CHAPTER XII 



THE BATTLE OF LIFE 



Some of the Troubles with which Organic Life has to Contend, and 

 the Lessons they Afford Mankind 



Sometimes when contemplating the problem 

 of human life, especially when I meet a man 

 with dejected countenance who in mournful 

 tone declares he feels like a "living tomb," I 

 wonder if there is not something amiss in his 

 educational training. Our institutions of learn- 

 ing include in their general purpose the 

 object of making honest, truthful and moral 

 citizens of our youth, but do they make suf- 

 ficient effort to instill into the minds of the 

 young that the life that lays before them is 

 something not to be looked upon as a future 

 of unalloyed pleasures? Does the system pre- 

 pare the minds of the young men and young 

 women for the time when they step out into 

 the world to meet the vexations, discourage- 

 ments, obstacles, snares, misfortunes that lay 

 in the pathway of every human life?- 



Perhaps it is thought that youth should be 

 given these important lessons on life at the 

 home circle or fireside. But I am afraid the 

 home is* as • remiss as the school. It is un- 

 pleasant to dwell upon the disagreeable things 

 of life, but how much easier it is to meet and 

 overcome difficulties when forewarned of 

 them. No soldier could win success unless 

 trained how to deport himself in battle, how 

 to withstand the shocks from opposing forces, 

 and how to avoid and overcome the enemy's 

 obstructions. It is the courage, force and 

 zeal the soldier exhibits in sweeping aside all 

 opposition and striding on to victory that 

 makes him a hero and an object of admira- 

 tion. 



Likewise man should be trained from early 

 youth how to meet the adversities of life he 

 surely will encounter as he tries to make a 

 place for himself in the world. The higher 

 his ambition for the comforts of life, knowl- 

 edge and fame, the more thorough must be 

 his training and greater his efforts, but greater 

 will be the glory of his victory. 



Nature produces life in various forms from 

 the simplest to the most complex, but to main- 

 tain existence demands of all certain activi- 

 ties. This unavoidable requirement may work 

 harder with one than another and more 

 severely at one time than at others. It may 

 occasionally involve the necessity of great 

 effort as well as conflicts of serious charac- 

 ter. Moreover, all life is subject to adaption 

 to climatic and soil conditions; that is, the 

 life of the tropical zone could not maintain 

 existence if transferred willingly or unwillingly 

 to the arctic, no more than life reared in the 

 latter could prosper in the extreme heat of the 

 Equator; plants adapted to rich deep soils of 



the valley will not thrive in shallow, rocky, dry 

 land of the hillside. 



Nature made no exception in the operation 

 of these laws. They apply to all forms of life 

 in both animal and vegetable kingdoms. To 

 illustrate, first taking plant life; the seed 

 which contains the germ of life of the plant, 

 shrub or tree finds a place in the earth. With 

 proper heat and moisture it will germinate, 

 sending roots into the ground and stems into 

 the air above. Its life has begun and its 

 struggle for existence as well. If the seed fell 

 into soil favorable to its growth and sur- 

 rounding conditions were favorable to its 

 needs, the ensuing growth will have found 

 a locality adapted to its purposes and it will 

 have greater vigor and strength and power of 

 resistence in its conflicts with other life forces 

 and even the elements that will from time to 

 time attack it. If this growth should be the 

 beginning of an oak tree, it will be a tough 

 little youngster, although, like all life in the 

 infant stage, it will have its weaknesses and 

 may die from the effects of the hard knocks 

 that it is liable to encounter. However, 

 Nature endows the baby oak with more 

 strength and hardihood than is apportioned 

 to many other kinds of infant trees. In this 

 stage of its life it is liable to be crushed flat 

 by the foot of man or beast, still be able to 

 recover its upright position and live, though 

 possibly bearing the scars of its misfortune 

 through life in a mishapen trunk. There are 

 many other things it will have to contend 

 with, some of which may threaten its health 

 if not its existence. The browsing beast may 

 be disposed to vary its food with the tender 

 shoots and fresh leaves of young oaks; the 

 larvae of butterflies and moths, caterpillars 

 that have a penchant for oaks, so numerous 

 at times and so voracious their appetites that 

 they strip even mature trees of their leaves; 

 the aphids and other forms of minute life 

 that besmear the foliage with gummy secre- 

 tions and clog the pores thus interfere with 

 one of the most important functions of the 

 leaves; the members of the Cynipidae family 

 as well as some other insects that sting the 

 bark and leaves, producing swellings, oak 

 balls and other galls on stems and leaves; the 

 wood boring insects that make their way 

 through the bark and into the tree making 

 wounds most serious to its life, though 

 the oak is less afflicted from this source 

 than fruit trees which are not infrequently 

 killed by borers. Now should the' oak live' 

 through all these vicissitudes, escape in- 

 jury or loss of limbs from the blasts of Old 



