THE COUNTRY HOME [chafteb 



animal life is a saving charm of barbarism. Every 

 race has manifested affection for something, horses, 

 or dogs, or, it may be, domesticated birds. Our 

 complex civilization is possible only as we appre- 

 hend the unity of all life and the interdependence 

 of all living things. 



Animal sympathy not only ministers to our suc- 

 cessful management of a country home, but to the 

 management of ourselves. It broadens our work 

 to a larger number of individualities. Man with 

 his gun and a brute-force soul creates only discord; 

 and woman, wearing the wings of her allies, com- 

 pels the birds to hide in the woods. With such 

 people the cow will grow shy, and the horse will de- 

 generate into an unwilling slave. On the other 

 hand, what can be more wonderful than a country 

 folkhold where the horse draws the load of him 

 who feeds him ; where the cow gives milk and adds 

 to his bank account; where the dog guards his prop- 

 erty and the birds devour his enemies. 



The interdependence in country life was not or- 

 iginated by man, although he has readjusted the re- 

 lations of creatures in every direction. When a 

 hawk has harried a robin's nest, I have seen birds 

 of half a dozen species join to chase the marauder 



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