UNDER THE APPLE-TREES 



arts to charm and persuade and entice! Her crea- 

 tures forget their staid and quiet ways; there is a 

 sound of music and gayety on the one hand, and a 

 noise of strife and battle on the other. The stag 

 bugles and tosses his horns, the bull bellows and 

 tears and paws the earth, the grouse drums and 

 booms, the woodpecker beats a spring reveille on a 

 dry limb, the insects fiddle and shuflBe and snap their 

 wings — indeed, nearly all forms of life assume new 

 activity and intensity. 



It is the sex principle that gives the beard to the 

 man, the antlers to the stag, the mane to the lion, 

 the spurs and comb to the cock, and the strange 

 fashions and coloration to the male birds. Repro- 

 duction is the one thing Nature has most at heart 

 and is intent on securing at all hazards — at the 

 hazard of pain, hunger, strife, and seK-destruction. 



Just to keep up the game of life, to keep the 

 measure full to overflowing — has Nature any other 

 purpose than this? Think of the swarms of the liv- 

 ing that come and go, especially in the insect world, 

 and leave no trace behind ! Yes, and at times, in the 

 higher-animal world. Think of the hordes of lem- 

 mings that at intervals appear in northern Europe, 

 and move through the land devastating the farm- 

 ers* crops, till they reach the sea, into which they 

 plunge and are drowned. Ships are said to sail at 

 times through miles of lemmings, swimming they 

 know not whither. 



68 



