CHAPTER VII 



OUR ALLIES 



COOPERATION is the law of life and of 

 progress. This fact has brought about 

 some very curious forms of cooperation. 

 Think for a moment what a country family means. 

 Man stands in the center of a group, gathered from 

 all quarters of the world, crossed and recrossed by 

 his skill, and constituting a solid alliance, without 

 which neither human progress nor animal evolution 

 could be secured. 



Not only have our domestic animals become com- 

 panions and friends, but we are just as dependent on 

 them. A cow, uncared for, would starve during the 

 first winter, but in turn our whole civilization depends 

 upon the cow's milk. Other races are dependent 

 on the goat, or the horse, or the reindeer, or even 

 the dog. That seems to be the most perfect civiliza- 

 tion that most completely recognizes animal friend- 

 ship and most cordially apprehends the unity and in- 

 terdependence of all life. 



We are still a long way from having found the 

 values of even our commonest animals and the sim- 

 plest plants, but we are on the road a road on 

 which Burbank, with his scientific skill, is causing 



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