New Walks in Old Ways 



may be at peace. Ashes and humus 

 do not have to hustle around seeking 

 pleasure for themselves, at the expense 

 of the pain and destruction of some- 

 body else. They just exist; that's all. 

 They probably care not whether they 

 continue to exist even as ash or dis- 

 integrated vegetation. 



If freedom from the struggle for the 

 attainment of things, for the most 

 part unattainable, defines the real 

 objective — the state typified by the so- 

 called finished worlds — then it is clear 

 that universal extinction of life repre- 

 sents progress; hence, instead of be- 

 wailing the free use of the knife and 

 gun and gaff upon one another, instead 

 of forming Leagues of Nations to re- 

 strain the homicidal tendencies of men, 

 I suppose we had about as well be en- 

 gaged in twirling our thumbs. Medi- 

 cines and hospitals represent only 

 dubious means of temporarily delaying 

 nature's inexorable plans. You spray 

 your trees to save them from the 



[96] 



