Punch,  46 (1864), 135.

Shipley Swine's Feast

Anon

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Agriculture, Hunting, Cruelty, Class, Education, Morality


    Insists that 'There are some men whose dispositions are wondrously modified by those of the animals with which they are peculiarly conversant', and that 'the agricultural mind' tends towards 'prejudice and stupidity', owing to its exposure to pigs. Supports this latter claim by discussing an extract describing a meeting of the Shipley Sparrow Club, West Sussex, which announced its collection of thousands of bird's heads and resolved that it would continue 'notwithstanding all that Punch and other anti-birdkillers have said'. Believes that the club takes pride in persisting in its 'brutal endeavour' and suggests as more apt names the 'Goose Club' or 'Caterpillar Club'. Concludes by arguing that killing the destroyers of vermin that ravage crops is 'suicidal' on the part of farmers, and thus indicates the similarity between agriculturalists and pigs.



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