UNDER THE MAPLES 



grass and other vegetation upon which the graz- 

 ing animals feed are not armed with spines. 



If the cacti were created that grazing animals in 

 the desert might have something to feed upon, as 

 our fathers' way of looking at things might lead us 

 to believe, why was that benevolent plan frustrated 

 by the armor of needles and spines? 



Nature reaches her hungry and thirsty crea- 

 tures this broad, mittened hand like a cruel joke. 

 It smites like a serpent and stings like a scorpion. 

 The strange, many-colored, fascinating desert! 

 Beware! Agonies are one of her garments. 



All we can say about it is that Nature has her 

 prickly side which drought and heat aggravate. In 

 the North our thistles and thorns and spines are 

 a milder expression of this mood. The spines on 

 the blackberry-bush tend against its propagation 

 for the same reason. Among our wild gooseberries, 

 there are smooth and prickly varieties, and one suc- 

 ceeds about as well as the other. Apple- and pear- 

 trees in rough or barren places that have a severe 

 struggle for life, often develop sharp, thorny 

 "branches. It is a struggle of some kind which 

 begets something like ill-temper in vegetation — ■ 

 heat and drought in the desert, and browsing ani-' 

 mals and poor soil in the temperate zones. The 

 devil's club in Alaska is one mass of spines; why, 

 I know not. It must just be original sin. Our 

 raspberries have prickles on their stalks, but the 



144 



