One day last week I saw a huge pair of bobs, heavily loaded with coal,
being pulled up the street by two big, fine-looking horses. There were
two men on the load. Their faces were black, but it was the dirt of
honest toil, it was coal dust. They stopped the horses in front of the
house directly across the street from me. I watched them with interest.
The first thing one of the men did was to get down, take a board, go
around to the front of the horses, lift up the heavy wagon tongue, place
the board underneath it as a brace that the necks of the horses might be
relieved of the strain of the wagon tongue. At the same time the other
man took two warm blankets and covered the horses with them, tucking in
the corners beneath the harness to make them tight and warm. Then the
men set to work to carry the coal, basket by basket, into the cellar.
That was kindness, was it not, to see that the horses were so well cared
for on a cold winter day!

To my mind one of the finest acts of our city government is the way we
are taught kindness to dumb animals and birds, by permitting them to
make their homes and nests in the public park. What a delight it is to
walk through the park and have the squirrels come running up so close,
to eat from one's hand! That is kindness.

How about kindness to people? Have you ever seen an older person walking
along the street with a little child of three or four years of age, the
child reaching up as far as he could to take the hand of the older
person, the older one jerking, pulling, yanking, all the while saying,
"Come now, hurry up, hurry up." That is not kindness, is it?

"Howe'er it be, it seems to me