“A little child may be actuated to put its hand against a red hot stove, because it is ignorant of the relations existing between the sensitive hand and the hot stove; but after it has learned the true relations, it will not do it any more. A savage may attempt to stop a running locomotive, by standing on the track; but after he has learned its immense momentum, he will cease trying it. A people, during a certain stage of intellectual culture, may live in cities; but after they have learned the evils and uselessness of cities, no one will live in them. With a certain amount of intelligence, man endeavors to make himself happy by antagonizing the happiness of others; but as soon as he discovers that a greater happiness can be attained by building our own happiness on the happiness of our fellowman, all antagonism disappears. Some of these truths we can see conspicuously with a little intelligence, while others are very obscure and require a vast amount of it. But no matter how conspicuous or how obscure, just as soon as we learn that we derive greater happiness by doing right, or by following Truth, we will follow it, for its own reward, wherever we see it, and just that far all persons agree.” “But, according to your theory, Mr. Midith, does it not necessarily follow that a hog, wallowing in a mud puddle, enjoys as much happiness as a philosopher, or as a Marsite enjoys in the grand parlors of his big-house, or sporting on his brilliantly lighted boulevard?” asked Rev. Dudley. “You say that an organism is completely happy when all its desires are fully satisfied; and it seems to me that all the hog’s desires may be as fully satisfied as those of a Marsite.” “I fear, Rev. Dudley, that you do not understand our position at all,” replied Mr. Midith. “But let us see if I can make this plain to you. “You know that as we ascend in the scale of animal creation, the faculties, as you call them, of each organism increase in number and in complexity. The hog, of which you speak, has more and higher faculties than the snail. The ape has more and higher faculties than the hog. The savage has more and higher ones than the ape. And the highly cultivated person has more and higher ones than the savage. Each additional faculty, as we ascend in the scale of animal being, brings also new and higher desires, so that a being which is endowed with many and with complex faculties, has also many and high desires to satisfy. But we must remember that the _ability_ to satisfy desires increases in a greater ratio than the desires increase in number and in complexity.