A JUNGLE CLEARING 39 
ian butterflies and mockingbirds, the wild roses 
and the jasmine, and the other splendors of mem- 
ory which a single butterfly had unloosed. 
As I looked about me, I saw the flowers and 
detected their fragrance; I heard the hum of bees 
and the contented chirp of well-fed birds; I mar- 
veled at great butterflies flapping so slowly that 
it seemed as if they must have cheated gravita- 
tion in some subtle way to win such lightness and 
disregard of earth-pull. I heard no ugly murmur 
of long hours and low wages; the closest scrutiny 
revealed no strikes or internal clamorings about 
wrongs; and I unconsciously relaxed and 
breathed more deeply at the thought of this na- 
ture world, moving so smoothly, with directness 
and simplicity as apparently achieved ideals. 
Then I ceased this superficial glance and 
looked deeper, and without moralizing or drag- 
ging in far-fetched similes or warnings, tried to 
comprehend one fundamental reality in wild na- 
ture—the universal acceptance of opportunity. 
From this angle it is quite unimportant whether 
one believes in vitalism (which is vitiating to our 
“will to prove”), or in mechanism (whose name 
itself is a symbol of ignorance, or deficient vocab- 
