HAMSTER AND CO. I CANNIBAL MORALITY. 355 
lower regions of the soil were the theatre of frightful tragedies. 
These are only the repetition of those which are enacted above in 
the bosom of civilized households. The hamster who kills his 
companion or his wife, only puts in practice the famous command- 
ment of the religion of the political economists : 
Thou shalt crush every competitor in thy business, that thy days 
may he long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. 
Sometimes the plowshare or the spade of the laborer uncov- 
ers the burrow of the hamster, and exposes the rogue’s treasures, 
then the legitimate proprietor of the stolen goods resumes them, 
and punishes the purloiner with death. Thus the organization 
of labor, in restoring to every one the results of his work, will ut- 
terly uproot all parasitical business. So mote it be ! 
THE MARMOT. 
Inhabitant of the high mountains of the Alps, knife-grinder of 
the Savoyard. Like the other Sleepers, the marmot goes to bed 
in the Fall, to wake up in the Spring. It is the emblem of the 
poor mountaineer, whom misery benumbs, and who patiently re- 
signs himself to work for the recreation of the idle. 
It loses its hair at its work — in allusion to the painful labor of 
the chimney-sweep, who rubs and spoils his clothes in his occupa- 
tion. The marmot has taught him how to climb between the two 
walls of rock or chimney, and it exhales an unpleasant smell, which 
somewhat resembles that of soot. 
THE DORMOUSE. 
France possesses three varieties of dormice ; the dormouse, 
properly so called, the lerot, and the muscardin. 
Pretty little creatures, with lively air, and tail brushy like the 
squirrels, the dormice, too well known to the gardeners of Mon- 
treuil Aux-Peches, and elsewhere, devastate orchards and espa- 
liers. Still another emblem of the parasites on industry, wLo pass 
three quarters of their time in idleness, and prey upon the work 
of other people. The dormouse resembles the squirrel by his 
