law of the survival of the
fittest is to blame for those facts." If you will pardon me for
seemingly diverging from the subject I will say something in regard to
the abuse of the law of the survival of the fittest. Yes, I admit that
under any law, and under any conditions, those who are best suited to
the conditions under which they live will get on better than those who
are not so well suited by nature to combat for existence and
prosperity. Nature has so laid its plans that, at or near the equator
in the warm climate tropical fruits grow better than they do in
Iceland, while the pine trees, true to nature, thrive best in cold
regions. The Polar bear enjoys the snows of Alaska, but would suffocate
in the tropical heat of Borneo or Sumatra. True to the law of the
survival of the fittest, the elephant and ostrich thrive in sunny
Africa, but would perish in Norway's winters. These things are true,
because all nature is in perfect harmony with itself. When carefully
considered, we find that the reason some things prosper in one place
and perish in another is merely that they are fitted for the conditions
in which they thrive and are unfitted for the vicious surrounding in
which they perish. The lion and tiger prosper among vicious beasts, but
the child and lamb survive better where love, mercy and righteousness
reign.

Let us suppose that Christ and John L. Sullivan were contesting for the
pugilistic championship under London prize ring rules, most assuredly
Sullivan would win in the first round. But let us change the conditions
and make the place of contest the pulpit of a Quaker church, and the
subject: "Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not,
for such is the kingdom of heaven," don't you think Sullivan would be
quite out of place and Christ would be the victor on that occasion?
Suppose a fine pasture, bountiful with grass and water should be well
stocked with a few hundred sheep and lambs and lurking around in hidden
nooks of the field were a dozen or more Norway wolves; the sheep and
the wolves are in the same pasture, I want to ask you, my friend, what
kind of stock do you think the farmer will have in that pasture in a
few days if he says to himself the law of the survival of the fittest
will protect those sheep if they are fit to live, and if they can't
survive then I will shear the wolves for my winter's wool. My friends,
if that farmer ever got any wool from those wolves he would have to get