DANGEROUS DOCTRINE.
That animals feel little pain
Science suggests—with scanty proof.
Shall the humane then lift in vain
Their voice in animals' behoof?
It is a pleasant thing to think
The horse we flog, the fish we hook,
Feel little pain—although they shrink;
But does cool science know its book?
The poor crimped cod, the walloped moke,
Can't tell us that they rather like it;
The dog smiles not as at a joke
When harsh Bill Sikes will kick or strike it.
Man is an animal, after all,
And if his faith is absolute
That pain hurts not the "animal,"
He'll very soon become—a brute!