i84 THE FAMILY AND THE NATION 



ancestry, and their probable accompaniment of some 

 accumulation of material wealth, have attained a posi- 

 tion above that of the majority of their fellow-men, 

 should serve their country in unpaid local government 

 or ill-paid public services. In the first place, such a 

 custom helps to emphasize the dignity of work for 

 work's sake ; it establishes an excellent principle that 

 public service is a privilege which should entail some 

 personal sacrifice — a service in which additional material 

 comfort is less to be regarded than the consciousness 

 of well-rendered public duty. Moreover, it safeguards 

 the purity of public life, since it is the spirit in which 

 the work is performed, and not the remuneration by 

 which the post is paid, that is the criterion of success 

 or failure. Thus it sets before the nation a higher 

 ideal than that of the market or the counting-house, 

 and shows that, even among the majority of the 

 people, where a livelihood must be the first con- 

 sideration, the manner and spirit in which a profession 

 is followed should be of more importance than the 

 actual material profit to be realized. This is a point 

 of view especially to be emphasized in a country 

 like Great Britain, where men have always been 

 tempted to set too much store on commercial interests 

 and supremacy. It sets a good example both to the 

 " idle rich," who fail to appreciate their moral obliga- 

 tion to repay in voluntary service to the community 

 the means with which they are endowed as a trust, 

 and to that large section of the labouring class who 

 never put their heart into work for which they are 

 paid. Probably the work neglected or but half done 

 by wage-earners, and the material injured or destroyed 



