poor, it is impossible to say, "This is
very interesting;" that a man should not express himself with regard to
another man's wretchedness by interest only; and this will be a good
thing. Then let assistance be rendered to all those unfortunates, of
whom there are not so many as I at first supposed in Moscow, who can
easily be helped by money alone to a great extent. Then let those
laborers who have come to Moscow and have eaten their very clothing from
their backs, and who cannot return to the country, be despatched to their
homes; let the abandoned orphans receive supervision; let feeble old men
and indigent old women, who subsist on the charity of their companions,
be released from their half-famished and dying condition. (And this is
very possible. There are not very many of them.) And this will also be
a very, very great deal accomplished. But why not think and hope that
more and yet more will be done? Why not expect that that real task will
be partially carried out, or at least begun, which is effected, not by
money, but by labor; that weak drunkards who have lost their health,
unlucky thieves, and prostitutes who are still capable of reformation,
should be saved? All evil may not be exterminated, but there will arise
some understanding of it, and the contest with it will not be police
methods, but by inward modes,--by the brotherly intercourse of the men
who perceive the evil, with the men who do not perceive it because they
are a part of it.

No matter what may be accomplished, it will be a great deal. But why not
hope that every thing will be accomplished? Why not hope that we shall
accomplish thus much, that there shall not exist in Moscow a single
person in want of clothing, a single hungry person, a single human being
sold for money, nor a single individual oppressed by the judgment of man,
who shall not know that there is fraternal aid for him? It is not
surprising that this should not be so, but it is surprising that this
should exist side by side with our superfluous leisure and wealth, and
that we can live on composedly, knowing that these things are so. Let us
forget that in great cities and in London, there is a proletariat, and
let us not say that so it must needs be. It need not be this, and it
should not, for this is contrary to our reason and our heart, and it
cannot be if we are living people. Why not hope that we shall come to
understand that there is not a single duty incumbent upon