"
"I am, my dear. I have four horses, two cows, a tame squirrel, three
dogs, and a cat."
"You should be a happy woman," said Miss Laura, with a smile.
"I think I am. I must not forget my horned toad, Diego, that I got in
California. I keep him in the green-house, and he is very happy catching
flies and holding his horny head to be scratched whenever any one comes
near."
"I don't see how any one can be unkind to animals," said Miss Laura,
thoughtfully.
"Nor I, my dear child. It has always caused me intense pain to witness
the torture of dumb animals. Nearly seventy years ago, when I was a
little girl walking the streets of Boston, I would tremble and grow
faint at the cruelty of drivers to over-loaded horses. I was timid and
did not dare speak to them. Very often, I ran home and flung myself in
my mother's arms with a burst of tears, and asked her if nothing could
be done to help the poor animals. With mistaken, motherly kindness, she
tried to put the subject out of my thoughts. I was carefully guarded
from seeing or hearing of any instances of cruelty. But the animals went
on suffering just the same, and when I became a woman, I saw my
cowardice.
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