neck of that fox trotting off yonder in the 

 shadows, along the border of the woods ! 



The picnic is over for this night, and it will be 

 some time before the cottontails so far forget 

 themselves as to play in this place again. 



It is small wonder that animals do not laugh. 

 They have so little play. The savage seldom 

 laughs, for he hunts and is hunted like a wild 

 animal, and is allowed so scant opportunity to be 

 off guard that he cannot develop the power to 

 laugh. Much more is this true of the animals. 

 From the day an animal is born, instinct and 

 training are bent toward the circumvention of 

 enemies. There is no time to play, no chance, 

 no cause for laughter. 



The little brown rabbit has least reason of all 

 to be glad. He is utterly inoffensive, the enemy 

 of none, but the victim of many. Before he 

 knows his mother he understands the meaning of 

 Be ready! Watch! He drinks these words in 

 with his milk. The winds whisper them ; the 

 birds call them ; every leaf, every twig, every 

 shadow and sound, says : Be ready ! Watch ! 

 Life is but a series of escapes, little else than 

 vigilance and flight. He must sleep with eyes 

 [222] 



