killed them because you knew they were a nuisance. Why should you object to
the spider doing the same useful work for a living?"

"Ah," said I weakly, "I suppose it is because he does it for a living. Now
I ..." "Now, you," interrupted the other, "do it for a living, too, because
you want your fruit trees to bear fruit, and your roses to thrive, and your
cabbages to prosper. Who more merciless than you on slugs and other pests
that fly or crawl? No, no, we are all out for a living, you as much as the
spider, the spider as much as the fly." "We are all Huns," said I. "What a
detestable world it is." "Not at all," said he. "It's a very jolly world. I
drink to the health of the spider."

"And you have no pity for the fly?" I said. "Not a little bit." he replied.
"I am on the side of right." "Whose side is that?" I asked. "Mine," said
he. "We must all act according to our point of view. That's what the
greenfly does. That's what the spider does. We shall never in this world
get all the points of view in accord. We shall go on scrambling for a
living to the end. Sometimes the greenfly will be on top, sometimes the
spider. Look at that cherry-tree in the orchard. A month ago its branches
were laden with fruit. Now there is not a cherry to be seen. The blackbirds
and the starlings have stripped the tree as clean as a bone. Their point of
view is that the cherries are provided for them, and they are right. They
know nothing of the laws of property which man makes for his own
protection. It's no use going out to them and asking them to look at your
title-deeds, and reminding them of the policeman and the laws against
larceny. Our moral code is for us, not for them.

"We are all creatures of our own point of view," he went on. "Before Jones
next door bought a motor-car he had very bitter feelings about
motorists--used to call them road-hogs, said he would tax these