death, which not even man's will and anger are able to check. All our
humble history, linked with that of the dog in our first struggles
against every breathing thing, tends to prevent his forgetting it. And
when, in our safer dwelling-places of to-day, we happen to punish him
for his untimely zeal, he throws us a glance of astonished reproach, as
though to point out to us that we are in the wrong and that, if we lose
sight of the main clause in the treaty of alliance which he made with us
at the time when we lived in caves, forests and fens, he continues
faithful to it in spite of us and remains nearer to the eternal truth of
life, which is full of snares and hostile forces.

But how much care and study are needed to succeed in fulfilling this
duty! And how complicated it has become since the days of the silent
caverns and the great deserted lakes! It was all so simple, then, so
easy and so clear. The lonely hollow opened upon the side of the hill,
and all that approached, all that moved on the horizon of the plains or
woods, was the unmistakable enemy.... But to-day you can no longer
tell.... You have to acquaint yourself with a civilization of which you
disapprove, to appear to understand a thousand incomprehensible
things.... Thus, it seems evident that henceforth the whole world no
longer belongs to the master, that his property conforms to
unintelligible limits.... It becomes necessary, therefore, first of all
to know exactly where the sacred domain begins and ends. Whom are you to
suffer, whom to stop?... There is the road by which every one, even the
poor, has the right to pass. Why? You do not know; it is a fact which
you deplore, but which you are bound to accept. Fortunately, on the
other hand, here is the fair path which none may tread. This path is
faithful to the sound traditions; it is not to be lost sight of; for by
it enter into your daily existence the difficult problems of life.