Evening star., 1923-12-11
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
MOTHER NATURE. William ]. Long.
Harper and Brothers.

Harper and Brothers. r Z.
This is a hold-up- No, not of the
usual burgIarious kind that. at point
OF gun. forces men to empty their
pockets. and ladies to disgorge, in
part. the contents of their stockings.
Not that sort. Instead. thfs Is
ideas and beliefs. These. according
to Mr.. Long. have mo foundation in
fact They serve. therefore, merely
to lumber the mind with untruth and,
upon this basis of error. to induce
attitudes that are perverse In infiu,
ence and behaviors that arc harmful
In effect There Is no accusation OF
vicious Intent against US here. Mr..
Long simply assumes that We nave
been at the everlasting game or say
ing words over and over till iteration
alone has wrought the hypnosis of
supplying empty phrases with the
coptent OF solid truth. .t~
.-~ +x ~
Mr.. Long attacks frst the general
ly accepted belief that nature is cruel.
a nitiIess force. bent frequently upon
wanton destruction. habitually a
stern and inexorabie master A delu-'
sion this. he declares. supported by
not an atom of substances In fact.
Who started the story that has
gained such headway and acceptance?
1t is not the product of scientific OBJ
servation. 1t does not belong to
science. 1t does not belong 20 the
naturalist who, day In. day out the
seasons through. lives In close COM
panionship with nature The print
tive peoples did not start this story.
To them nature was the source OF
being, the dispenser OF gifts. the
provident mother of men. So some
where in between lies the origin of
| delusiye belief. Facing In a quite op-
pesfte direction. MIR. , Long Identifies
it's rise and growth and crystailiza-
ton with the pitiless contests set UP
against one another by men them
selves In the fierce competitions OF
increasingly crowded communities.
In other words. this common belief
has nothing at all to do with nature.
fronting upon nature. II Is. on the
contrary. but the embodied reflection
of a human mood And what does
! this mean? 1t means that men see
In nature that which exists in them
selves. This is a truth that finds ex-
preston tn all sorts of sayings and
| acceptances. whose sum Is that man
gets out of life what, he puts into
ton of this, picked out from the
| common day. II is the story of a
[ farmer and hunter. The farmer
| in quiet field came upon pair OF
quail leading their brood out into an
/ unknown world. They were showing
| the young birds where TO fnd food.
| If cold and rain came, the farmer
knew that the little ones would be
wings And he turned softly away
with a tender feeling for the bounty
! and wisdom of good Mother Nature.
The hunter came into the same field,
/ his heart a thudding riot of exulta-
ton as the dogs pursued hapless
] fox. Each man saw his own mood
| dressed in feathers or fur. Each
made his own philosophy of nature,
| tender or savage, out of his own
being.
| 1t turns out that it was the poet
who. away back, started the scandal
OF natures bad character. A consid-
cradle number Of this craft have
since helped to keep the vivification
alive. When in those far days crowd
1 ing interests commenced to clash. the
| poet saw men in deadly combat. The
romantic Imagination of the poet took
| fire.. The picture grew In his mind
4 far beyond the power or feeble man
| to fulfll. Instinctively he turned to
nature in her mightiest moods-tem-
i'pest and whiriwind. rocking earth
iiVing nHd shs monster ns T breathing dame H and
fire, death and destruction. And
| man, an amplifed and glorifisd man,
should be the triumphant hero over
| living creature In time the poets In
! fated conception shrsnk to proper
( tions of common acceptance, its CEN
| trail thought of natures cruelty per-
scientist worked out along the. line
OF this fallacious theory. and the
| plain nature e-fa-ker, too. So did the
economist-M,Aithus, Mil, Huxley and
many another. The theoiogian ac-
!! God moving in mysterious ways. The
!, sentimental writers threw into drama
| the implacable cruelty of the natural
world. Indeed; romantic writer's nave
not even yet abandoned the old scan
| dal against nature, as stories OF the
l far north, the far this, the far that.
SO abundantly prove.
y Il "
When to the theory of evolution
Darwin added that of the struggle
for existence which he took over from
Malthus. fresh impulse was given to
the old and unfounded belief in the
cruelty of nature The new day OF
Darwin was one of tremendous mental
stir and fierce polenitc activity. when
argument was at its height there
stepped out in support Of the old
charge against nature Sir samuel
Baker, hunter. explorer, naturalist
who out of his own experience wrote
,monumentally. in proof that nature
is "a system OF pima e, xerror,snr IRON,
the old business. you see, or seeing
his own face in the looking glass OF
nature. for he was "a mighty Esme
riful and unsuspioious, he slaughter-
ed right and left, often brace o.
iunwary buffalo before breaktast
sometimes IN. q single DAY day az a who,s y
herd Of eiepha1its oni1 1eSSihs the as taiIs a.
MI Long gives Sir Samuel atten;
tion since he was authority on wilo
life at the moment When Ins n,9oS neg
81 The struggle for existence were a.
the height of discussion. He was
moreover, the first to put the theory
| ~ natures cruelty on the basis or 90
servation (not realizing, one taxes u
an Indirect sight Of his own cruelty)
Sir Samuel was the chief OF ina
strange tribe of naturaiists VINO thinh
"to learn the ways Of birds and beasts
! by killing an incredible Snu'hoer "
them"
| Is u k
| Against this long line OF VIVA;
4 stands 70 him in effect as clear DEF
smation Mr.. Long sets the accurate
land exhaustive observation of tn
modern scientist, the rational ane
commemorative methods of the pure
naturalist, the sympathetic and un'
Iderstanding approach Of the mature
lover. Out Of this combination come:
| complete though belated vindicatior
op naf,Ire. out Of 1t emerges, too
the law Of cooperation followed IN,