68 DOMESTICATED ANIMALS AND PLANTS 



the plan seems heartless, it is, after all, beneficent, when we 

 regard the future and the coming generations as well as the 

 present and the individuals. 



So there is another and a brighter picture. We humans have 

 been given a larger view of life than have the animals about us, 

 and while we cannot comprehend all the plan, we cheerfully 

 devote our lives not solely to our own enjoyment but also to 

 that larger service to mankind in general, to the end that future 

 generations may be the happier because of our having lived. 

 Just as we are realizing the advantages of what our forefathers 

 did for the world before us, so we make our contribution for 

 the benefit of those that shall come after us. 



It is for us, therefore, to recognize the fact of this great war- 

 fare in nature, and in man's affairs as well, without permitting 

 it to embitter life ; and to order our own lives and their activities 

 to the advantage of the common good, getting our satisfaction 

 day by day as we go along in the consciousness of faculties well 

 employed, thankful after all for the opportunity to live, to enjoy 

 the world, to contribute our share to the great upward struggle 

 of the race, and to act our part and say our lines in the great 

 drama of existence, all of which is a part of the divine plan, 

 too large for our comprehension, just as the stars are too many 

 and too far away, and the universe too vast and too complicated, 

 for our understanding. 1 



In proportion as we see the distinction between the in- 

 dividual and the race, in that proportion will we understand 

 the true meaning of the "great debt to nature," and we will 

 come to appreciate that the principle, M to him that hath shall 

 be given," is not so much for personal benefit as for the 

 general good. 



1 This digression is made for the reason that many, especially young people, 

 not knowing thoroughly the field of evolution but stumbling upon a portion 

 of it by accident, are led to gloomy, short-sighted, and morbid views of life. 

 It is hoped that as the subject is further pursued, the discussion may make 

 clear many of the points which trouble the minds of many people often 

 through life. 



