I was timid and did not dare speak to them.

Very often, I ran home and flung myself in my mother's arms with a burst of tears, and asked her if nothing could be done to help the poor animals.

With mistaken, motherly kindness, she tried to put the subject out of my thoughts.

I was carefully guarded from seeing or hearing of any instances of cruelty.

But the animals went on suffering just the same, and when I became a woman, I saw my cowardice.