ACCEPTING THE UNIVERSE 



Allow time enough and the forest returns in the 

 path of the tornado, but maybe with other species of 

 trees. The birds and squirrels plant oaks and chest- 

 nuts amid the pines and the winds plant pines amid 

 the oaks and chestnuts. The robins and the cedar- 

 birds sow the red cedar broadcast over the land- 

 scape, and plant the Virginia creeper and the poison- 

 ivy by every stub and fence-post. The poison-ivy is 

 a triumph of Nature as truly as is the grapevine or 

 the morning-glory. All are hers. Man specializes; 

 he selects this or that, selects the wheat and re- 

 jects the tares; but Nature generalizes; she has the 

 artist's disinterestedness; all is good; all are parts of 

 her scheme. She nourishes the foul-smelling cat- 

 brier as carefully as she does the rose. Each creature, 

 with man at the head, says, "The world is mine; it 

 was created for me." Evidently it was created for 

 all, at least all forms are at home here. Nature's sys- 

 tem of checks and balances preserves her working 

 equilibrium. If a species of forest worm under some 

 exceptionally favoring conditions gets such a start 

 that it threatens to destroy our beech and maple 

 forests, presently a parasite, stimulated by this turn 

 in its favor, appears and restores the balance. For 

 two or three seasons the beech-woods in my native 

 town were ravaged by some kind of worm or beetle; 

 in midsummer the sunlight came into them as if the 

 roof had been taken off; later they swarmed with 

 white millers. But the scourge was suddenly checked 



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