Read "The Survival of the Fittest" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
In northern zones the ranging bear / Protects himself with fat and hair. / Where snow is deep, and ice is stark, / And half the year is cold and dark, / He still survives a clime like that / By growing fur, by growing fat. / These traits, O Bear, which thou transmittest, / Prove the survival of the fittest!
To polar regions, waste and wan, / Comes the encroaching race of man; / A puny, feeble little lubber, / He had no fur, he had no blubber. / The scornful bear sat down at ease / To see the stranger starve and freeze; / But, lo! the stranger slew the bear, / And ate his fat, and wore his hair! / These deeds, O Man, which thou committest, / Prove the survival of the fittest!