CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE 



NATURE'S PENALTY FOR INTERFERING WITH HER 

 ARRANGEMENTS 



Nature seems very prodigal in her ways. She is con- 

 tinually creating on the earth a great multitude of hving 

 things, far more than there is room for. Each one of these, 

 if it would live, must have a certain amount of air, sunshine, 

 and food. As there is not enough of these things to supply 

 every one, there arises a struggle. Those that are weakest 

 die, because they are not able to get what they need. To 

 us this seems hard, but it is Nature's way. 



And further, since many of the animals feed on the flesh 

 of other animals, the latter have, in addition to the struggle 

 for their food, to watch constantly for their lives. Every 

 organism is in one sense the enemy of every other one. We 

 do not mean that they often try to kill each other because 

 of hate, as men do, but that they are after food to satisfy 

 their hunger. Some of the higher animals as well as men 

 fight for mastery, in addition to struggling for food. We 

 hope that among men the xmnecessary fighting will some- 

 time cease, and that kindness and unselfishness will rule. 



The struggle for life is ceaselessly going on around us, 

 but so quiet is it that we are not often aware of the count- 

 less tragedies that take place. This struggle extends from 

 the plants and animals in the pond, so small that we cannot 

 see them with the unaided eye, upward through all the 

 larger animals. 



The struggle among all living things helps us to under- 

 stand the necessity for Nature's prodigahty. If the plants 

 and animals that serve as food for others were not produced 



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