100 FOUR-FOOTED AMERICANS 



elevated and spiritual than others, and every tiling in 

 tlie great Plan moves upward." 



" You have made a picture of an Indian on tlie top 

 branch of our Mammal tree, hut there aren't so mau}^ of 

 them alive now as of us, are there ? " asked Nat. 



"No, my boy, I put him there because, speaking cor- 

 rectly, he is a native American like the fourfoots ; but 

 a great change is coming over the tree. Some of its 

 lower branches are dying off, as well as tlie top brancli, 

 and of these changes and their reasons I hope you will 

 learn from our campfire stories." 



The children looked at the map for some time, read- 

 ing the names on the branches, tracing with their fin- 

 gers the different twigs and the outlines of the animals 

 in which they ended. 



Finally Nat asked, '' Is there anything else in which 

 Mammals are alike except that they have warm red 

 blood and nurse their young?" 



"If you should look at the skeleton of a cat, a bear, 

 a horse, and a man, you would see that in the skeletons 

 of all these Mammals the plan is much the same, dif- 

 ferent parts being developed to suit the way in which 

 the members of each family move or get their food. 



" The Gnawers have strong, square teeth, the diggers 

 powerful fore paws, the Leapers strong, long hind legs, 

 the Swimmers webbed hind feet and tails like paddles, 

 and so on, and remember that all ^lammals are more or 

 less covered with hair." 



" Covered with hair ? I never thought of that. Is 

 fur, hair ? " asked Rap. 



" Fur, hair, and avooI are really all the same things, 

 developed in different ways, though they look unlike. 



