has arrived for you to see into many things."

CHAPTER XV.

LIFE, AND THE EXTERNALS OF LIFE.

In the Bible it is related, how the boy Isaac went with the Patriarch
Abraham up the mountain-side where the sacrifice was to be offered. He
walked on, silent and thoughtful, till at last he asked,--

"Where is the offering?"

He did not know that he himself was to be the offering.

So Roland followed Eric, silent and thoughtful; he had offered to
sacrifice himself, but the sacrifice was refused. What next?

Above, on a spur of the mountain, overlooking the surrounding country,
they sat down; the wild thyme spread its fragrance around them. Eric
took the hand of his pupil and began,--

"Well, it must be,--it ought to have come later,--I had hoped that you
would not have come to this question for a long time, and then in some
other way. Do you know what wealth is?"

"Yes; when a man has more than he needs."

"How does a man get this superfluity?"

"By inheritance and by earning."

"Can a brute animal be rich?"

"I should think not."

"Certainly not; every animal is, and has, only what he has been and has
had from his birth. Now, to go farther, are the men of these times
better than those of old times?"

"I think so."

"Will men ever be better than now?"

"I hope so."

"And how will they become better?"

"By civilization."

"Is civilization possible, when a man has to work hard from morning
till night for the satisfaction of his physical needs?"

"Hardly."

"How then can a man do anything for the improvement of himself or his
fellow-men?"

"He needs leisure for this."

"And does not that leisure come only when he has gained through his
labor a surplus of wealth?"

"It seems so."

"Remember this, then: wealth is an accumulation of power which is not
obtained by one's own labor."

"Stop, wait a minute," said Roland. He thought for a moment and then
said,--"I have it, I understand it now; pray go on."

"What, now, should a man do, who comes into possession of so much power
that he has not worked for?"

"I do not know."

"Then I will tell you. By means of what a man has beyond the absolute
needs of life, he attains those things which beautify and elevate life,
art and science. Wealth, alone, makes possible the progress of the
human race; that a man can become rich involves his higher destiny; he
lives by others, and for others; withou