He conceived Nature to be a woman with a deep aversion to tragedy.
He threw a pine cone at a jovial squirrel, and he ran with chattering fear.

High in a treetop he stopped, and, poking his head cautiously from behind a branch, looked down with an air of trepidation.
The youth felt triumphant at this exhibition.

There was the law, he said.

Nature had given him a sign.

The squirrel, immediately upon recognizing danger, had taken to his legs without ado.