Chapter XI: Higher Laws

He feels a thrill of savage delight at seeing a woodchuck, acknowledging an instinct toward a primitive life which he reverences as much as the spiritual.

He discusses fishing and fowling, arguing that hunting is one of the best parts of a boy's education, leading him eventually to higher pursuits.

He finds he cannot fish without a loss of self-respect, due to the uncleanness of animal food and a natural repugnance to it.

He argues that it is part of human destiny, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals, just as savage tribes left off cannibalism.

Following one's genius leads to success, and the true harvest of life is as intangible as star-dust or a segment of a rainbow.

Our whole life is moral; goodness is the only investment that never fails, and we are conscious of an animal in us that awakens as our higher nature slumbers.

He argues that all sensuality is one, and that to be chaste, one must be temperate and work earnestly to overcome the brutish nature within.