IV 



THE CHILDEEN OF THE WEST 



IT has been said that the pioneers were the salt 

 of the earth, but their children have been 

 reared for the most part as if they were sugar. 

 A man who has practised rigid self-denial, who 

 knows — none better — what he has lost, as well 

 as what he has gained, and who, perhaps, lacking 

 a perfect sense of proportion, is apt to overestimate 

 the value of advantages he has been forced to 

 forego, — an academic education, for instance, cul- 

 ture, sport, in fine, the amenities of life, — such a 

 one, sitting alone in his counting-house, may well 

 swear that his children shall drink freely of the 

 ^ cup denied to him. And how can he — poor fellow 

 — be expected to foresee the results : intoxication, 

 folly, bitterness? 



Many a father in the West has said: "My son 

 is not like me ; we have nothing in common." 



" Why should he be like you ? " one might reply. 

 "You have kept him in cotton wool; you have 

 humoured his whims; you have taught him to 

 consider himself alone. Now you complain that 

 he is selfish, indolent, and extravagant. Who made 

 him so?" 



This question the fathers of the West are un- 

 willing to answer. One can conceive no more 

 pathetic condition of affairs: a father successful 



