ABOUT THE BEGINNING.Many books have been written about animals, and very good books too, giving a great deal of information. Most of them are called works ofNatural History; and they usually give some description of the birds andbeasts, fishes and insects, that are known to man. I am not going to writesuch a book as that; but to say a little about different kinds of creatures thatwe are all in the habit of seeing, and to tell you a few things of some whichhave belonged to me, or have come under my own observation; so that, atleast, I can promise to write nothing but what I know to be true. I have notlearned their characters and habits from books, but by watching them eversince I was a very young child; and many a happy hour I have spent in thatdelightful employment.One of the first things that it came into my little head to ask was, "Howwere the animals made; and why were any of them made wild and cruel, while some are tame and quiet?" I was told that the Bible gave an answerto that question; and so it does. If we look in the first chapter of Genesis, where there is an account of the creation of the world, we find that on the3 CHARLOTTE ELIZABETHfifth day God created the fishes to move in the water, and the fowls to fly inthe air; and on the sixth day, "God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth afterhis kind: and God saw that it was good." From this we learn, that there wasno violence or cruelty in any of them, as they first came from the hand ofthe holy and merciful God. And I would have you take particular noticeof what directly follows: "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, andover the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and overevery creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." Now, the great God isinvisible-a Spirit-and not a body, as I think you all know; and when it is saidthat God made man in his own image, it must mean that man was made tobe holy, and just, and good, and merciful; and he was made to be a carefuland loving ruler over the poor dumb creatures, as the Lord God is a carefuland loving ruler over all that he has created.Then, in the next chapter, we have a beautiful picture before us: I do notmean a print, or drawing, but a description in words, that, if we think alittle, will make us fancy we see a lovely sight, such as we cannot now seeanywhere. We are told that out of the ground the Lord God formed everybeast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and then that He "brought themunto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam calledevery living creature, that was the name thereof."Was it not a wonderful and a beautiful sight? There, in a very delicious gar-den, full of all manner of rich fruit and bright flowers, with soft warm air, and calm sunshine, was the first and only man in all the world! He was righ-teous and good, without any malice, or cruelty, or covetousness, or pride inhis heart, looking with delight upon the creatures that came about him as