130 



THE DESERT 



The law of 

 change. 



Nature foil- 

 ing her own 

 plant. 



Attack and 

 defence. 



up from the dust to dance on the green in the 

 sunlight for an hour ; and then the procession 

 that comes after us turns the sod and we creep 

 back to Mother Earth. All, all to dust again ; 

 and no man to this day knoweth the why thereof. 



One is continually assailed with queries of 

 this sort whenever and wherever he begins to 

 study Nature. He never ceases to wonder why 

 she should take such pains to foil her own plans 

 and bring to naught her own creations. Why 

 did she give the flying fish such a willowy tail 

 and such long fins, why did she labor so in- 

 dustriously to give him power of flight, when at 

 the same time she was giving another fish in the 

 sea greater strength, and a bird in the air great- 

 er swiftness wherewith to destroy him ? Why 

 should she make the tarantula such a powerful 

 engine of destruction when she was in the same 

 hour making his destroyer, the tarantula- wasp ? 

 And always here in the desert the question 

 comes up : Why should Nature give these 

 shrubs and plants such powers of endurance 

 and resistance, and then surround them by heat, 

 drouth, and the attacks of desert animals ? It 

 is existence for a day, but sooner or later the 

 growth goes down and is beaten into dust. 



The individual dies. Yes ; but not the species. 



