I have found
the means of a more efficient manhood by a return to a simple and a
natural life; and therefore I am quite willing to submit my action to
the test of collective example, believing that the more widely it is
imitated, the better will it be for the happiness and well-being of my
nation, and of the world.

The best way of doing good that I can devise is to make myself an
efficient member of society; and it is obvious that if every man did
this there would be very little work for the professional
philanthropist. It is not help that men need most, but opportunity.
Philanthropy is, for the most part, engaged in patching up the sick
anaemic body of society; which is equivalent to minimising the distress
of ill-health without producing good health. The wise physician knows
very well that no amount of medicine will do much for the anaemic
child; what the child wants is room to grow. We have social physicians
in plenty, each with his own particular medicine, but all of them
together have said nothing half so wise as these two lines of Walt
Whitman:

Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons;
It is to grow in the open air, and to eat and sleep with the earth.

To create the best persons is to accomplish a service for society which
is durable, and therefore is the only real good. I claim that this is
what I have tried to do in my own case, and in no other way could I
discharge my obligation to society so well. Economically considered I
am now a profitable asset to society. I do a man's work every day, and
I earn my keep. When the time comes for my children to go out into
life they will take with them good thews and muscles, sound bodies, and
well-furnished minds. I imagine that this is about as good a
contribution to the cause of Progress, the service of Commerce, and the
maintenance of Empire, as any one man can make.

CHAPTER XIII

THE CITY OF THE FUTURE

After four years' experiment in Quest of the Simple Life I am in a
position to state certain conclusions, which are sufficiently
authoritative with me to suggest that they may have some weight with my
readers. These conclusions I will briefly recapitulate.

The chief discovery which I have made is that man may lead a perfectly
honourable, sufficing, and even joyous existence upon a very small
income. Money plays a part in human existence much less important than
we suppose. The best boon that money can bestow upon us is