72 In Touch with Nature. 



they deserve pity. The trouble is, such folk are 

 not to be recognized at first sight; but once 

 known, let them be shunned as a pestilence. I am 

 at outs with people whom I have sworn at, but my 

 happiness is not curtailed. As years roll by you 

 free yourself of the dross, and the pure gold of 

 humanity makes life worth living, though you 

 have nothing else than their friendship to call your 

 own. 



To return : there are, it would seem, two dis- 

 tinct and not necessarily connected propositions 

 to be considered. First. Do the lower animals 

 recognize, sooner than does man, coming weather 

 changes ? Second. How far are we able to inter- 

 pret a lower animal's acts ? 



Let us consider these questions separately. 



If animals possessed, as is often claimed, mete- 

 orological foreknowledge, then it should appear that 

 little suffering and less loss of life should result 

 from sudden changes. But does not even an 

 ordinary thunder-gust drown creeping creatures, 

 maim vigorous birds, and flood the snug galleries 

 of burrowing mammals ? It needs but a short 

 ramble in the woods or fields, after such a summer 



