FEBRUARY 307 



It may be that the brighter they are, the 

 more likely they are to sit up and hold their 

 food. 



I should not wonder if there were more 

 muskrats now than when the Indians 

 roamed the woods. We have killed off all 

 their enemies. Being small, nocturnal in 

 their habits, and of poor flavor owing to 

 their musky tang, they have been allowed to 

 multiply almost undisturbed. Such is the 

 safety that lies in mediocrity and unob- 

 trusiveness. 



So all Nature awaits the return of Spring. 

 Whether it be the crow in his flock, the wasp 

 in her sheltered cranny, the muskrat in its 

 cave by the water, the rich thick sap in the 

 root of the tree, or the stored-up life in the 

 bulb, they all await the one far-off divine 

 event. For back of all Nature there lies a 

 Power that has been and is and is to be. 

 What, after all, do we mean by Nature but 

 the sum total of all these manifestations of 

 purpose, of foresight, of helpfulness, of 

 striving for higher and ever higher levels ? 



