A BEAVER’S REASON 
lower animals, but it is not thought; something 
restrains them, but it is not judgment; they are 
provident without prudence; they are active with- 
out industry; they are skillful without practice; they 
are wise without knowledge; they are rational with- 
out reason; they are deceptive without guile. They 
cross seas without a compass, they return home 
without guidance, they communicate without lan- 
guage, their flocks act as a unit without signals or 
leaders. When they are joyful, they sing or they 
play; when they are distressed, they moan or they 
cry; when they are jealous, they bite or they claw, 
or they strike or they gore, — and yet I do not sup- 
pose they experience the emotions of joy or sorrow, 
or anger or love, as we do, because these feelings in 
them do not involve reflection, memory, and what 
we call the higher nature, as with us. 
The animals do not have to consult the almanac 
to know when to migrate or to go into winter quar- 
ters. Ata certain time in the fall, I see the newts all 
making for the marshes; at a certain time in the 
spring, I see them all returning to the woods again. 
At one place where I walk, I see them on the rail- 
road track wandering up and down between the 
rails, trying to get across. I often lend them a hand. 
They know when and in what direction to go, but 
not in the way I should know under the same cir- 
cumstances. I should have to learn or be told ; they 
know instinctively. 
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