'As £ catty out my Investigation upon the lives and' habits of the many forme of animal life T'find in my garden I am often struck by the seeming cruelly of Nature. The. problem of pain is one with which all. humane think fis have to contend. "In one's resentment that there should be so much suffering on every hand, one ie liable to lose sight of an alle Important point, namely, that pain is an, absolutely assentist Tactor in animal life. It by Some miracle it could be and were eliminated this moment it would not be long before most forme of animal life would perish; and, It'it bad never existed, animal' life could ever have developed beyond. its most prime tive stages. Man would certainly never" have some into' existence. 'To appreciate this one feeds only ask and answer the question, what {Is pain? 'The answer is simple enough, Pain 15 a response in the main nerve centre, the brain, of a living organism to a message' sent along the nerves from some part of the body to the effect that something ts wrong, anda warning that something must at once be. done bout it. Without. this "warning, and it' the Fesult of its reception inthe brain. were not fof sucha nature as to" provoke an" urgent desire on. the part of the organism" involved stop the sensation produced, there' would be no response in the way of action designed to put right what war Wrong, and disaster to the organism would "follow. Nature. has solved pain to insure that such action wil fen. This an ordinary nerve-message. would Probably. fail" to do. Thus, it the digestive organs did not send a message of hunger pain to the brain when further nourishment was required, the organism would not take the trouble to search for and eat more food, fand starvation would result. It a person com ing into contact with ire did not immediately feet acute-pain, he would not withdraw the affected part from the flame, and the results would be serious injury, possibly. death. "The Pain of fatigue is a warning that the calls the' muscles have become exhausted and mesd time to replenish whatever it is that supplier, the energy for movement, and. also' thatthe Polsonous waste products have accumulated to 3 point when they cannot be got rid of at a Suftetently rapid rote, It the' organism "did Rot feel the pain of fatigue, it would probably continue movement until irreparable" damage had been done to ite tissues, And 29, ose could go on giving "examples to''prove the Importance, not to. say. the absolute' necessity, pain to all forms of animal life, from the Towest to the ghee but those "here dear with. physical suffering, but ft docs, not joned are. nulfcient Yor our purpose. The
require much imagination "to seo" that the lies in. the case of mental The. reader may" point onl thet plants get along very well without nerves snd Pain, which is quite true. But plants cannot move about, nor do they enjoy any st me leasurable experiences which, in Some. free, are accorded all. forms of "animal Alte through the presence of those. same nerves and nerve. centres which are. the messengers Jand recipients, respectively, of pain. It "we view the problem of pain from the ngle hor' Suggested," It at once. assumes an "enthaly different and more reasonable aspect Ili sey of make pain less unpleasant of more end fable but at least it removes the feeling of lin, Potent rage that it' should exist In tact tone prides oneself on being' logical, one "con only be thankful that it does exist 'a riy c's 'The lover of Nature who devotes his th delving "into. her' mysteries and' studying. the fives of her many" children finds himself ina world of unpatalieled interest. The "money" market, stocks and. shares, commerce, indus ity these, of course, have their place in hummes affairs,'" very important place, be it admitted, and to a great many people. they form almost the sum total of existence, Relaxation from the strain of strict attention to business is by. the vast majority of people sought in elubife, Jdance-halls, cinema' theatres or the reading of detective stories especially in 'a place "dike Shanghai under prevent conditions, here the great out-of-doors is more or less out of bounds. Yet, "even so, they are missing" something! worth while, something that they might. And infinitely more enjoyable, relaxing and soothing their frayed nerves by taking' advantage what Nature has to offer them, For they. all have their gardens, or, not their own gardens they have' the public parks, which, la this rear city, are surprisingly beautiful and full of wild lite, albeit, perhaps, not obvious, but there just the same, if they will but seek it. I find my garden 'a veriiable litre Cosmos wherein I can spend hours of the day or night probing, enquiring and. marvelling at what T fee going on. Because have encouraged them by. dally. placing food out for them, When give the breakfast signal by beating the tin pan'
which T carry out the food, they come hurry" Ing from every dircetion=sparrows, bulbul, doves, blackbirds, tits and azure-winged. mag? pies as well as the ordinary Black and. white magpies. All day long the air rings with their cheery iwitter and song." Handsome butter fes fit over the flowers; cicadas shrill in the trees ces, wasps and an astonishing number of fes bust about the bushesall busy "about thet affairs. 'Many strange forms of spiders may noted tying in. wait for their prey. Cater liars and grasshoppers, alas, devour the ollage of the shrubs and vines." At night fireflies flash ther fairy' lanterns in' the dark. as they signal to. their mates. 'The gold ash pond, too, is full of living creatures besides the goldfish, jand in shady corners beneath the bushes finder' Aowerpots. lurk all manner of strange creatures—woodlice, centipedes, slugs, snails! Sind a myrind_ minute forme of animal "lite 'Anis are everywhere, running up and down the funks "of trees, exploring every crack and] feranny, carrying' the refuse of ihe garden 10 heir tunnels ramifying underground, "milking" the aphids or plantlice of the sweet. Julces they exude, raiding each others' colonies, There are a thousand things to watch—far too many to record here, I am often reminded of the fines, written by some poet unknown to me about the great naturalist Louis Agassiz:
'And he wandered away and away With 'Nalure, the dear old. nurse, Who sang to him night and day' The songs of the Universe.
And whenever the way seemed Jong, his heart began to, fall, She sang a more wonderful song, Or told a more marvellous. tale.
[The other night they came to me with reeves poignancy as T stood in my garden, flashlight in liliand, observing the manifold little dramas of life and death going on about me. And, as 1 [stood there, there came from the house, where I had left the radio, on, the strains of the song 'Thank God for a Garden." It would have been Just too perfect but for one thing—the mosquitoes. 'These, too, were enjoying the night air, the while they attacked my bare larins and' knees with a vigour and enthusiasm [that nally drove me indoors. But, the refrain continued to echo in my mind—"Thank Gol {for a Garden."—A. DE ¢, 5.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.