nr ON ANIMAL LIFE 77 
forests of algee, all ‘without hurry and care,’ 
as if their ‘span-long lives’ really could 
endure for the thousand years that the old 
catch pines for. Here is no greedy jostling 
at the banquet that nature has spread for 
them; no dread of each other ; but a leisurely 
inspection of the field, that shows neither the 
pressure of hunger nor the dread of an 
enemy. 
“ <'T'o labour and to be content ’ (that ‘ sweet 
life’ of the son of Sirach)— to be equally ready 
for an enemy or a friend — to trust in them- 
selves alone, to show a brave unconcern for the 
morrow, all these are the admirable points of 
a character almost universal among animals, 
and one that would lighten many a heart 
were it more common among men. That 
character is the direct result of the golden 
law ‘If one will not work, neither let him 
eat’ ; a law whose stern kindness, unflinch- 
ingly applied, has produced whole nations of 
living creatures, without a pauper in their 
ranks, flushed with health, alert, resolute, 
self-reliant, and singularly happy.” 
It has often been said that Man is the only 
