UNDER THE APPLE-TREES 
Over and above our wills and purposes stream the 
great cosmic currents which we cannot stem, but 
which, in a measure, we can and do utilize. 
Development is what distinguishes the living 
from the dead. Friction and collision, warmth and 
moisture, do not develop the pebbles on the beach. 
A variation proves advantageous only to some- 
thing growing, expanding, and seeking advantages 
and capable of profiting by them. The tendency of 
the action of outward physical forces upon a body 
is to produce uniformity, and if living bodies were 
shaped by these forces alone they would all be alike. 
If there was not something in every living form that 
was sui generis, they would all be alike. 
The slight variations in the forms of living things 
are doubtless the result of outward chance occur- 
rences. In passing from the purely mechanical to 
the vital, we seem to enter a realm where the dice 
are loaded, chance still plays a part, but a secondary 
part. The perfect apple on the tree has escaped 
many mishaps of wind and storm and hostile insect 
and germ, but it is not a matter of chance that it is 
an apple, and that it is sweet or sour, red or green, 
round or flat. That variety of apple is always thus 
with possible modifications. Soil, climate, exposure, 
culture, all have their influence. 
In all marriages and social relations chance plays 
a part — a chance meeting, an auspicious moment; 
but sex and the social instinct are not a matter of 
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