A SOCIAL WEED. 179 



fight here and everywhere, now and at all times, 

 the struggle in which one must die that the 

 other may live. 



Back by my set line I take my way and note 

 the cork is under. Up I bring a yellow catfish, 

 not large but yet sufficient to furnish meat that 

 I may live. Baiting anew with a grasshopper 

 I again throw out and in a minute have another 

 sunfish, brother to the big one I caught on yes- 

 ter-eve. Then I climb the bank, with fish and 

 fruit, the main ingredients of my dinner, in 

 hand. Thus doth nature furnish unto him who 

 will to-day but gather, just as she did to the 

 cave man of old, sufficient for his needs. 



Along the pathway of the slope which I trod 

 this morn a common plant of plantain caught 

 m 7 eye> was plucked and said unto me " way- 

 side weeds" a theme ever fruitful, ever in- 

 teresting. A homely weed this plantain with 

 its broad ovate, strongly ribbed root leaves and 

 its long slender spikes springing from between 

 their bases. Without showy flowers to attract 

 insects, each of the spikes bears in time fifty 

 or more closely appressed seed pods, each con- 

 taining eight to eighteen seeds. Hardy, tough 

 and difficult to eradicate, its nlany seeds give it 

 more than an average chance in the struggle for 

 life. A social weed it is, delighting to follow in 

 the footsteps of man. By the Indians it was 

 known as the " white man's foot" and is the 



