2Q2 MY LIFE 



less I get for it. The second reason is artistic. A story grows 

 out of a plot or situation, and cannot be forced in the way 

 you describe, as I at least do not know how to force it. 

 Plots come. I could not invent a plot in order to sustain a 

 particular thesis. Thank you so much for the many kind 

 expressions in your letter. Come and see us some day on 

 Hind Head, when you are passing up or down, and we will 

 thrash this matter out more fully. 



" With very kind regards, 



" Cordially yours, 



" Grant Allen." 



I do not know to what he alludes when he says he " has 

 tried and failed." " The Woman who Did ' was not social- 

 istic, and I can only suppose he refers to a short story of life 

 in a phalanstery, where all children in the least deformed are 

 killed at one year old, for the improvement of the race ; and 

 the feelings of the mother for her first-born are vividly de- 

 scribed, though, as the law was absolute and known from 

 childhood, it was submitted to uncomplainingly ! But neither 

 of these stories had any necessar}^ connection with social- 

 ism, and were especially repugnant to our customs and 

 ideals. But there is nothing whatever repugnant in socialism 

 itself, and I cannot believe that a story by a well-known 

 and talented writer would be unsaleable merely because its 

 field of action was a successful socialistic community. 



I may conclude this chapter with the answer I recently 

 gave to the question, " Why am I a Socialist ? ' I am a 

 socialist because I believe that the highest law of mankind 

 is justice. I therefore take for my motto, " Fiat Justitia 

 Ruat Ccelum ; " and my definition of socialism is, " The use, 

 by every one of his faculties for the common good, and the 

 voluntary organization of labour for the equal benefit of all." 

 That is absolute social justice; that is ideal socialism. It 

 is, therefore, the guiding star for all true social reform. 



