THE CARP AND THE STICKLEBACK 



costumes they should wear, and the parts they should 

 play. 



The things of Nature have a genius of their own, a 

 deep, interior meaning. If it is no longer represented 

 in the mythical form of a pagan divinity, or of a magician 

 able to appear and disappear at will, or of a necromancer, 

 it is there none the less, and appears of itself alone in 

 their appearance and in their harmony. Thought gazes, 

 listens in itself, sees, and understands. It divines that 

 life in the creatures that perish, through their appear- 

 ances and their transformations, keeps constantly about 

 the work it has undertaken since its beginning. It 

 prolongs its labours, accomplishes them without stop- 

 ping. So everything that exists, holding within itself 

 a lasting part handed down from flesh to flesh, can, 

 according to its means, despite inequalities and con- 

 trasts, have its share in the general effort. 



310 



