IV 
DAME NATURE AND HER CHILDREN 
HEN I saw a chipmunk going by my door, 
busily storing up his winter supplies in his 
den in the bank a few yards below, I thought how 
curious it is that these wild creatures, thrown en- 
tirely upon their own resources in the great merci- 
less world of wild nature, with no one to care for 
them or advise them, should get on so well, and 
apparently have such a good time of it. I was, of 
course, looking at the subject from the human point 
of view; and I could not help thinking how many 
appliances, how much science, how much codpera- 
tion, and what laws and government, and the like 
we all require in order to live out our lives as suc- 
cessfully as the wild creatures do. 
In summer and winter, in storm and cold, in all 
seasons and in all places, by night as by day, with- 
out organization, or power of reason, or supervision, 
or leaders, or defenders, or government, or schools, 
or churches, there they go, well and happy, equal 
to all, or nearly all, emergencies, and making fewer 
mistakes than we human beings do. Think of our 
elaborate helps and conveniences ; of our machinery 
for taking us abroad, or for preserving us at home; 
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