“Then you do not wish for an imitation of the ‘Dairyman’s Daughter’?”
“I do not, sir; I have changed my mind, as I told you before; I wish to employ you in another line, but will communicate to you my intentions after dinner.”
At dinner, beside the publisher and myself, were present his wife and son, with his newly married bride; the wife appeared a quiet respectable woman, and the young people looked very happy and good-natured; not so the publisher, who occasionally eyed both with contempt and dislike. Connected with this dinner there was one thing remarkable; the publisher took no animal food, but contented himself with feeding voraciously on rice and vegetables prepared in various ways.
“You eat no animal food, sir?” said I.
“I do not, sir,” said he; “I have forsworn it
upwards of twenty years. In one respect, sir, I am a Brahmin. I abhor taking away life—the brutes have as much right to live as ourselves.”
“But,” said I, “if the brutes were not killed, there would be such a superabundance of them, that the land would be overrun with them.”
“I do not think so, sir; few are killed in India, and yet there is plenty of room.”
“But,” said I, “nature intended that they should be destroyed, and the brutes themselves prey upon one another, and it is well for themselves and the world that they do so. What would be the state of things if every insect, bird, and worm were left to perish of old age?”
“We will change the subject,” said the publisher; “I have never been a friend of unprofitable discussions.”