No. L] MATURE STUDY. 203 



Think for a moment what the domestication of animals 

 signified for civilization. First of all, it meant a larger in- 

 telligence, a new philosophy of life, a higher relation to 

 nature. Materially, it assured a better and more abundant 

 food supply, and consequently larger and more powerful 

 tribes, i.e., higher human relations. In long struggles small 

 margins of strength are decisive ; but think how human 

 power was multiplied in the tribe that first domesticated the 

 horse. This was probably done by some branch of the 

 Aryan race in the north of Asia, and in that act the die was 



■ 



cast for the conquest of the world by that tribe. 



Important as domestication of animals has been, impor- 

 tant as it is still, — for we should, as an intelligent people, 

 take up the work again and carry it on until every useful 

 species is brought under dominion, — the greatest step of 

 the race, the essential advance which marks the transition 

 from barbarism to civilization, from wandering nomads to 

 stable, civilized, populous communities, is cultivation of 

 plants. In the stability of landhold we have the beginning 

 of home as distinguished from the casual camping ground ; 

 and until this takes place we have no name for either, home 

 or country. The very essence of the ideas of home and 

 country is involved in the planting of something in the soil. 



In all matters relating to life and its environment, the 

 shuttles of cause and effect fly back and forth so fast that we 

 can hardly distinguish between them. This fact goes far 

 towards explaining away the ancient antithesis between 

 being and doing. Being and doing are reallv the two sides 

 of the same shield. Let us be something, and we will do 

 something, and every good act makes us better and stronger. 

 The moment man planted about his home, he began to grow 

 mentally and morally. Willingness to work for his daily 

 bread and for that of his family, intelligent provision for the 

 future, love of home and country and the courage to fight 

 for them, — patriotism, — are among the virtues developed 

 and established by this work. When our school system 

 was first planned, as has been often pointed out, we were an 

 agricultural people. The home supplied this fundamental 

 education, as some of the boys and girls may have been in- 



