one or two stories about the affections of animals. I wish to impress
your minds with feelings of kindness towards them, and I think that the
best way to do so is to exhibit them to you in their gentleness and
love; to show you that they too partake of the kindlier emotions by
which the heart of man is moved, and that the feelings of maternal
affection, and of friendship, and of fidelity, are as much the
prerogatives of the lower animals as they are of man himself. Perhaps
one of the most amiable lights in which the affections of animals are
exhibited is their love and attachment to their offspring. You have all
seen how regardless of danger a domestic hen, one of the most timid and
defenceless of animals, becomes when she has charge of a brood of
chickens. At other times she is alarmed by the slightest noise--the
sudden rustle of a leaf makes her shrink with fear and apprehension.
Yet, no sooner do her little helpless offspring escape from the shell,
than she becomes armed with a determination of which even birds of prey
stand in awe."

"Oh yes, Uncle Thomas, I have often seen a hen attack a large dog and
drive it away from her chickens."

"It marks the wisdom of the omnipotent and all-wise Creator, Boys, that
he has implanted in the hearts of each of his creatures the particular
instincts which were necessary for their safety and protection. Thus, in
the case I have just spoken of, the instinctive courage with which the
mother is endowed, you will find to be the best security which could
have been devised. In some other birds this instinct exhibits itself in
a different way. If you happen to approach the nest of the lapwing, for
instance, the old birds try every means to attract your attention, and
lure you away from the sacred spot. They will fly close by you, and in
an irregular manner, as if wounded; but no sooner do they find that