XIII 

 SERVICES THAT SOCIETY NEEDS 



IF there is any man more pitiable in himself or more 

 contemptible in the eyes of his fellows than another, he 

 is the man who from amidst prosperous circumstances can 

 look at his benefactor in dire need, without endeavouring 

 to relieve him. Ingratitude is one of the most monstrous 

 of the vices that disfigure humanity. 



Well, gentlemen, I have been speaking in these lectures 

 of a benefactor to whom we owe a great deal much more 

 than we can measure. Plato, as we saw, thought that man 

 owes more to the State than to father and mother : and I 

 am not sure^that he was wrong. What in your lifedo 

 you jyalue_most ? Is it not that you have been born of 

 good parents, brought up on a virtuous hearth, educated 

 in a good school and college, so as to meet the duties and 

 opportunities of life with a clear mind and a strong will? 

 That you have been provided with a sphere in life where 

 you can exercise the powers of your manhood in perform- 

 ing your duties? That you have acquired wealth, or 

 influence, or learning, or brought up children on your own 

 hearth to inherit your means and to continue the good 

 life ? Then, without exaggeration of feeling or ornament 

 of rhetoric, I may say that the city and the State in which 



