We were all perfectly willing to keep the Sabbath day, but there are times when to keep the letter of a sacred law whose spirit is righteous, becomes a sin, and this was a case in point.

We pleaded for the tired, ill-treated horses, and tried to show that their faithful service deserved kindness in return, and their hard lot compassion.

But when did ever self-righteousness know the sentiment of pity?
What were a few long hours added to the hardships of some over-taxed brutes when weighed against the peril of those human souls?
It was not the most promising party to travel with and hope to gain a higher veneration for religion through the example of its devotees.

We said the Saviour who pitied dumb beasts and taught that the ox must be rescued from the mire even on the Sabbath day, would not have counseled a forced march like this.

We said the "long trip" was exhausting and therefore dangerous in the blistering heats of summer, even when the ordinary days' stages were traversed, and if we persisted in this hard march, some of us might be stricken down with the fevers of the country in consequence of it.
Nothing could move the pilgrims.