New Walks in Old Ways 



more clever, but even that is by no 

 means clear. The only question is as 

 to whether he is worse than his kin- 

 folk of the woods and waves. Here 

 my indictment stops. That he is more 

 cruel than any of his fellow creatures 

 does not admit of doubt; not only 

 more cruel to his own kind, but to all 

 other forms of created life, than any 

 other animal or plant that enters into 

 all this mundane mystery. He kills 

 for the pure joy of killing, and in his 

 dealings with all other forms of life 

 knows not the meaning of such a word 

 as mercy. And yet, on the other hand, 

 he is capable of sacrifices for others, is 

 capable of deeds of self-annihilating 

 heroism, that so far as we can tell are 

 unknown to the fauna and flora by 

 which he is accompanied in this phase 

 of the earth's existence. He is a con- 

 stant contradiction of himself; the 

 super-good so interwoven with the 

 abysmal-bad that he remains the one 

 great puzzle of the ages. 



[150] 



