THE GOAT 
E CAN never really become acquainted 
with the goat until we see it in its 
native mountains. The steeper and 
rougher the mountains the better 
for the goat, for its muscles are like 
steel springs, and it leaps up and down steep places, 
getting a foothold on narrow ledges, and seems 
to enjoy looking down from dizzy heights. 
If we think for a moment, we can easily under- 
stand this development of agility on the part of this 
animal. In all wild places there are even today 
animals of prey which feed upon small mammals 
of sweet flesh, like the goat and sheep. So it is 
much to the advantage of the goat to be able to seek 
safety in the rocky fastnesses of mountains where, 
if followed by wolf or panther, it can escape by 
leaping across chasms, or find refuge on some shelf 
of rock where the enemy cannot follow. Asa natural 
result of this, the wild goat through the ages has 
been obliged to live upon the scanty verdure of the 
rocks, and to be able to derive nourishment from 
moss and bark, and even from those poisonous herbs 
like the hemlock that Socrates drank as a death 
potion. So we need not be surprised when we see 
goats eat posters, newspapers, or old clothing. It 
is a part of their nature to try anything in their 
reach, on the chance that it may prove a nourishing 
morsel. 
Nor need we wonder if we see our goats climbing 
to the roofs of sheds, or walking along the top rail 
of a fence, or if they are able to walk a tight-rope 
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