Page:Bird Haunts and Nature Memories - Thomas Coward (Warne, 1922).pdf/211

Rh one day the air is filled with winged aphides, another and different generation has appeared, and we know that the end approaches. A frost, a heavy shower or two, and all our plants are clean; gone is the blight, gone the ladybird, syrphid, and lace-wing larvæ, which fought so bravely for us during the period of abundance. The race is wiped out, suddenly and eﬁectually, but hidden from our eyes is that spark of life in a few dormant individuals which will in spring kindle the prolific ﬂame once more; we have not done with aphides because none is visible.

Faced by such dread facts, by an order that is not only "careless of the single life," but apparently careless of life altogether. Siddartha might well be saddened when he marked—

But is this the whole truth? Is life one great tragedy in "a world of plunder and prey"? Had not Buddha, but a moment before, rejoiced that—

This first contemplation, when "all things spoke peace and plenty," was as true a picture as the second. Few wild creatures perish in decline, die of old age; sudden, often violent death terminates their short lives; ordinary