100 APHORISMS AND REFLECTIONS 



CCXXXVI 



In a large proportion of cases, crime and pauper- 

 ism have nothing to do with heredity ; but are 

 the consequence, partly, of circumstances and, 

 partly, of the possession of qualities, ^vhich, under 

 different conditions of life, might have excited 

 esteem and even admiration. It was a shrev/d 

 man of the world who, in discussing sewage 

 problems, remarked that dirt is riches in the wrong 

 place ; and that sound aphorism has moral appli- 

 cations. The benevolence and open-handed gener- 

 osity which adorn a rich man may make a pauper 

 of a poor one ; the energy and courage to which 

 the successful soldier owes his rise, the cool and 

 daring subtlety to which the great financier owes 

 his fortune, may very easily, under unfavourable 

 conditions, lead their possessors to the gallows, 

 or to the hulks. Moreover, it is fairly probable 

 that the children of a "failure" will receive from 

 their other parent just that little modification of 

 character which makes all the difference. I some- 

 times wonder v/hether people, who talk so freely 

 about extirpating the unfit, ever dispassionately 

 consider their own history. Surely, one must be 

 very "fit" indeed not to know of an occasion, 

 or perhaps two, in one's life, when it would have 

 been only too easy to qualify for a place among 

 the "unfit." 



CC.XXXVII 



In the struggle for the means of enjoyment, the 

 qualities which ensure success are energy, industry, 

 intellectual capacity, tenacity of purpose, and, at 

 least as much sympathy as is necessary to make a 

 man understand the feelings of his fellows. Were 

 there none of those artificial arrangements by which 

 fools and knaves are kept at the top of society 



