

The Way of a Weasel 



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the distant past, when the race of weasels dwelt 

 in the midst of a world of fighting against con- 

 ditions and enemies which they have survived 

 by means of these very virtues; and it may be 

 that here, as sometimes happens elsewhere, vir- 

 tues have changed into vices through change 

 of exterior circumstances. 



Yet this leads us into what is really a wrong 

 and illogical position, for what we are calling 

 vices, namely, the weasel's acts of rapacity and 

 unnecessary slaughter, are only so from our 

 point of view and in his relation to us. 



Apart from the fact that the excessive 

 slaughter of which we call him " guilty " may 

 have a beneficent purpose and effect in keep- 

 ing down the too rapid multiplication of mice 

 and other noxious pests whose other natural 

 enemies have been unduly diminished in culti- 

 vated regions, it must be remembered that he 

 is doing only what it is the business and need 

 of his life to do; and that we hate him princi- 

 pally because he becomes a rival and interferes 

 with our own plans in the same direction. 

 Hence the vengeful spirit in which my farmer- 



*ff 11 So 



