t up. They had been placed in
situations where it had been impossible for them to do better. The
rich people repeated that they had never been informed that any work
was expected of them. Their wants had all been provided for, and it
was unfair to expect that they should have exerted themselves of their
own accord when they had no motive for working. If they had only been
born poor, all would have gone well with them. The cheating tradesman
declared that the first duty of a shopkeeper, according to all
received principles, was to make money and better his condition. It
was the buyer's business to see to the quality of the articles which
he purchased; the shopkeeper was entitled to sell his wares at the
highest price which he could get for them. So, at least, it was
believed and taught by the recognized authorities on the subject. The
orators, preachers, newspaper writers, novel-writers, etc., etc., of
whom there were a great many, appealed to the crowds who came to
listen to them, or bought and read their productions. _Tout le monde_,
it was said, was wiser than the wisest single sage. They had given the
world what the world wished for and approved; they had worked at
supplying it with all their might, and it was extremely hard to blame
them for guiding themselves by the world's judgment. The thieves and
vagabonds argued that they had been brought into existence without
their consent being asked: they had not wished for it; although they
had not been without their pleasures, they regarded existence on the
whole as a nuisance which they would gladly have been spared. Being
alive, however, they had to keep alive; and for all that they could
see, they had as full a right to the good things which the world
contained as anybody else, provided they could get them. They were
called thieves. Law and language were made by the property-owners, who
were their natural enemies. If society had given them the means of
living honestly they would have found it easy to be honest. Society
had done nothing for them--why should they do anything for society?

So, in their various ways, those who had been "plucked" defended
themselves. They were all delighted to hear that they were to have
another chance; and I was amused to observe that though some of them
had pretended that they had not wished to be born, and had rather not
have been born, not one of them protested against being sent back. All
they asked was that they should be put in a new