THE CONTRAST 165 



it, and are constantly reminded of it, yet we live hope- 

 fully, peacefully, with an easy, often thoughtless con- 

 fidence that we and ours are immune, will escape the 

 dangers which surround us. These other creatures, their 

 methods of living and their actions moulded by heredity 

 and the manifold forces of environment, may exist in the 

 same careless, trustful way. Were they not keen of sight 

 for prey, swift to pursue and strike, they would starve; 

 were they not keen to sight pursuer, smart and active 

 so as to escape, they would be slain. When they are 

 hunting, feeding, playing, or paying court, their every 

 action suggests the real enjoyment of perfected power. 

 May we not reasonably believe that they do enjoy life, 

 and that the other actions, suggestive of anxiety or fear, 

 are merely the outcome of heredity, the inborn necessity 

 of "keeping the eyes skinned"? We may even go 

 further, and believe that their wiles to escape from their 

 enemies, either by speed or concealment, are as reflex 

 as our effort to whisk away the blood-sucking gnat. 

 Unconsciously they see, hear, or scent danger, and without 

 thought act in the promptest and most effective way to 

 avoid it. But the hand failed to localise the gnat, and 

 wing or limb are not infallible; when the failure comes 

 there is but one inevitable result annihilation. 



