all uncharitableness is enclosed some kernel which 

 nurtures another germ of advancement? May 

 not envy be the outcome of emulation and a de- 

 sire for improvement, hatred of an aversion to 

 evil, malice of a somewhat too pronounced faculty 

 to assail the unsympathetic and discordant? And 

 may not uncharitableness arise from an over- 

 strong sense of self-preservation? 



" Sweet are the uses of adversity," and profit- 

 able perhaps also is the use of evil. There are 

 many puzzles in life and this is one of them, 

 though some day we shall no doubt unravel the 

 web which at present obscures the precise manner 

 in which certain evils work for good and perform 

 a necessary function in " the great scheme." Of 

 course it is clear enough that some evils, that is 

 to say, violations of the laws of nature, bring 

 their own direct consequences, destroying the 

 individual for the benefit of the community, not 

 only by the removal of an adverse and retarding 

 influence, but also by a swifter redistribution of 

 matter and force for vitalizing absorption into 

 the more regular units of nature who do not in- 

 fringe its laws or impede its forward march. 

 162 



