world.

And so extend your sympathy to those whose work quite absorbs them, who
are, so to put it, tied down. The world is full of men and women
sacrificed to others, who never have either rest or pleasure, and to
whom the least relaxation, the slightest respite, is a priceless good.
And this minimum of comfort could be so easily found for them if only
we thought of it. But the broom, you know, is made for sweeping, and it
seems as though it could not be fatigued. Let us rid ourselves of this
criminal blindness which prevents us from seeing the exhaustion of those
who are always in the breach. Relieve the sentinels perishing at their
posts, give Sisyphus an hour to breathe; take for a moment the place of
the mother, a slave to the cares of her house and her children;
sacrifice an hour of our sleep for someone worn by long vigils with the
sick. Young girl, tired sometimes perhaps of your walk with your
governess, take the cook's apron, and give her the key to the fields.
You will at once make others happy and be happy yourself. We go
unconcernedly along beside our brothers who are bent under burdens we
might take upon ourselves for a minute. And this short respite would
suffice to soothe aches, revive the flame of joy in many a heart, and
open up a wide place for brotherliness. How much better would one
understand another if he knew how to put himself heartily in that
other's place, and how much more pleasure there would be in life!

* * * * *

I have spoken too fully elsewhere of systematizing amusements for the
young, to return to it here in detail.[B] But I wish to say in substance
what cannot be too often repeated: If you wish youth to be moral, do not
neglect its pleasures, or leave to chance the task of providing them.
You will perhaps say that young people do not like to have their
amusements submitted to regulations, and that besides, in our day, they
are already over-spoiled and divert themselves only too much. I shall
reply, first, that one may suggest ideas, indicate directions, offer
opportunities for amusement, without making any regulations whatever. In
the second place, I shall make you see that you deceive yourselves in
thinking youth has too much diversion. Aside from amusements that are
artificial, enervating and immoral, that blight life instead of making
it bloom in splendor, there are very few left to-day. Abuse, that enemy
of legitimate use, has so befouled the world, that