is more valuable than any specific act, for it is
ceaselessly translating itself into demeanour.

* * * * *

The critic with that terrible English trait, an exaggerated sense of the
ridiculous, will at this point probably remark to himself, smiling: "I
suppose the time will come, when by dint of regular daily practice, I
shall have achieved perfect goodwill towards the first object of my
attentions. I can then regard that person as 'done.' I can put him on a
shelf, and turn to the next; and, in the end, all my relations, friends
and acquaintances will be 'done' and I can stare at them in a row on the
shelf of my mind, with pride and satisfaction * * *." Except that no
person will ever be quite "done," human nature, still being human, in
spite of the recent advances of civilisation, I do not deprecate this
manner of stating the case.

The ambitious and resolute man, with an exaggerated sense of the
ridiculous, would see nothing ridiculous in ticking off a number of
different objects as they were successively achieved. If for example it
was part of his scheme to learn various foreign languages, he would know
that he could only succeed by regular application of the brain, by
concentration of thought daily; he would also know that he could never
acquire any foreign language in absolute perfection. Still, he would
reach a certain stage in a language, and then he would put it aside and
turn to the next one on his programme, and so on. Assuredly, he would
not be ashamed of employing method to reach his end.

Now all that can be said of the acquirement of foreign languages can be
said of the acquirement of goodwill. In remedying the deficiences of the
heart and character, as in remedying the deficiences of mere knowledge,
the brain is the sole possible instrument, and the best results will be
obtained by using it regularly and scientifically, according to an
arranged method. Why, therefore, if a man be proud of method in
improving his knowledge, should he see something ridiculous in a
deliberate plan for improving his heart--the affair of his heart being
immensely more important, more urgent and more difficult? The reader who
has found even one good answer to the above question, need read no more
of this book, for he will have confounded me and it.

EIGHT

THE FEAST OF ST. FRIEND

The consequences of the social self-discipline which I have outlined
will be various. A fairly early