a low
plane, is there any that can think upon a high one? Is there one that is
well up toward man?

O.M. Yes. As a thinker and planner the ant is the equal of any savage
race of men; as a self-educated specialist in several arts she is
the superior of any savage race of men; and in one or two high mental
qualities she is above the reach of any man, savage or civilized!

Y.M. Oh, come! you are abolishing the intellectual frontier which
separates man and beast.

O.M. I beg your pardon. One cannot abolish what does not exist.

Y.M. You are not in earnest, I hope. You cannot mean to seriously say
there is no such frontier.

O.M. I do say it seriously. The instances of the horse, the gull, the
mother bird, and the elephant show that those creatures put their this's
and thats together just as Edison would have done it and drew the same
inferences that he would have drawn. Their mental machinery was just
like his, also its manner of working. Their equipment was as inferior
to the Strasburg clock, but that is the only difference--there is no
frontier.

Y.M. It looks exasperatingly true; and is distinctly offensive. It
elevates the dumb beasts to--to--

O.M. Let us drop that lying phrase, and call them the Unrevealed
Creatures; so far as we can know, there is no such thing as a dumb
beast.

Y.M. On what grounds do you make that assertion?

O.M. On quite simple ones. "Dumb" beast suggests an animal that has no
thought-machinery, no understanding, no speech, no way of communicating
what is in its mind. We know that a hen HAS speech. We cannot understand
everything she says, but we easily learn two or three of her phrases.
We know when she is saying, "I have laid an egg"; we know when she is
saying to the chicks, "Run here, dears, I've found a worm"; we know
what she is saying when she voices a warning: "Quick! hurry! gather
yourselves under mamma, there's a hawk coming!" We understand the cat
when she stretches herself out, purring with affection and contentment
and lifts up a soft voice and says, "Come, kitties, supper's ready"; we
understand her when she goes mourning about and says, "Where can they
be? They are lost. Won't you help me hunt for them?" and we understand
the disreputable Tom when he challenges at midnight from his shed, "You
come over here, you product of immoral commerce, and I'll make your fur
fly!" We understand a few of a dog's phrases and we learn to understand
a few of the remarks and gestures of