go to them and say, "Don't overfeed your animals, and don't starve
them and don't overwork them, and don't beat them," and so on through
the long list of hardships that can be put upon suffering animals, but
say simply to them, "Be kind. Make a study of your animals' wants,
and see that they are satisfied. No one can tell you how to treat your
animal as well as you should know yourself, for you are with it all the
time, and know its disposition, and just how much work it can stand, and
how much rest and food it needs, and just how it is different from every
other animal. If it is sick or unhappy, you are the one to take care of
it; for nearly every animal loves its own master better than a stranger,
and will get well quicker under his care."

Miss Laura says that if men and women are kind in every respect to their
dumb servants, they will be astonished to find how much happiness they
will bring into their lives, and how faithful and grateful their dumb
animals will be to them.

Now, I must really close my story. Good-bye to the boys and girls who
may read it; and if it is not wrong for a dog to say it, I should like
to add, "God bless you all." If in my feeble way I have been able to
impress you with the fact that dogs and many other animals love their
masters and mistresses, and live only to please them, my little story
will not be written in vain. My last words are, "Boys and girls, be
kind to dumb animals, not only because you will lose nothing by it, but
because you ought to; for they were placed on the earth by the same Kind
Hand that made all living creatures."

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