THE ETHICAL KINSHIP 



I. Human Nature a Product of the Jungle. 



THE Golden Rule is not exemplified by the 

 conduct of any considerable number of the in- 

 habitants of the earth. To be civilised or even 

 half-civilised is, to the children of this world, 

 neither instinctive nor easy. To preserve a 

 certain pretence or appearance of virtue, especially 

 when encouraged to do so by an uplifted cudgel 

 in the hands of the community, is a possible and 

 not uncommon accomplishment. But to be at 

 heart and in reality as considerate of others as we 

 are of ourselves is, unfortunately, not natural. 

 Human beings are not children of the sun, so- 

 journing for a season on this spheroid of clay, and 

 needing only pinions to be angels. Human nature 

 did not come, pure and shining, down from the 

 glittering gods. It came out of the jungle. 

 Civilised peoples are the not very remote posterity 

 of savages, and savages are the posterity of indi- 

 viduals who laid eggs and had literally cold blood 

 in their veins. Civilised men and women are 

 troglodytes with a veneering of virtue. In the 

 245 



