132 THE BROOK BOOK 



with this when, meeting a harmless but unknown 

 insect in the path, a small boy exclaimed, ' Say, 

 Teacher, what does them do to yer?'" 



One can forgive this in children so unused to 

 nature's kindlier moods, or to kindly moods in any 

 form. But that intelligent grown people should 

 demand a reason for the existence of every other 

 creature is nearly unforgivable. May the time 

 soon come when the silly superstitions about ani- 

 mals and plants will cease to be visited upon the 

 third and fourth generation, and supplanted by 

 personal knowledge of nature. Man will become 

 more tolerant of other creatures and less sure, 

 perhaps, of his own exalted position in the uni- 

 verse. Let us hope that he will then see himself 

 as others see him and begin to learn to love his 

 neighbor as himself. 



