MAN’S MALIGNED BROTHER.

Gisborne Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1671, 12 February 1906, Page 1

MAN’S MALIGNED BROTHER.

This is an age of whitewashing, and it is not surprising to find the operators of the process transferring their attention from Judge Jeffries, Nero, and I other' maligned historical characters, to domestic animals. A writer in the Daily Express is much concerned about the bad character wo have given the pig. It is not really a dirty animal, we are told; it is man’s fault for talc* ing it for granted that tho pig is a dirty animal, and givi'-j? it a di"iy home. As a mattej-, c-f'.-fact “pifix might be usod with truth‘is i a term for c&sjiirsaesß thereof t reproach for JJ>e pjg *« j.J jr-leau auiitiitha& rbvotf cleanliness. It ! : ‘ makos its bed in tho Bty with scrupulous care, and hunts out clean straws in the most painstaking way, and car- , ries them to its lair. Even if it has the most revolting places to live in it will try its best to make a clean corner for a bed. Its habit of rolling itself in the mire is simply- a means of getting cool, or of keeping off the countless flies attracted by dirty quarters, Besides, it has never been urged against the elephant, the rhinoceros and other pachyderms that these are dirty animals because they indulge in the same habit. It is true that the pig is greedy, but that is to a certain degree a matter of constitution, and it is also true that it is not very particular as to what it eats. But in one respect it is an epicure; it will eat only seventy-two plants, as against the goat’s 449, the sheep’s 387, the cow’s 276, and the horse’s 262. Then its mental capabilities are quite astonishing. The learned pig exhibited in 1789 could arrange letters into words, and a sow was once trained to find and point partridges, or rabbits. “ I have observed great sagacity in swine,” says Darwin. “ The short lives we allow them, and their general confinement, which would otherwise probably equal that of the dog.” “In the lanes of • North and Mid-Essex,” says our whitewasher of pigs, “ I occasionally meet droves of clean, healthy, happy-looking - pigs, their little eyes twinkling with [ pleasure as they grunt and root along the roadways.” The pig has as strong a claim as the dog to be called the brother of man, and if a man feels ashamed of calling a pig his brother, it is generally his own fault.

CANTERBURY ACCEPTANCES,

Saturday, Feb. 10.

Biohmond Plate, 100 sots, 5 furlongs. De Wette ... 8 10 Pretty Face 7 4 Lady Landon 7 7 Koa9tikoff... 7 2 Sant Bosalior 7 7 Aimeo Boult 7 0 Kryloff ... 7 4 Besound ... 6 7 145 Belfast Plate, 50 sots, 14 miles. Farley QroTe 12 1 Pongoa ... 10 11 Leeside ... 11 8 Tomtit ... 10 0 2 80 Middle Park Plate, 500 sots, 6 furlongs. Stead's Ieols ... ... 9 2 Prosser’s Marguerite ... 9 2 Allen and Hobbs’ Ivanoff 8 3 Knight’s Lapland ... 7 0 Clifford’s SnowsteH ..." 6 13 Bucklond’a Lady Landon 6 13 Clifford’s Gallantry ... 6 8 3.15 St. Albans Handioap, 100 sots, 1 mile. Convoy ...‘ 8 9 Cbryseis ... 7 3 Pas Seul ... 7 13 Boscastle ...' 7 3 Zetland ... 7 11 Thunderer 6 12 Stepdanoer... 7 5 Soltykoff ... 6 10 40 Linwood Welter, 100 sots, 1 mile. Pas Seul ... 9 3 Antigone ... 8 0 Stepdanoer .8 12 Count Gorton 7 13 The Mohican 8 12 Quagga ... 7 13 Ability ... 8 3 Somaroff ... 7 7 Bagpipes ... 8 2 4.25. Selling Base, 50 sots, 6 furlongs, Mango ... 8 11 Largesse ... 8 4 Wet Blanket - 8 11 Groavenor ... 7 11 Silent Member 8 11 First Shot ... 7 11 Quiekfire ... 8 11 Nor’weeter... 7 11 Quagga ... 8 4 Bonnie Brae 7 11 Fa Tuna ... 8 4 First Event 7 11 Alexis .;. 8 4 Parole ... 7 11 Merrymaker 8 4 Narrangarie 7 11 Ordinanoe... 8 4 Buapehu ... 7 4 " 55 ' Flying Handicap, 100 soys, 5 furlongs Stronghold ; 9 7 Hilarity ... 7 7 Zetland ... 8 13 Handel ... ' 7 7 Boseastle 8- 5 Count Gorton 7 5 Sandy ...-8 4 Goldsight ...- 6 7 Cross Battery 8 2 Volodia . ... 6 7 Canticle ... 7 9 5.45 Post Handicap, 50 sots, 1 mile. Terrapin ... 9 9 CKarevna ... 7 10 The Mohican 9 0 Euclid ;.. " 7 8 Thunderer... 8 9 Tsitsikar ... 7 2 Speculate ... 8 5 Graduated Tag 6 9