DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 67 



9. The School of Nature. 



Young sheep and goats leap and gambol in their 

 play. I have noticed young goats that were being 

 led along the streets keep up an occasional jump- 

 ing as they went along, leaping first one way 

 then another, sometimes straight up into the air, 

 as if they were worked by some unseen spring 

 that went off suddenly inside of them. How 

 strange such conduct must have seemed to the pre- 

 Darwinians. But to the evolutionists it is as plain 

 as day. 



Play is nature's schooling. It is preparation for 

 a life to come. Young animals, when they play, 

 practice on what they are going to do later on in 

 life. This is true of all animals, including the 

 young of human beings. Lambs and kids run and 

 leap in their play for the same reason that the 

 young of men, dogs, and lions scuffle and fight and 

 chase each other. Whenever there is any chance 

 for it, lambs and kids choose a steep bank or other 

 declivity as their play-place. A banK is a mimic 

 mountain-side. 



Lambs and kids are the children of mountain- 

 eers. Their natures were formed and fitted for a 

 very different life from the one they now lead. 

 They were educated for life among mountains. 

 The leaping and running of their play originally 

 was the very preparation they needed for the life 

 they would lead when they were older. It devel- 

 oped strength of muscle so they could run fast and 

 leap far, and also gave them the skill to light with 



