Punch,  57 (1869), 108.

The Blue Knife (From a Contemporary)

Anon

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Meteorology, Animal Husbandry, Accidents, Death


    Responds to news that 'Sixteen sheep have been killed by lightning'. Ponders the significance of this story, given that so many sheep are killed each year and that few need to be reminded 'that lightning is but as mechanical as the action of the fusee that kindles the Havannah of the cynic'. Argues that by dying this way, these sheep have been spared the cruel fate of their fellow creatures (including the butcher's 'finishing blade'), but that far from being 'out of created space', their 'transmuted entity' will provide the materials from which 'daisies and buttercups grow'.



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