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hottest, to breathe, if possible, a httle amehoration into the lot 

 of the stricken poor. It is this spirit among the rich and cul- 

 tured classes of our country which has enabled us to maintain 

 our equilibrium during periods when other nations have been 

 wrapped in revolutionary flames. Beneath all our social jangles 

 and wrangles, the rich trust the poor and the poor trust the rich. 

 Hence our national quietude in stormy times and the Httle pro- 

 gress which social incendiaries are able to make amongst our 

 populations. The great changes which are coming upon us will 

 not be great catastrophes but salutary re-arrangements of the 

 social programme accomphshei by the good-will of all. Change 

 for the sake of development we have ceased to dread. The whole 

 universe is in perpetual flux and evolution. Human institutions 

 and constitutions must follow the common destiny. What we 

 hav§. to do is to control the process, so that it may be our servant 

 rather than our master, and bring with it increase of happiness 

 to every class and every man. Look which way we will there 

 are pleasant Hghts upon the social scene. We have entered 

 upon the era of common-sense. Since Adam Smith proclaimed 

 liis great discovery that labour is the true source of all wealth, 

 the stigma upon toil and trade has been rapidly passing away. 

 Industry cannot be ignoble if the whole social body is absolutely 

 dependent upon it for every atom of worldly good. An idle Ufe 

 cannot be an ideal hfe. Bank must be admitted to be only the 

 "guinea's stamp," and the man the gold. 



Worth makes the man and want of it the fellow, 

 The rest is all but leather and prunello. 



A few weeks since Lord Dufl'erin distributed prizes at a Hindu 

 College and took the opportunity of informing a throng of Pun- 

 jaub chiefs that the time had gone by when they could hold their 

 places in hfe on the mere ground of their hereditary rank. They 

 must have cultiu-e, capacity and character in addition or they 

 would go to the wall. This advancing perception of the worth of 

 "worth," this acknowledgment of the supremacy of merit, has 

 dissipated the awe of authority which used to be one of the most 

 potent of all the sentimental forces in society. In the home, 

 the school, the workshop, the church, the senate, the law-court, 

 the only authority which commands real homage is that which' 

 Lord Dufferin eulogises — the authority of knowledge and char- 

 acter. A lady can now have her own way to a degree which 

 would have made our ancestors stand aghast. Society used to 

 hold some surly fiction about masculine superiority, and subjected 

 the female moiety of the nation to a variety of unchivalrous dis- 

 abilities. Women have not achieved their complete emancipation 

 yet, but they are making good headway. It is worth noting that 

 women now have greater opportunities than ever- in maintaining 

 a respected position in society otherwise than by marriage. In 

 our day the relative numbers of the two sexes are such that 



