The Golden Mean 89 



of the Bantu the unit in the constitution of the com- 

 munity is the family, not the individual. However 

 successful a man may be in trade, hunting, or any other 

 means of gaining wealth, he cannot, even if he would, 

 keep it all to himself. He must share with the family, 

 whose indolent members thus are supported by the 

 more energetic or industrious. I often urged my civi- 

 lized employees not to spend so promptly, almost on 

 pay-day itself, their wages in the purchase of things 

 they really did not need. I represented that they 

 should lay by 'for a rainy day.' But they said that if 

 it was known that they had money laid up, their rela- 

 tions would give them no peace until they had com- 

 pelled them to draw it and divide it with them. They 

 all yielded to this, — ■ the strong, the intelligent, the 

 diligent, submitting to their family, though they knew 

 that their hard-earned pay was going to support weak- 

 ness, heathenism, and thriftlessness." 



The Golden Mean 



We have the same indolent members both in our 

 family life and in the larger world community to-day, 

 those who would like to be supported by the more 

 energetic and industrious. Man's instinct of gener- 

 osity as well as man's needs, are diligently exploited 

 by the spoilers of the race. It would seem to be a 

 strict middle course that we must steer in dealing with 

 this fundamental, but intricate, delicate problem. For 

 man's head impels him to selfishness; man's heart 

 urges him toward generosity; either quality may be 



