730 THE DISEASES AND DISORDERS OF THE OX. 



means the only way in which modern workers are helped in their 

 work. The greater the degree to which social division of lahour 

 has advanced, the greater is the help which each individual 

 receives from all. The reverse view is frequently held, for it is 

 often thought that in these days of keen competition and rivalry 

 it is harder to do good work than in more easy-going times and 

 less advanced communities. Only a little reflection, however, is 

 needed to prove that this view is a very erroneous and narrow 

 one. The pinch of competition, the stress of threatened poverty 

 and destitution, is by no means without its good side. There is 

 no doubt that the actual necessity of continued application will, 

 other things being equal, evoke the very best and the most 

 patient and enduring work. True, there are some men and 

 women who do excellent work without the strain of pressure ; but 

 these people are exceptions, and perhaps even they would do still 

 more perfectly, and would put forth still greater efforts, if the 

 future did not seem to them quite so assured as it does. Indeed, 

 the threatenings of uncertainty in regard to their future cannot 

 but act as powerful stimulants to all men, though of course they 

 affect different people in different ways and to varying extents. 



** It is very questionable, indeed, if the doubtful advantages of 

 wealth and worldly grandeur are in reality much better than the 

 beauteous mirages of some sandy desert, of delusions which are 

 as transient and as fleeting as the splendid colouring of a rain- 

 bow, or the bright iridescence of a dewdrop glistening on the 

 petals of a lily in the fresh morning air. Many of the so-called 

 pleasures of the fashionable world are as empty as a soap-bubble 

 when compared with the happiness of any human being, no 

 matter how insignificant, who has learned to know truth, is 

 conscious of no wrong-doing to his fellow-men, but rather of 

 continued efforts in their behalf and for their good. Such 

 delight as springs from such attempts as these is indeed price- 

 less, and far exceeds in value and in sustained strength the cost- 

 liest treasures of all the cities of the world. The channels into 

 which human energies can be directed are innumerable, and 

 any person who selects any given sphere of work may in these 

 days receive help almost boundless in amount, compared with 

 what was formerly available. 



" The motive power, so to say, of a civilisation as high as 

 that existing around us is incalculably immense, and in order 



1 



