The following quote was found on Henry Salt’s desk after he died and was read out at his furneral:
When I say I shall die, as I have lived, rationalist, socialist, pacifist, and humanitarian, I must make my meaning clear. I wholly disbelieve in the present established religion; but I have a very firm religious faith of my own—a Creed of Kinship I call it—a belief that in years yet to come there will be a recognition of brotherhood between man and man, nation and nation, human and subhuman, which will transform a state of semi-savagery, as we have it, into one of civilisation, when there will be no such barbarity of warfare, or the robbery of the poor by the rich, or the ill-usage of the lower animals by mankind. — Henry Salt
A quiet, modest, yet witty man who enjoyed good company, Henry Salt had a wide circle of friends and acquaintances in socialist, rationalist, humanitarian, literary, and publishing circles.
Although the subjects Salt wrote about were serious, his humour was never far from the surface as in this short poem.
A Lover of Animals
Oh, yes! you love them well, I know!
But whisper me—when most?
“In fields, at summer-time.” Not so:
At supper-time—in roast.
This section introduces his life and his family.