They are not crazy, they are not drunkards; they simply seem to be possessed with a spirit of wickedness.

There are well-to-do people, yes, and rich people, who will treat animals, and even little children, with such terrible cruelty, that one cannot even mention the things that they are guilty of.
One reason for Jenkins' cruelty was his idleness.

After he went his rounds in the morning with his milk cans, he had nothing to do till late in the afternoon but take care of his stable and yard.

If he had kept them neat, and groomed his horse, and cleaned the cows, and dug up the garden, it would have taken up all his time; but he never tidied the place at all, till his yard and stable got so littered up with things he threw down that he could not make his way about.
His house and stable stood in the middle of a large field, and they were at some distance from the road.

Passers-by could not see how untidy the place was.