FOKEWORD 



The purpose of a life, the central idea 

 about which all its activities revolve must 

 ever be the criterion by which posterity 

 shall judge of its efficiency. It is not 

 how much nor how well nor yet how ill 

 the work has been done, but Why was it 

 done \ The motif of an act is often all 

 that is required to recommend or to con- 

 demn it at once. If the motif was bad the 

 results can scarcely be other than bad; 

 and if the motif be good the end-re- 

 sults can be criticized only from the stand- 

 point of comparative worth. Many a good 

 thought or act has been spoiled in the mak- 

 ing or the doing; but a bad thought or act 

 can never be made over into goodness by 

 any process of juggling or craft. It is 

 conceived in death and destruction at the 

 very outset. 



There is, then, a cardinal rule of criti- 

 cism in letters as in life which one may use 

 as a sort of qualification test to determine 



