A JUNGLE CLEARING 39 



ian butterflies and mockingbirds, the wild roses 

 and the jasmine, and the other splendors of mem- 

 ory which a single butterfly had unloosed. 



As I looked about me, I saw the flowers and 

 detected their fragrance; I heard the hum of bees 

 and the contented chirp of well-fed birds ; I mar- 

 veled at great butterflies flapping so slowly that 

 it seemed as if they must have cheated gravita- 

 tion in some subtle way to win such lightness and 

 disregard of earth-pull. I heard no ugly murmur 

 of long hours and low wages ; the closest scrutiny 

 revealed no strikes or internal clamorings about 

 wrongs; and I unconsciously relaxed and 

 breathed more deeply at the thought of this na- 

 ture world, moving so smoothly, with directness 

 and simplicity as apparently achieved ideals. 



Then I ceased this superficial glance and 

 looked deeper, and without moralizing or drag- 

 ging in far-fetched similes or warnings, tried to 

 comprehend one fundamental reality in wild na- 

 ture — the universal acceptance of opportunity. 

 From this angle it is quite unimportant whether 

 one believes in vitalism (which is vitiating to our 

 "will to prove"), or in mechanism (whose name 

 itself is a symbol of ignorance, or deficient vocab- 



