Morality 



born of the family; but the others have to be 

 provided for and it would be advantageous 

 to rear as many of them as possible. The 

 installation of each demands that the female, 

 who until now has led a sedentary life, should 

 often venture abroad. The stay-at-home 

 becomes an out-of-doors collector; she gath- 

 ers the pellets in the neighbourhood, brings 

 them to the pit, stores them, breaks them up, 

 kneads them and packs them into cylinders. 



And it is at this moment of maternal activ- 

 ity that the father abandons the home ! He 

 excuses himself on the score of his decrep- 

 itude. He lacks not good-will but life itself. 

 Reluctantly he retires, worn out with years. 



We might reply : 



"Considering that the successive stages of 

 evolution have made you invent first house- 

 keeping in common, a sublime discovery, and 

 then the deep cellar, tending to keep the pre- 

 serves in good condition during the summer; 

 the grinding-process which gives plasticity 

 and prevents dryness; and the packing into 

 sausages, in which the materials ferment and 

 improve : considering all this, could not that 

 same evolution teach you to prolong your life 

 for a few weeks? With the aid of a most 

 carefully conducted selection, the affair does 

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