124 SAVAGE SURVIVALS 



had a young calf, look out. She was a different 

 being. Cows vary a good deal in this respect, but 

 nearly all of them at such times show some dispo- 

 sition to attack anything or anybody that comes 

 too near their young. 



I don't think as a boy I ever wondered why 

 cows were this way. I didn't know enough. It 

 merely seemed strange that a being would change 

 so over night. 



If I had asked any of the people who lived about 

 there why cows were this way, they Would prob- 

 ably have told me that it was "just natural." 

 That is what we often say when we are asked 

 about something we don't understand, and we 

 don't want to admit that we don't understand it. 



But everything is natural. There is nothing 

 really that is not natural, that is, there is noth- 

 ing that is not a part of nature. There is also 

 an explanation for everything, if we can 

 only find out what it is. And one of the things 

 that you should get an early grip on and 

 a good grip on is this fact that there is a 

 reason for everything. One of the chief delights 

 of the intellectual life is the joy of rooting around 

 in this complicated world and turning up the 

 causes of things. 



Domesticated cattle have come from wild cattle. 

 And wild cattle live in a very different world from 

 the one that domesticated cattle live in. They live 

 among the forests and on the prairies surrounded 

 by wolves and bears and other animals that are 



