he other hand, all
weaker creatures, exposed to such ravages, protect themselves
universally by deception. The grouse shields her young from hawks or
other carnivora by running in the opposite direction, with the assumed
appearance of a broken wing. The flat fish, to escape its mortal
enemies, lies upon the bottom of the stream, scarcely distinguishable in
color or appearance from the sand which constitutes its bed. Nature
seems to aid and abet its falsehood by the very form which has been
assigned to it. And so also the gift of transparency helps the chameleon
in seeming to be a part of the green plant, or the brown bark, upon
which it lies. And Professor Drummond, in his interesting account of his
African travels, describes certain insects which render themselves
indistinguishable either in color or in form from the branchings and
exfoliation of certain grasses upon which they feed. Deception therefore
becomes a chief resource of the weak, while violence is that of the
strong. And those which are in the middle of the scale practise both.
There are still other animals which are invested with attributes of all
that is meanest and most contemptible in character. The sly and
insinuating snake gliding noiselessly toward the victim of its envenomed
sting--the spider which spreads forth its beautiful and alluring net,
sparkling with morning dew, while it lurks in a secret corner, ready to
fall upon its luckless prey--the sneaking and repulsive hyena, too
cowardly to attack the strong and vigorous, but waiting for the
crippled, the helpless, the sick, and dying--if all these are in the
school of preparation for that noble stage of manhood when truth and
righteousness shall be its crown of glory, then, where is the
turning-point? Where do violence, meanness, and deception gradually beam
forth into benevolence and truth?

"The spider kills the fly. The wiser sphinx
Stings the poor spider in the centre nerve,
Which paralyzes only; lays her eggs,
And buries with them with a loving care
The spider, powerless but still alive,
To warm them unto life, and afterward
To serve as food among the little ones.
This is the lesson nature has to teach,
'Woe to the conquered, victory to the strong.'
And so through all the ages, step by step,
The stronger and the craftier replaced
The weaker, and increased and multiplied.
And in the end the outcome of the strife
Was man, who had domini