CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 



scholar is a cheering sign. Yet how much better would it 

 have been could it have been given in larger measure while he 

 was still living! It is so easy to love our prophets after we 

 have stoned them to death, and so much cheaper ! Undoubt- 

 edly the world will continue to stone its prophets and to rec- 

 ognize them as such only after they have passed away where 

 they cannot appreciate the warm glow of sympathy and ad- 

 miration which, in due time, the world will feel and try to 

 express. But it is only in the spread of this spirit and the 

 acceptance of this doctrine that we can find the ultimate salva- 

 tion of a democratic society. 



To my mind the contribution which Professor Hopkins, 

 by his life, his attitude of mind and spirit, and his doctrine of 

 service, has made to our practical social philosophy is as im- 

 portant as aye, more important than his contribution to 

 agriculture. For without the growth of the spirit that he has 

 shown, democracy cannot endure and improvement in agri- 

 culture will be of little moment. 



While the attitude of the members of a democratic society 

 must be, as I have indicated, generous and tolerant towards 

 those who are seeking to serve it, those servants who in serving 

 it are its leaders need always to remember, as Professor Hop- 

 kins did, that they are but instruments to be used until broken 

 and then to be replaced. That was his spirit. In that spirit 

 he went on his great duty to Greece ; in that spirit he set his 

 face westward on his homeward return. He cared little what 

 became of himself so that his work was done. In research, as 

 in other lines of service for the people, the watchword for 

 everyone who would be of use is "Spend and be spent." This 

 is the record of those heroes and leaders who, in their long 

 fight for righteousness, have lifted up the torch of courage to 

 light the path of their fellow men. As another great leader has 

 said : "It is a little matter whether any one man fails or suc- 

 ceeds, but the cause shall not fail, for it is the cause of man- 

 kind." In this spirit must each one of us make his contribu- 



50 



