180 THE HEART OF NATURE 



roots far down into the soil of common humanity 

 and common animality, and there firmly rooted 

 strike up skyward, stand faithfully to our ideal, and 

 produce something which will have capacity for still 

 further improvement. Immense and sustained 

 effort is required of us for this to be accomplished. 



Each man finds he has to battle with himself to 

 make way for all the best in himself to come to the 

 front. Each has to battle with the circumstances in 

 which he is placed in order to find scope for the exer- 

 cise of the best in himself. Each has to break his 

 way through, as that wonder of Nature, poor primi- 

 tive man, had to battle his way through the impedi- 

 ments of the tropical forests and the brute beasts by 

 which he was surrounded . And just as primitive man 

 was not the animal provided with the thickest hide 

 like the rhinoceros, nor with sharpest claws like the 

 lion, nor with the fiercest temper like the tiger, but 

 was of all his fellows the one with the most sensitive 

 nature, so are those nearest the ideal the most 

 delicately sensitive of mankind. 



The ideal is never approached, much less at- 

 tained, except by men and women of the most 

 highly-strung . natures — natures peculiarly sus- 

 ceptible to pain. And with this extra susceptibility 

 to pain they have to expose to the risk of wounds 

 and bruises the most sensitive parts of their natures. 

 Suffering is therefore inevitably their lot. It is the 

 invariable attendant of progress however beneficent. 

 Excruciating pain each expects to have to endure — 

 as every expectant mother and every soldier antici- 

 pates on the physical plane. 



We find, too, that in working out our ideal we 



