And State Papers 509 



desire to work or fight or suffer as the case may 

 be, provided the end to be gained is great enough, 

 and the contemptuous putting aside of mere ease, 

 mere vapid pleasure, mere avoidance of toil and 

 worry. I do not know whether I most pity or 

 despise the foolish and selfish man or woman who 

 does not understand that the only things really worth 

 having in life are those the acquirement of which 

 normally means cost and effort. If a man or 

 woman, through no fault of his or hers, goes 

 throughout life denied those highest of all joys 

 which spring only from home life, from the having 

 and bringing up of many healthy children, I feel 

 for them deep and respectful sympathy; the sym- 

 pathy one extends to the gallant fellow killed at the 

 beginning of a campaign, or the man who toils hard 

 and is brought to ruin by the fault of others. But 

 the man or woman who deliberately avoids mar- 

 riage and has a heart so cold as to know no passion 

 and a brain so shallow and selfish as to dislike 

 having children, is in effect a criminal against the 

 race and should be an object of contemptuous ab- 

 horrence by all healthy people. 



Of course no one quality makes a good citizen, 

 and no one quality will save a nation. But there 

 are certain great qualities for the lack of which no 

 amount of intellectual brilliancy or of material pros- 

 perity or of easiness of life can atone, and which 

 show decadence and corruption in the nation, just 

 as much if they are produced by selfishness and 

 coldness and ease-loving laziness among compara- 



