TIME AND CHANGE 
of trees, of shrubs, of grasses, of birds, of insects, 
because Nature does not work as man does, with 
an eye single to one particular end. She scatters, 
she sows her seed upon the wind, she commits her 
germs to the waves and the floods. Nature is in- 
different to waste, because what goes out of one 
pocket goes into another. She is indifferent to fail- 
ure, because failure on one line means success on 
some other. 
IV 
But I am not preaching much of a gospel, am I? 
Only the gospel of contentment, of appreciation, of 
heeding simple near-by things — a gospel the bur- 
den of which still is love, but love that goes hand in 
hand with understanding. 
There is so much in Nature that is lovely and lov- 
able, and so much that gives us pause. But here it 
is, and here we are, and we must make the most of it. 
If the ways of the Eternal as revealed in his works 
are past finding out, we must still unflinchingly face 
what our reason reveals to us. “Red in tooth and 
claw.” Nature does not preach; she enforces, she 
executes. All her answers are yea, yea, or nay, nay. 
Of the virtues and beatitudes of which the gospel of 
Christ makes so much — meekness, forgiveness, self- 
denial, charity, love, holiness — she knows nothing. 
Put yourself in her way, and she crushes you; she 
burns you, freezes you, stings you, bites you, or 
devours you. 
262 
