, I believe that the humane cause has stood above
any speculative thought or interest. The book comes because it is called
for; the times demand it. I think that the publishers have a right to
ask for a little unselfish service on the part of the public in helping
to give it a circulation commensurate with its opportunity, need, and
in