140 The Nature-Study Idea 



cipated from the necessity of taking life. Per- 

 haps complete emancipation will come. 



The old desire to kill first born of necessity 

 still lingers with men. We still have much 

 of the savage in us. But now we kill also for 

 "sport." Practically a new motive has been 

 born into the world with man the desire to 

 kill for the sake of killing. One generation of 

 white men is sufficient practically to exterminate 

 the bison and several other species. All this 

 needs justification. The lower creation is not 

 the plaything of man. 



We are still obliged to kill for our necessities. 

 We must secure food and raiment. More and 

 more we are rearing the animals that we would 

 take for food. We give them less dangerous 

 lives. We protect them from the severities of 

 the struggle for existence. We remove them 

 from the necessities of protecting themselves 

 from violence. We take our own. There is 

 here little question of morals. We give that 

 we may take; and we take because we must. 



To kill for mere sport is a very different mat- 

 ter: it lies outside the realm of struggle for 



