14 Conservation Reader 



thought the sea and the rivers contained a never failing 

 supply, became scarcer. They did not know that fish live 

 mostly in the shallow waters along shores, and that the great 

 ocean depths contain very few. 



Thus, as the earth became thickly settled with men and 

 their wants increased, they discovered that they had to treat 

 Nature in a very different way from that of their early 

 ancestors. 



Because of our great numbers we have to be careful not 

 to use the earth in such a way as to lessen its fertility and 

 productiveness. Where people have been careless, famine 

 has often resulted. Poverty and suffering have come to 

 many parts of the earth, as we shall learn farther along in 

 this little book. 



THE CITY ON THE PLAIN 



Strange indeed were the sounds I heard 



One day, on the side of the mountain : 

 Hushed was the stream and silent the bird, 

 The restless wind seemed to hold, its breath, 

 And all things there were as stiU as death, 



Save the hoarse-voiced god of the mountain. 



Through the tangled growth, with a hurried stride, 



I saw him pass on the mountain, 

 Thrusting the briers and bushes aside. 

 Crackling the sticks and spurning the stones, 

 And talking in loud and angry tones 



On the side of the ancient mountain. 



The tips of his goatlike ears were red. 



Though the day was cool on the mountain. 



And they lay close-drawn to his horned head ; 



His bushy brows o'er his small eyes curled, 



And he stamped his hoofs, — for all the world 

 Like Pan in a rage on the mountain. 



