OUR FRIENDS. 369 



in check tlie ruultiplyiug of flies, whose mission in the great household of na- 

 ture is the absorption of all the offal and garbiige, of all the rotting and decay- 

 ing animal and vegetable matter. Nature is not gjverned by love, as we see 

 everywhere, but by hate in so far as one eats up the other; and if we try by an- 

 tipathy to meddle with this rule, if we destroy some of the destroyers, we do 

 ourselves the greatest injury. By the loss of our harvests we were compelled to 

 learn wisdom, and if we have become wise at last, we conquer our antipathy to 

 certain creatures and teach our youth the great diplomatic axiom, " Laissez 

 faire .'*' 



47 



