THE WAR WITH NATUKE 79 



in his heart, albeit his brain may be and generally 

 is in a mist, that these were the very things that 

 exhilarated him, that if he had missed them his 

 life would have been savorless. For the healthy 

 man, or for the man whose virile instincts have 

 not become atrophied in the artificial conditions 

 we exist in, strife of some kind, if not physical 

 then mental, is essential to happiness. It is a 

 principle of nature that only by means of strife 

 can strength be maintained. No sooner is any 

 species placed above it, or over-protected, than 

 degeneration begins. But about the condition of 

 the inferior animals, with regard to the compara- 

 tive dullness or brightness of their lives, we do 

 not concern ourselves. It is pleasant to be able 

 to believe that they are all in a sense happy, al- 

 though hard to believe that they are happy in 

 the same degree. The sloth, for instance, that 

 most over-protected mammalian, fast asleep as he 

 hugs his branch, and the wild cat that has to save 

 himself, and must for ever and always keep all 

 his faculties keen and brightly polished. With 

 regard to man, who has the power of self -analysis 

 and of seeing in his own mind all minds, the case 

 is very different, and it does concern us to know 

 the truth. A great deal very many pages, chap- 

 ters and even books might be written on this 

 subject, but to write them is happily unnecessary, 

 since every one can easily find out the truth from 

 his own experience. This will tell him which 

 satisfied him most in the end the rough days or 



