UNDER THE APPLE-TREES 
arts to charm and persuade and entice! Her crea- 
tures forget their staid and quiet ways; there is a 
sound of music and gayety on the one hand, and a 
noise of strife and battle on the other. The stag 
bugles and tosses his horns, the bull bellows and 
tears and paws the earth, the grouse drums and 
booms, the woodpecker beats a spring reveille on a 
dry limb, the insects fiddle and shuffle and snap their 
wings — indeed, nearly all forms of life assume new 
activity and intensity. 
It is the sex principle that gives the beard to the 
man, the antlers to the stag, the mane to the lion, 
the spurs and comb to the cock, and the strange 
fashions and coloration to the male birds. Repro- 
duction is the one thing Nature has most at heart 
and is intent on securing at all hazards — at the 
hazard of pain, hunger, strife, and self-destruction. 
Just to keep up the game of life, to keep the 
measure full to overflowing — has Nature any other 
purpose than this? Think of the swarms of the liv- 
ing that come and go, especially in the insect world, 
and leave no trace behind! Yes, and at times, in the 
higher-animal world. Think of the hordes of lem- 
mings that at intervals appear in northern Europe, 
and move through the land devastating the farm- 
ers’ crops, till they reach the sea, into which they 
plunge and are drowned. Ships are said to sail at 
times through miles of lemmings, swimming they 
know not whither. 
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