172 The Bible of Nature 



More than Competitive Struggle— At the same time, 

 we libel nature's method if we picture it as com- 

 parable to that of a gladiatorial show with its un- 

 compromising cry Vce victis; if we say that her 

 only word is ruthless self-assertion, every one for 

 himself and extinction take the hindmost; if we 

 see only a thrusting aside and treading down of 

 competitors. 



Tennyson, who held such a clear mirror to 

 Nature, writes: 



" For Nature is one with rapine, a harm no preacher can 



heal, 

 The may-fly is torn by the swallow, the sparrow spear'd 



by the strike. 

 And the whole little wood where I sit is a world of plunder 



and prey." 



But this is only one side of the picture. 



It appears to us that the facts of mutual aid, of 

 social life, of kin-sympathy and of parental care 

 suffice to show that Huxley was in error in saying 

 that ''the cosmic process has no sort of relation 

 to moral ends." This is so important that we 

 must consider the matter more fully. 



Ethical Aspect of Organic Evolution. — For untold 

 ages the drama of organic evolution has been in 

 progress, cast succeeding cast without any one 

 having a real grasp of the plot. In comparatively 

 recent times man, though busy on the stage, has 

 become a calm spectator. Is it not significant of 



