90 ^HE COMING OF MAN 



ism, sometimes sinking into a bottomless pit of meanness, 

 stupidity, folly and sin. Goodness and badness seem to form 

 strata or streaks in his character, both alternately coming to 

 the surface. He is always putting down or yielding to mutiny 

 or rebellion waged by his worse self. Here we call it the 

 problem of moral evil, against which generations of the most 

 profound thinkers have bruised head and heart. If man 

 spends much of his time and most of his energy in such bat- 

 tles, need we be surprised if Nature also shows some conflict- 

 ing features and forces? We may yet discover some rays of 

 light on this dark question, but they will be feeble and dim. 



If you wish a clear view of Nature in her fairer aspects, 

 read Huxley's essays on '' Liberal Education " and " Natural 

 Knowledge." I know of no more unsparing judgment of her 

 shortcomings and perversity than his " Evolution and Ethics." 

 I cannot pretend to harmonize or judge between the two pre- 

 sentations. Both are somewhat one-sided and extreme; each 

 rests on undeniable facts; they supplement each other. The 

 reader must judge for himself. 



But even if we accept the severest arraignment of Nature 

 and the catalogue of her manifold sins and transgressions, a 

 word may still be said in her defence; perhaps her child, man 

 still in his nonage, is at least partly responsible for the sins 

 which he lays at her door. Is he not somewhat spoiled, ill- 

 tempered and irresponsible? Let us accept squarely and 

 honestly our just share of the blame, and manfully take our 

 punishment and medicine. 



Does Nature teach ruthless competition and treading down 

 of others? Does not the social or gregarious life of nearly 

 all birds and mammals equally teach cooperation and mutual 

 helpfulness? '^ Perhaps even we are far enough advanced to 

 have outgrown certain methods of action and training un- 

 avoidable and even helpful on a lower stage, but now an abuse. 

 Perhaps the outgrowing of certain brutal or childish things is 

 what we are here for, and what Nature demands of her " con- 



'F. 



