34 A BOOK OF MORTALS 



What, for instance, can be more mysterious than the 

 Hunger-Dream which haunts the sleep of the hibernating 

 squirrel or dormouse whose stores have been rifled, bidding 

 them not wake to starve, but let slumber pass peacefully to 

 Death ? 



Looked at also from the other pole of Sloth or Idleness 

 the conduct of animals has little to fear by comparison with 

 that of man. 



True, they appear to busy themselves chiefly with the 

 wants of the body, but if we substitute for that phrase 

 "the needs of the organism" so do we. As Houssaye 

 writes " We see the fundamental industries of man 

 dispersed throughout the animal kingdom . . . man in 

 his evolution introduces no new factor to the world." 



As for Sloth in the sense given to it by the sluggard, 

 we might well consider the ways not only of the ants. 



Who that has not seen it knows the quick response of 

 the birds and beasts and insects to the coming of the day 

 with which work comes also .? 



It is one of the many marvels which repeat themselves 

 dawn after dawn, but which the majority of men never 

 see. A primrose streak in the sky to tell of the coming 

 sun, a sudden solitary pipe from a thicket, and then silence 

 and sleep are gone, and the world, which but a minute ago 

 seemed to belong to your wakeful watching eyes, is given 

 over to millions and millions of your fellow mortals. At 

 your feet an ant-orderly is making meteorological observa- 

 tions with a view to which royal nursery will be suitable 

 for the precious larvs — priceless immortal treasure of the 

 race ! Hard by the bees are busy closing up their doors 

 against a coming east wind. The rabbits pop out of their 



