ACCEPTING THE UNIVERSE 



In the dryer meadows in my section of the Cat- 

 skills the orange hawkweed completely crowds out 

 the meadow grasses; it plants itself on every square 

 inch of the surface, and every four or five years the 

 farmer has to intervene with his plow to turn the 

 battle in favor of the grass again. In the gardens, 

 unless the gardener take a hand in the game, the 

 weeds choke down or smother all his vegetables. 

 The weeds are rank with original sin and they 

 easily supplant our pampered and cultivated cereals 

 and legumes. 



In the animal world there are few exceptions to 

 the rule of the supremacy of power. There is no 

 question of right or wrong, of mercy or cruelty. It 

 is not cruel or unjust for the bird to catch the in- 

 sect, or for the cat to catch the bird, or for the lion 

 to devour the lamb, or for the big fishes to eat up 

 the little fishes. It is the rule of nature, and never a 

 question of right or wrong. 



Biological laws are as remorseless as physical 

 laws. The course of animal evolution through the 

 geologic ages is everywhere marked by the triumph 

 of new and superior forms over the old and in- 

 ferior forms. Among the lower races of man, our 

 remote savage ancestors, might ruled. The strong 

 and prolific tribes supplanted those that were less 

 so, and, among the nations, up to our own day, the 

 rule of natural competition, or survival of the 

 fittest, has held full sway. Those nations which are 



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