tations encumber this relation. How boundless is the field of
thought which it opens to us, how infinite the duties which it contains,
how complete an exercise it is for the whole faculties of man. Observe
what wretchedness is caused by a misunderstanding of this relation in
domestic matters. See the selfish carelessness about the happiness of
those around them of men not ill-intentioned, nor unkind, perhaps, in
their dealings with the world in general, but lamentably unfit for the
management of a home. Then observe the effects of similar mismanagement
in dealing with a country. Look at the listless loiterers about an Irish
town: you would naturally say to yourself, "Surely this people have done
all that there can be for them to do." You walk out of the town, and
find the adjacent fields as listless-looking, and neglected, as the men
themselves. Think what a want there must be of masters of labour, that
those hands and these weeds are not brought into closer contact.

* * * * *

It may be said that the distressed condition of the labouring classes is
owing to temporary causes, and that good times, by which is meant good
wages, would remove a large part of the evil. I confess it does not
appear to me that a good harvest or two, or ready customers on the other
side of the Atlantic, or the home demand that may arise from exhausted
stocks, or any other cause of that nature which is simply to end in
better wages, would of itself do all, or even any considerable part, of
what we should desire. I do not, for a moment, mean to depreciate the
good effects that would flow from an increase of employment and better
wages. But still I imagine that there are many cases in which, if you
were, in ordinary times, to double the amount of wages, a very inadequate
proportion of good would follow. You have to teach these poor people how
to spend money: you have to give them the opportunities of doing so to
advantage: you have to provide a system of education which shall not vary
with every fluctuation of trade: and to adopt such methods of working as
shall make the least possible disturbance of domestic ties. No sudden
influx of money will do all these things. In fact, whatever part of this
subject one takes up, one is perpetually brought back to the conviction
of the necessity which exists for an earnest and practical application,
on the part of the employing class, of thought and labour for the