The morning call., 1893-10-15

Is man the only animated being in the
world with the necessity TO work entaied
upon him. and possibly born with the in
clinati0n as well as the aptitude? Man is
inclined to make answer deciSively in the
affirmative, and may emphasize his re-
spouse with groan. From the earliest
times the groan of labor is resonant in
history. 1t was nc doubt deep and omin-
.Ous IN Egypt when the pyramids were
buiIt and must have been just as agonizing
when numbers of those huge monuments
were reared in India. All through the
ages toll has bent to its task mostly
in a dull spirit and at times In its revolt
it has expressed itself in shrieks and vio-
lence. mostly vain and unemancipatiye
We even hear shrieks to-day. but could
we turn back in time to any century but
this we should hardly find the status of the
masses better in any respect. and assur-
edly we should find it Infinitely worse in
many.
It is rot quite the fact, however. that
inan:is the only animated being Ourdened
with the call TO toll for existence.
g. The whole story of biology is struggle.
That applies to botany and zoology. a
tree does not take a promenade over the
j." hills and into the valleys or out of them up
the hills, save in its own way as a seed ON the
back Of a sheep or in the crop OF pigeon,
but although not endowed with the habits
of locomOtiOn it leads very active life in
its bath OF air and in the circumscribed
region around the roots. II enjoys long
sleep in winter, and doZes a good deal
in autumn when it is paying off its
workers, the leaves, and is taking gOnd-
by OF its fruit with a parental bless
Ing. But ali the rest of the year
tree works hard in keeping up Its circu-
lation and absorb bing tood through bill
lions Of mouths in its leaves, and IS quite
ambitious in laying past stole of wood,
just as successful merchant goes on
swelling his bank account.
1t even protests vigorously against the
intrusion of other trees in too close prox-
unity, and defes the sun to raise too many
plants in its shade, although often over
powered by parasites. All vegetation mas
the same struggle. II is the law OF exist
ence from the humbest cell in the snow or
patch OF lichen on a gray stone to the
gigantic sequ0ia or deodar This struggle
has an analogy to toll, and naturalists
who watch tree splitting a wall with its
organic expansion, or bearing masses of
stone weighing tons into the air. or fore
ing its boughs round corners out into the
iight;-inay have almost suspicion that
vegetable forms so mobile and resoute
have a:touch Of consciousness vibrating
somewhere between the roots reaching
for moisture and the top luxuriating in
ar
But The instant we leave plants. which.
unlike ladies, are assumed to be beautiful
:without knowing it, and consider the
whole range of animal life. vertebrate and
inveEte6Tate. we enter upon an nbviously
> volitfonal phase Of existence. There are,
~itis:tTue, some organisms very low in the
scale which do not quite f0rsake the vege-
.tattve stage and do not quite enter the ami
NAL: There are some little existences part
of. ene: and part or the other-yegetable
feeders. carrying around with them their
0wn@abbage garden. But all toll for liv-
Ing: and the higher we range in the scale
tbe.mofe do existences seem to have the
necessity of toll bound up with their lease
of:iite.
JUstfor brief period of imma turity the
? young of most land animals, and even Of
some fishes. have playful disposition,
: which they display ID antics of indescTi0-
able variety, each after its kind, but the
parents have additional work imposed
. upon them by the duty of love, and the
young are not then engaged in toiling for
LIVING independently. Fish are chiefly
!. irres pom sible parents. and the most ex-
: pected Of them is that they should refrain
from making a dinner off any hapless
: progeny which NAV cross their gaping
jaws, but there are fish-the stickleback,
for instance-that take pride in the FAM
: lly and defend If they do lot feed it.
= lNs law u LOll Is We'll 6Xei0pllQeQ IN
. birds. They have nesting season, some
: times once a year and with many species
several times a year, or perennially, as is
the case with pigeons and fowls. But
apart from mating and the c0mbats with
rivals incidental thereto birds give most Sc
riOus consideration to the problem of find
Ing food, and any spare time in the morn
ing or evening they devote to brushing and
mending their plumage. In this sense al!
birds lead anxious lives, far from joyous,
as. one who watches them soar or dart
about would at first thought conjecture.
The hawk or vulture skim ming the air is
the ideal of lofty Independence carried
into ethereal realms on poising pinions or
sweeping over the landscape with an ease
which no other animal locomotion DOS
sesses.. But the hawk has his eye fixed on
quail. fnches or rabbits, and the vulture
is sailing about for a trace of carrion odor
in the atmosphere and is away for nause-
oHs gorging when the quarry can be
traced.
WHAT'S a prettier sight than a fight of
swallows skimming the maadows and
.darting to and fro over a stream. now
breaking the placid surface and then
wheeling upward in rapid turns and cir
cles. the while keeping up lively twitter-
ing2: But it is only a graceful exhibition
of an ineessant search for food on the
wing. Thousands of flies are assassinated
.daily'to indulge its lusty, carnivorous ap-
peIlte, ana IL loses not mOineHt III Iie
pursuit unavoidably when it bats its nest
lings. Nature has endowed it with per-
GaLhunger, when keeps il always in
the air for food. Could it see flies at night
probably it would sacrifice few hours
from repose TO do little more crammng.
Is it.otnerwise with the finch tribe. the
thrush, the blackbird, the crow, the Jay,
the pigeon? Some of them spend little
more time over their toilet and are very
ambirlous as songsters in their mad season
OF lOvemaking. but getting food is con-
slant study. Work is Indispensable to OBJ
tain food, and it has malign effect upon
health when birds in confinement have
their cravings satisfied too easily. They
ialt prey to disease, bad tempers and
dlssipated nfrmites. Possibly canaries
are an. exception. but the parrot is an ex-
ample OF scurrilous degeneracy when it
has had the teaching and indulgences of
several households and confuses moral
maXIms. number of large birds are
grave and staid in their habits, and resem-
bic hermits. But it is only their way of
collecting food. The pelican is silent
fisher; save when he splashes from on high.
The heron watches a pool for hours, bur
darts with success whenever the chance
OF selZing q fish comes The secretary