feature of the book.

Such books as this is one of the needs of our progressive system of
education. The day-school, the Sunday-school, and all libraries for
the young, demand the influence that shall teach the reader how to
live in sympathy with the animal world; how to understand the
languages of the creatures that we have long been accustomed to
call "dumb," and the sign language of the lower orders of these
dependent beings. The church owes it to her mission to preach and
to teach the enforcement of the "bird's nest commandment;" the
principle recognized by Moses in the Hebrew world, and echoed
by Cowper in English poetry, and Burns in the "Meadow Mouse,"
and by our own Longfellow in songs of many keys.

Kindness to the animal kingdom is the first, or a first principle in
the growth of true philanthropy. Young Lincoln once waded across
a half-frozen river to rescue a dog, and stopped in a walk with a
statesman to put back a bird that had fallen out of its nest. Such a
heart was trained to be a leader of men, and to be crucified for a
cause. The conscience that runs to the call of an animal in distress
is girding itself with power to do manly work in the world.

The story of "Beautiful Joe" awakens an intense interest, and
sustains it through a series of vivid incidents and episodes, each of
which is a lesson. The story merits the widest circulation, and the
universal reading and response accorded to "Black Beauty." To
circulate it is to do good, to help the human heart as well as the
creatures of quick feelings and simple language.

When, as one of the committee to examine the manuscripts offered