NATURE AND MAN 89 



a sort of fairy-godmother, ready to furnish her pets with 

 shoes of swiftness, swords of sharpness, and omnipotent Alad- 

 din's lamps, so that they may have telegraphs to Saturn, and 

 see the other side of the moon, and thank God they are 

 better than their benighted ancestors." ^ 



If Huxley were alive to-day, I believe that he would speak 

 in still more vigorous English, but with less urbanity. Man 

 is still in his nonage, scarcely more than a child. Occidental 

 man, most of all here in America, is a spoiled child. 



In our use of the gifts of a bountiful nature, we resemble 

 a parcel of spoiled and ill-mannered children who have broken 

 into their mother's well-stocked preserve closet where she has 

 put aside a rich supply of good things against a day of thanks- 

 giving and a winter of need. They have stuffed themselves, 

 destroyed what they could not devour, wasted nearly all, 

 quarreled with one another, and have left ruin behind them. 

 They are bitter in their out-cries against any and every neigh- 

 bour who refuses to allow them similarly to misuse his prop- 

 erty. 



They will emerge dirty, nauseated, ill-tempered, an un- 

 pleasant sight and neighborhood nuisance. They all unite 

 in blaming their mother for not having secured the door and 

 brought them up better. They need a sound spanking, a cold 

 bath, a large dose of physic, and school early to-morrow morn- 

 ing. 



Is not this a just picture of the ways and doings of our gen- 

 eration which culminated in the war? We wonder that our 

 children give so little heed to our wisdom, preaching and teach- 

 ing. Yet, here we are talking about Nature whom we have 

 abused, and who might well and justly vent her wrath on us. 

 Perhaps it is as well to make her defendant and to act as 

 judge and jury before we appear at her bar. 



Is Nature good or bad, moral, unmoral, or immoral? It 

 is hard to say. We look at man, her child, "her conscious 

 self, mouthpiece and interpreter." Is he good or bad? He 

 seems to be both; sometimes rising to sublime heights of hero- 



