DEVIOUS PATHS 



prairie-dogs, more among moose than among sheep 

 or buffalo, more among grouse than among quail. 

 But I do not know that this is true. 



Yet among none of these would one expect to 

 find the diversity of individual types that one finds 

 among men. No two dogs of the same breed will be 

 found to differ as two men of the same family often 

 differ. An original fox, or wolf, or bear, or beaver, 

 or crow, or crab, that is, one not merely different 

 from his fellows, but obviously superior to them, 

 differing from them as a master mind differs from 

 the ordinary mind, I think, one need not expect 

 to find. It is quite legitimate for the animal-story 

 writer to make the most of the individual differ 

 ences in habits and disposition among the animals; 

 he has the same latitude any other story writer has, 

 but he is bound also by the same law of probability, 

 the same need of fidelity to nature. If he proceed 

 upon the theory that the wild creatures have as pro 

 nounced individuality as men have, that there are 

 master minds among them, inventors and discov 

 erers of new ways, born captains and heroes, he will 

 surely &quot; o erstep the modesty of nature.&quot; 



The great diversity of character and capacity 

 among men doubtless arises from their greater and 

 more complex needs, relations, and aspirations. 

 The animals needs in comparison are few, their 

 relations simple, and their aspirations nil. One can 

 not see what could give rise to the individual types 

 119 



