Now, strange as it may seem, Samuel had never before heard the phrase,
"the survival of the fittest." And so now he was living over the
experience of the thinking world of fifty or sixty years ago. What a
marvelous generalization it was! What a range of life it covered! And
how obvious it seemed--one could think of a hundred things, perfectly
well known, which fitted into it. And yet he had never thought of it
himself! The struggle for existence! The survival of the fittest!

A few days ago Samuel had discovered music. And now he was discovering
science. What an extraordinary thing was the intellect of man, which
could take all the infinitely varied facts of life and interpret them
in the terms of one vast law.

Samuel was all aglow with excitement at the revelation. "I see," he
said, again and again--"I see!"

"It is the law of life," said the professor. "No one can escape from
it."

"And then," said Samuel, "when we try to change things--when we give
out charity, for instance--we are working against Nature, and we
really make things worse."

"That is it," replied the other.

And Samuel gave a great sigh. How very simple was the problem, when
one had seen it in the light of science. Here he had been worrying and
tormenting his brain about the matter; and all the time he was in the
hands of Nature--and all he had to do was to lie back and let Nature