194 FLORIDA DAYS.

 "'What!' stammered I. Is that what ou
 are thinking about? Are not we men, then,
 your dearest, favorite children?'
 "The woman frowned slightly, and said:
 'All creatures are my children. I c're
 ,equally for you all, and annihilate all without
 distinction.'
 "' But virtue, reason, justice?' I stammere .
 "'Those are human words,' resounded the
brazen voice. I recognize no good or bid.
Reason is no law for me; and what is j s-
tice? I gave you life; I take it from you ad
give it to others. Worms or men, it is all the
same to me.' "

 The realization of his own insignificai*e
which comes to a man here in the forest or
swamp is not good. For the soul to be fluig
upon its face in the dust, permanently, can oily
result in the kind of living which the man ahd
woman in the dugout experience. It is a relef
to stop paddling and drift backwards down te
stream until a spot is reached wide enough to
turn about, and then to set one's face toward