"I suppose it is fashion that makes them strap our heads up with those
horrid bits that I was tortured with in London," said Ginger.

"Of course it is," said he; "to my mind, fashion is one of the wickedest
things in the world. Now look, for instance, at the way they serve dogs,
cutting off their tails to make them look plucky, and shearing up their
pretty little ears to a point to make them both look sharp, forsooth. I
had a dear friend once, a brown terrier; 'Skye' they called her. She was
so fond of me that she never would sleep out of my stall; she made
her bed under the manger, and there she had a litter of five as pretty
little puppies as need be; none were drowned, for they were a valuable
kind, and how pleased she was with them! and when they got their eyes
open and crawled about, it was a real pretty sight; but one day the man
came and took them all away; I thought he might be afraid I should tread
upon them. But it was not so; in the evening poor Skye brought them back
again, one by one in her mouth; not the happy little things that they
were, but bleeding and crying pitifully; they had all had a piece of
their tails cut off, and the soft flap of their pretty little ears was
cut quite off. How their mother licked them, and how troubled she was,
poor thing! I never forgot it. They healed in time, and they forgot the
pain, but the nice soft flap, that of course was intended to protect the
delicate part of their ears from dust and injury, was gone forever. Why
don't they cut their own children's ears into points to make them look
sharp? Why don't they cut the end off their noses to make them look
plucky? One would be just as sensible as the other. What right have they
to torment and disfigure God's creatures?"

Sir Oliver, though he was so gentle, was a fiery old fellow, and what
he said was all so new to me, and so dreadful, that I found a bitter