The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles 



asked only to sprout, to turn green In the 

 sun, to shoot up Into tall stalks crowned with 

 ears. They died that we might live. Here 

 are some eggs. Left undisturbed with the 

 Hen, they would have emitted the Chickens' 

 gentle cheep. They died that we might live. 

 Here Is beef, mutton, poultry. Horror, It 

 smells of blood. It Is eloquent of murder! 

 If we gave It a thought, we should not dare 

 to sit down to table, that altar of cruel sacri- 

 fices. 



How many lives does the Swallow, to men- 

 tion only the most peaceable, harvest In the 

 course of a single day! From morning to 

 evening he gulps down Crane-flies, Gnats and 

 Midges joyously dancing In the sunbeams. 

 Quick as lightning he passes; and the dan- 

 cers are decimated. They perish; then 

 their melancholy remnants fall from the nest 

 containing the young brood, In the form of 

 guano which becomes the turf's Inheritance. 

 And so It Is with all and everything, with 

 large and small, from end to end of the 

 animal progression. A perpetual massacre 

 perpetuates the flux of life. 



Appalled by these butcheries, the thinker 



begins to dream of a state of affairs which 



would free us from the horrors of the maw. 



This ideal of innocence, as our poor nature 



430 



