EDITORIAL AND GENERAL 



119 



they are all intended to serve his needs, 

 or his wants, or to be the utilitarian 

 protagonists in his special life drama, 

 and that they must be active and contin- 

 uous in supplying" him with the things 

 needful for his physical well being. 

 But that does not seem to be God's 

 thought and intention. He has said, 

 that man shall not live by bread alone. 

 All animals and all plants are not in- 

 tended to minister only to man's bod}-. 

 He has a mind, or is supposed to have 

 such an appurtenance, and is expected 

 to cultivate it. Of what use is an ant 

 or a rattlesnake? I don't know God's 

 purpose in making them, but I may 

 possibly ascertain it if I use the mind 

 that He has given me. I can at least 

 try. On his first day at school, your 

 boy may ask, "What is that hard alpha- 

 bet good for?" What is the world's 

 literature good for? For precisely the 

 same purpose for which the study of the 

 ant's habits is good — to enlarge, to ex- 

 pand, to cultivate your mind, your 

 power of observation, your ability to 

 appreciate and to enjoy the wonders 

 and the beauties of the heavenly world, 

 when you get there. If the gate should 

 unfortunately be closed in your face, 

 before you go elsewhere, you will prob- 

 ably pause to ask, "What was I good 

 for?" Why not ask yourself the 

 question now? 



Methods Rather Than Results. 



I have recently seen in my chicken 

 yard a pretty good imitation of human 

 actions. A large flock of barred Rock 

 chickens was confined to a brooder 

 house and small yard. I desired to 



have them in a larger yard on the 

 end rather than on the side of the 

 brooder house, and for that purpose 

 cut another hole through the end 

 of the brooder house and made an- 

 other ladder to lead into the larger 

 yard. The chickens greatly enjoyed 

 the larger yaid during the day, and 

 went up and ('own the new ladder into 

 their accustomed home, in which not 

 the slightest change had been made. 

 But when night came, they wanted to 

 roost ; they were lonesome and home- 

 sick, and one hundred chickens began 

 that painful, pitiful peeping that chick- 

 ens make when they are lost, and the 

 clamor continued although their home 

 had in no way been changed. It was 

 only a change in the manner of going to 

 bed, by means of a new ladder at a new 

 entrance about the size of a cat-hole 

 cut through the end, as shown in the 

 accompanying illustration. 



The thing that interested me and pre- 

 sented this parody on humanity was the 

 fact that the chickens were pained, lone- 

 some and homesick, because of a new 

 methoJ, of which the final result was 

 exactly the same as that of the old. It 

 was laughable yet pathetic to see those 

 chickens walking up the new ladder in- 

 to the new entrance, and then pleading 

 pitifully as if they were lost, and turn- 

 ing around and coming out again, 

 still bewailing their forlorn condi- 

 tion. They went into the larger yard 

 repeatedly, and tried to get into the 

 smaller yard so that they could go to 

 bed (in a firelcss brooder") by the usual 

 method. It has taken them several days 

 to become reconciled to the new iadder 



THE NEW LADDER AND ENTRANCE AT THE RIGHT, OPENING INTO THE LARGER YARD. 



