It was very
glad to get near the good fire which its master had made, and would spread
out its hands and warm them in the blaze; but it never made a fire for
itself. And though Mr. Buckland laid plenty of wood close to the fire, and
watched to see what a creature so fond of heat would do, he found that the
monkey sat by the fire and allowed it to go out; for although he shivered
with cold, he did not understand that by putting fresh wood on, the heat
which he had so enjoyed would be kept up.
So it is with animals generally; they do things by instinct or by imitation
rather than through reason; though we often see them look as if "putting
this and that together." And we know no animal able to tell its thoughts by
speaking, though some birds have been trained to repeat words.
In that charming book, written for French children "The First Year of
Scientific Knowledge," _man_ is placed first among animals, as the most
wonderful of them all, but the author is careful to explain that he is
there treating only of man's body; as, were it otherwise, it would be
needful to allow him a particular division all for himself. We see that
in God's Book man is put last, and that he is not counted with the other
living creatures at all.
You may say that men are born, and eat, and sleep, and breathe, and grow
old, and have bones, and a heart, and blood running through their veins;
and so it is with beasts, and birds, and fishes.
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