io6 Musings by Camp-Fire and Wayside 



are also expressed in the soft beaming or the flash 

 of the eye, the pose of the body, the exhibition of 

 weapons, the tremors of the muscles, the lofty, sup- 

 pliant, or shamed carriage of the head. Indeed, if 

 we indicate an emotion and its expression in man, 

 the same emotion and its expression, in a manner 

 so closely resembling that of man as to be instantly 

 recognizable, will be proved in all the species of 

 the higher vertebrates, and in a number of the 

 insects, such as bees and ants. When we see a 

 dog, himself hungry, carry food safely to his mas- 

 ter, or die bravely in that master's defense, how 

 shall we escape the conviction that noble moral 

 qualities are present in the phenomena? Indeed, 

 the companionship and mutual esteem between man 

 on the one side, and the dog, horse, or elephant on 

 the other, can only be accounted for by the fact of 

 the presence of a moral nature in each in sympathy 

 with that of the other, the endowment of each 

 differing only in degree. 



We have thus traced, by mere mention, the ex- 

 tension of moral existence and its laws down through 

 the ranks of intelligences to the animal kingdom 

 below man, and find them everywhere so nearly 

 identical as to be readily recognizable. Can we 

 find indication of them still lower in the vegetable 

 kingdom? Not so easily, it is true, and yet pos- 

 sibly. The flowers at our feet look up into our 

 faces with expressions so sweet and benign that our 

 imaginations will persist in investing them with 



