That trip and my subsequent
experience with her proved to be the best education I could have
received from any source. It taught me the real meaning of the word
kindness, without which, not only toward human beings, but toward all
living things, man will never rise above the savage state.
CHAPTER X
We were just twenty-four hours making our journey around the world, when
suddenly I found myself once more gazing into the beautiful eyes of
Arletta. While she bestowed a kindly look of sympathy toward me, her
features plainly showed that her gentle nature had received an awful
shock from the terrible and degrading sights we had witnessed. And there
was much reason why this pure and lovable woman should be shocked at
what we had seen, for even I, a worthless and hardened vagabond, had
become thoroughly disgusted with my own species.
"And what do you think of your highly civilized people now?" she
inquired sadly. "They are a race of tail-less monkeys and filthy beasts
with myself included," responded I, with vehemence, and then I began a
tirade of abuse against the entire human family.
"Stop," exclaimed Arletta, "you must not allow malice to enter your mind
against any living creature, no matter how beastly or brutal it may be.
Hatred will not make the world better; it needs love. No living being is
responsible for what it is any more than you or I are accountable for
being in existence. But while each individual inherits the good or bad
instincts of its predecessor, still it has the power to make better or
worse its own condition.
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