"Always Be Kind": Literary Legacies

Carrington, Edith, editor. The Animals on Strike and Other Tales. London: George Bell & Sons, 1895. [private collection]

This book is part of an Animal Life Readers series edited by Edith Carrington and Ernest Bell, both key figures in the late nineteenth-century animal rights movement. The title of this book is taken from the first story in the collection, “The Strike at Shane’s,” written by Gene Stratton-Porter and published by the American Humane Society in 1893 (the same year that Saunders published her award-winning book Beautiful Joe with the Society). It is worth noting that later editions of The Strike at Shane’s were subtitled “A Sequel to Black Beauty.” It is worth mentioning because one quickly notes a network of transatlantic writers reading and citing each other’s writings on animal rights. For example, the title page lists illustrations by “Harrison Weir, and others.”

Other stories in this edited collection include “The Hen that Hatched Ducks,” “The History of Tip Top,” “The Squirrels that Live in a House,” and “Hum, the Son of Buz,” all of which are by Harriet Beecher Stowe. We know Stowe best for her novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which condemns slavery in America. Anti-vivisectionist Mrs Fairfield Allen contributes two more of the stories in the volume (“Caught in His Own Trap” and “The Rich Poor Horse and the Poor Rich Horse”) with the final essay by the Humane Society on “Hollyhurst,” another prize essay featuring animal rescue (the actual author was Mary Matthews Bray).

---. Our Animal Brothers. Vol. 4. Wells Gardner, Darton & Co., 1909. [private collection]

Our Animal Brothers is a collection of animal stories directed toward a child or young adult reader. The table of contents features stories about both pets and working animals, but all share in common an effort to cultivate in this young reader a sympathy for, and humane treatment of, their “animal brother.” A set of stories, for example, contrast the life of “Happy Donkeys” with “Unhappy Donkeys”—the latter often comprising “hard-worked, ill-fed, ill-kept street drudge” (16). Examples of inhumane treatment contributing to the donkey’s suffering include excessive weight in load or riders (plural), often left to extreme weather conditions in poor (or no) shelters (16–17). Many of the pieces in this collection are what some critics would deem sentimental in their personification of these animals and their accounts of suffering (including stories of animal loyalty and heroism, such as “How Old Jim Earned His Freedom” ). Yet, as seen in such accounts, Our Animal Brothers does not flinch away from descriptions of human cruelty and animal abuse—even cruelty among children.

Weir, Harrison. Animal Stories, Old and New, told in Pictures and Prose. Sampson Low, Marston, Earle & Rivington, 19--. [Child PZ5 no.2062]

Harrison Weir was a well-known and highly regarded Victorian illustrator; he was on the founding board of The Illustrated London News (and worked with them for many years after). He worked with many in animal rights circles, including Carrington and Bell (above). As with many late Victorians, the influence of Charles Darwin’s theories can be seen in his naturalist approach to animal subjects; that is to say that his illustrations attempted to understand, if not respect, the animal in its habitat, rather than abstract and idealize the animal through human-centric (anthropomorphic) world views. This interest in animal science also carried him into the world of animal breeding. He is referred to as “the father of Cat Fancy,” or for creating the world of cat shows and publications catering to friends and fans of felines. He published Our Cats, and all about them; their varieties, habits, management, and for show, the standard of excellence and beauty described and pictured (1888). Weir was also interested in breeding carrier pigeons and poultry and later wrote Our Poultry and All About Them (1903); he would also often act as principal judge shows for standards of both birds.

Roberts, Charles G. D. The Kindred of the Wild: A Book of Animal Life. L. C. Page, 1902. [QL791 .R6 K5 1902at]

Charles G. D. Roberts and Ernest Thompson Seton are often credited with establishing the wild animal story. In such fiction, the wild animal is the heroic protagonist, and its untamed—sometimes even fierce—character attributes are represented positively. In his introduction to The Kindred of the Wild (1902), Roberts calls the animal story “a potent emancipator. It frees us for a little from the world of shop-worn utilities, and from the mean tenement of self of which we do well to grow weary. It helps us to return to nature, without requiring that we at the same time return to barbarism. It leads us back to the old kinship of earth, without asking us to relinquish by way of toll any part of the wisdom of the ages, any fine essential of the ‘large result of time’” (28). Roberts’s innovation in animal fiction marks a pivotal shift away from the “sentimental” (i.e., feminine) literature, which was often about domestic pets. Instead, this new “wild animal story” focuses on animals in the wilderness and their adventures beyond domestic influences and (flawed) human society. Margaret Atwood’s thesis Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature (1971) includes a chapter on Roberts’s animal stories as an allegory for Canadian cultural identity. In Roberts’s fiction, she argues, the animals are often made to embody this new nation’s struggle against foes, like their American rivals, who would thwart survival.

Roberts is often hailed as the “father of Canadian poetry,” not just for his publications but also because he actively “promoted the works of other authors within Canada.” However, as we have seen with the previous literature and correspondences among literary women—such as Saunders, Hume, and Montgomery—there was a similar coterie of Canadian women writers. In both groups, the Canadian literary community or kinship is mediated by a shared investment in (if not love for) the animal.

London, Jack. The Call of the Wild. Morang, 1905. [lp PS3523.O46 C3 1905]

As suggested by its title, Jack London’s The Call of the Wild falls within the category of naturalistic fiction, with its interest in the animal world beyond humans/domesticity. London’s story is set during the 1890s Yukon gold rush era, when sled dogs would have been in increased demand to serve the influx of prospectors. The protagonist of this story is a working dog named Buck who must early learn to shed his domestic habits to survive after being sold to work as a sleddog. Heavily influenced by Darwin’s work in the nineteenth century, themes such as survival of the fittest and anxieties of social decadence (or detachment from nature) feature largely in the story. The novel was for children, but scenes of animal violence (Curly’s death, for example) mark this as a departure from sentimental (or “idealized”) representations of the animal world. As Buck adapts to his new lifestyle, he is depicted as more “primitive” or as having regressed to a wild (pre-social) state of nature. London’s story celebrates the natural animal, but its heroic—if not somewhat anthropomorphized—representations still smack of idealization. The novel also includes Indigenous characters (of the fictitious Yeehat tribe) but very much centres the white settler perspective (especially in the final chapters, when Buck becomes a legend among the Yeehats after attacking many in a violent retaliation for murdering his master and fellow sled dogs). Themes such as loyalty among pack animals and respect for leadership also feature largely in the story. Biographers explain how these themes were partly inspired by the relationship London himself witnessed between sleddogs and their masters during his year in the Yukon (1897).

Seton, Ernest Thompson. Lives of the Hunted, Containing a True Account of the Doings of Five Quadrupeds & Three Birds, and, in Elucidation of the Same, over 200 Drawings. Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1930. [lp QL791 .S4 L4 1930]

British-born Canadian author Ernest Thompson Seton was also, with Charles G. D. Roberts, a pioneer of the wild animal story. Seton was also a key figure in the formation of Boy Scouts; he was close friends with the Scouts’ founder, Robert Baden Powell, and Seton would later serve as Chief Scout of the American branch from 1910 to 1915, when executive member Daniel Carter Beard challenged Seton’s right to the position (on the grounds of citizenship). Seton was keen to incorporate Indigenous culture into the Boy Scouts, but he did so through invention and appropriation instead of legitimate consultation with local Indigenous leaders and cultural research. 

Both Seton and Roberts were key targets of the so-called “nature fakers” scandal, in which American naturalist and essayist, John Burroughs, accused such writers of constructing sentimental—if not highly anecdotal—accounts of wildlife. Ultimately, the nature fakers perpetuated the social narrative of a split between literature and science—or a supposed divide between the sentimental and the factual, respectively. Those like Burroughs who objected to Seton’s sentimental animal stories claimed that the author projected too much of himself into his material by anthropomorphizing animals. Other critics of Seton’s animal stories sometimes invoked science as part of their argument that animals should not have emotions, form attachments, or share information akin to teaching.

Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle. Doubleday, Page & Co., 1906. [PS3537 .I85 J8 1906]

Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle was widely regarded as a “muckraking” novel—a pejorative (if not reactionary) term used to describe reformist works or authors during the progressive era (1890s—1917). “Muckraking” literature explicitly critiques social corruption in big business, government, and other institutions. The Jungle is no exception to this definition. Much of the story was intended to expose the horrible labour abuses under capitalism. The Jungle is set in Chicago at the turn of the century. Its main protagonists are immigrant labourers working in commercial stockyards, which exploded throughout the city (along with slaughterhouses) to feed the growing urban population. In other words, the rise in urbanization over the century profoundly affected the animal food industry as more and more animals were brought into the city in greater concentration and with limited space. Massive slaughterhouses and meatpacking plants grew in numbers, but there were few safety inspectors to monitor this growing population of workers (including women and children) as well as the poor conditions of the stockyards and factories. The result was significant lapses in safety and sanitary conditions (e.g., workers falling into rendering plants) that caused suffering to labourers and animals alike.

The Jungle created massive outrage, but not for the reason one might expect—i.e., the awful abuse of animals, which Sinclair suggests is an extension of the labourers’ emotional and economic exploitation. Instead, most readers responded as consumers—in both senses of the word; they were upset by the unsanitary conditions of the slaughterhouses and worried about the effects this would have on the quality of meat (e.g., tuberculosis). In fact, Sinclair’s descriptions of unsanitary conditions and the processing of diseased and rotted meat horrified the public and culminated in the passage of new federal food safety laws—including the new Meat Inspection Act (1906) and the Pure Food and Drug Act (1906). Though not technically a work of children’s literature, the novel is too important per this history of animal rights not to be included in this exhibit.

Lambert, Joyce. How to Be Kind. Brunswick Press, 1962. [HV4702 .L3 1962t]

This book was published by the Kindness Club, a youth group organized by the Canadian Humane Society and intended to teach young children about compassion for animals. The original Kindness Club was founded by Aida Flemming in 1959 in Fredericton, New Brunswick. It took as its founding principle Albert Schweitzer’s ethical “reverence for life”—or a “fundamental principle of morality, namely, that good consists in maintaining, assisting and enhancing life, and to destroy, to harm or to hinder life is evil” (Civilization and Ethics). Schweitzer eventually served as the Club's honorary president at Flemming’s invitation. The Club was popular internationally, with branches in the United States, New Zealand, England, and Canada. Canadian environmental activist and founder of the Sea-Shepherd Conservationist Society Paul Shephard was an early member of the Club. The Kindness Club is still active today, with local clubs sponsored by the Oakville and Milton Humane Societies. Its stated mission continues to be teaching children to be kind and humane toward animals.

First Nations and Native Artists. Goodnight World: Animals of the Native Northwest. Native Northwest, 2014. [private collection]

This book comes in both paper and board formats and is intended for a range of child audiences, from toddlers to youth. As indicated by its title, Goodnight World is about saying goodnight to various animals in the Northwest, from bears and turtles to frogs and wolverines. The artwork and story are from Indigenous perspectives and are meant to encourage respect for Indigenous cultural traditions. Goodnight World is published by Native Northwest, a collective of Indigenous artists that operates on Musqueam, Coast Salish territory in Vancouver, British Columbia. All the artwork is by Indigenous artists and published with consent. Proceeds from Native Northwest’s sales go back to the artists and Indigenous communities. We included this book as a counterpoint to those texts within this history that have appropriated Indigenous cultures.

Jenkins, Steve, Derek Walter, and Caprice Crane. The True Adventures of Esther the Wonder Pig. Little, Brown & Co., 2018. [private collection]

This book recounts for children how Esther, “the wonder pig,” became a modern celebrity of sorts. It is a true story of how she was adopted by Torontonians Steve and Derek, who initially thought she was a micro-pig. But they quickly discovered that Esther was a regular piglet (escaped from the literal meat market) destined to grow into a 600lb+ piggy and already outgrowing the confines of urban apartment life. As a result, Esther’s dads decide to pack up their city condo and start a new life (with their expanding fur family) in an Ontario farm-turned-animal sanctuary. Before even setting pen to paper for this book (among others), Esther and her dads took the world by storm with personal stories and amusing videos of her daily adventures on the farm with her friends. Retold here for kids, Esther’s story is meant to encourage compassion for all animals, including those typically commodified for work or food. One of Esther’s high-profile fans is the Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg; they met in 2019 during Thunberg’s tour of Canada to raise awareness about the climate crisis.

Sears, Clara Endicott, compiler. Bronson Alcott’s Fruitlands. Houghton Mifflin, 1942. [private collection]

While not properly part of this history of animal rights and/in children’s literature, we include the following two works by Amos Bronson Alcott and his daughter, Louisa May Alcott (author of Little Women), to show how there was, also, in the nineteenth century, growing interest in vegetarianism and sustainable farming. This book, edited by Clara Endicott Sears, is a compilation of the writings of Bronson and his friends and co-founders of the Fruitlands Farm. Even before the farm’s foundation, Alcott was a celebrity figure for advocating reforms to education; drawing from Pestalozzi’s philosophy, Bronson rejected the idea of compartmentalized and rote learning to advocate instead for a child-centred pedagogy that was more dialogic and holistic. This philosophy extended to a child’s diet and exercise, suggesting that spiritual health might be supported by good food and a healthy environment. His theories caught the attention of prominent philosophers and reformers, including Ralph Waldo Emmerson and British abolitionist and vegan Charles Lane. Other members of the Fruitlands community include outspoken prison reformer Joseph Palmer, Isaac Hecker—who would later leave for Brook Farm and then found the Paulist Brotherhood—and Ann Page, who was kicked out of the community for eating fish.

The founders of Fruitlands, Alcott and Lane, were influenced by new transcendentalist thought and specifically believed in spiritual enlightenment through bodily and environmental health. As a result, members on the farm were held to a strict diet that excluded animal products—including honey or milk—and they also refused to use animal labour to work the eleven hectares of farmland. It is worth noting that this philosophy shaped the farmland’s attitude toward animals and is notably unsentimental in rationalizing their vegan diet. In one of his journals, Lane speaks in almost utilitarian terms about the socio-environmental benefits of reduced animal farming: “It is calculated that if no animal food were consumed, one-fourth of the land now used would suffice for human sustenance. And the extensive tracts of country now appropriated to grazing, mowing, and other modes of animal provision, could be cultivated by and for intelligent and affectionate human neighbors.” At the same time, the hierarchal structure of food groupings—privileging apples that grow in the fresh air in trees over root vegetables that grow downward in the soil—also betrays a highly anthropocentric approach to animals. Indeed, Hecker, in discussing his later decision to leave the group, characterized their vegan diet as more about human needs and health than justice for animals: “Their idea was human perfection,” Hecker explains, “They set out to demonstrate what man can do in the way of the supremacy of the spiritual over the animal.” However, Hecker goes on to detail the group’s many compelling reasons for their vegan diet, including a logical rather than sentimental objection against “taking animal life when the other kingdoms offer sufficient and better increment.”

The Fruitlands experiment didn’t last through the winter, a fate that many critics (including Sears, who edited this collection) attribute to the farm’s problems with labour. While some cite the group’s resistance to using animals to turn the fields, others note the group of men’s tendency to philosophize over the drudgery of physical labour, which increasingly fell upon the women and children at the farm. Louisa May Alcott’s book, Transcendental Wild Oats, is a satire of this history. Ultimately it was the women and children who saved the farm’s meagre harvest while the men were out preaching their gospel, and after Bronson is forced to quit the farm, it is his wife who has saved money to find the family lodgings and work for the winter.

Alcott, Louisa May. Transcendental Wild Oats and Excerpts from the Fruitlands Diary. Harvard Common Press, 1995. [private collection]

This collection includes excerpts from Louisa May Alcott’s diaries during her childhood, including her short-lived experience on the Fruitlands Farm, established by her father (Bronson Alcott) in Harvard, Massachusetts, c.1840s. The farm was founded upon transcendental purposes, including veganism, in pursuit of a connection with nature and animals. (Cotton clothing was banned because of its connection to slavery; residents wore linen instead). The Fruitlands collective also attempted to farm the eleven hectares themselves without using animal labour, which some critics claim to be the project's undoing. Louisa May Alcott’s diaries from this period are generally positive regarding this time on the farm.

Also included in the book is her satirical short story “Transcendental Wild Oats,” which pokes fun at the male leaders (the “penniless pilgrims”) of the farm and their naivety regarding the demands of such agricultural labour.

“We shall spade it,” replied Abel [Bronson Alcott], in such perfect good faith that Moses [Joseph Palmer] said no more, though he indulged in a shake of the head as he glanced at hands that had held nothing heavier than a pen for years. He was a paternal old soul and regarded the younger men as promising boys on a new sort of lark.”

Louisa May Alcott’s satire addressed but did not reject the community’s vegan lifestyle: “No teapot profaned that sacred stove, no gory steak cried aloud for vengeance from her chaste gridiron; and only a brave woman’s taste, time, and temper were sacrificed on that domestic altar.” Instead, as suggested by the previous line, the bulk of her criticism was directed toward the inequality between the sexes and specifically the disregard for women’s domestic and emotional labour. In parodying her father’s failed utopian project, Alcott draws readers’ attention to this domestic labour upon which the project implicitly depended. In the end, the farm was hit by a terrible storm while the men were away preaching their spiritual gospel (“some call of the Oversoul wafted all the men away”). So it fell upon Sister Hope [Abigail Alcott] and the children to save the harvest: “Three little girls [Anna, Louisa, and Elizabeth], one boy (Timon’s son [William Lane]), and herself, harnessed to clothes-baskets and Russia-linen sheets, were the only teams she could command; but with these poor appliances the indomitable woman got in the grain and saved food for her young, with the instinct and energy of a mother-bird with a brood of hungry nestlings to feed.”

Mowat, Farley. A Whale for the Killing. McClelland and Stewart, 1972. [QL737 .C4 M73 1972t]

This novel is loosely based on a true story about a whale’s highly-publicized and politicized death in Newfoundland. In the story, Mowat and other environmentalists attempt to rescue the animal from capture and a torturous death from multiple ammunition wounds by a local fisherman. The story is commonly understood as a complaint against animal brutalities and environmental disasters under the pressures of modern capitalism on the fishing industries. Mowat’s critique of Newfoundland politics, especially of Newfoundland Premier Joey Smallwood’s resource management, is evident in the story.

Baynger, Janet. Fanbelt Freddie and Friends: The History of the Kingston Humane Society. Kingston Humane Society, 2000. [lp HV4770.K552 K53 2000t]

Fanbelt Freddie recounts the history of the Kingston Humane Society, founded in 1884. The publication’s title refers to the shelter’s resident cat, Freddie, who survived injuries from a car fan belt. Early chapters discuss some of the struggles and setbacks the Kingston organization faced and describe how J. J. Kelso, President of the Toronto Humane Society, reached out in support of—and built a strong working relationship with—the Kingston branch. Early chapters also describe some of the issues brought before the society by Kingstonians, including complaints about youth racing horses in the summer heat and the installation of more drinking fountains for cart and working horses throughout the city. There is also discussion of local campaigns against the bearing rein and the suffering it inflicted on the horses. The novel Black Beauty publicized this issue. The bearing rein prevented the horse from lowering its head and was used to maintain an aesthetic image.