THE UNIVERSAL STRIFE 3 



pain ; rest, or frenzied effort ; while the helpless 

 atoms, active or passive, are borne down the tide 

 of life. None is free from the certainty of acci- 

 dent, and accident seemingly without purpose and 

 dictated by a controlling power careless of any 

 effect produced. The only care and kindness 

 apparent to us must be found in the general 

 averages, not in the fate of individuals. For of 

 the last it is impossible to estimate the chances. 

 Our sight, bewildered by the chaotic combat of 

 Nature, may rest for a moment on some being 

 that seems to be exactly in accord with its 

 environment ; but in that instant the creature 

 may be snatched away to fill the maw of a 

 stronger one. Meanwhile, some senseless para- 

 site, whose only weapon of defence is a bound- 

 less fertility, will survive to torture a world. 

 This law of the destruction of life that life may 

 live is comprehensible, but the accident which 

 seems to govern the application of the rule is 

 beyond our comprehension. We can only stand 

 awestruck before that 



" Mighty whirling wheel of strife and stress 

 That none can stay or stem " ; 



