It is better to keep a man out of the mire than to let him fall in first and then risk the chance of plucking him out.Any Scheme,therefore,that attempts to deal with the reclamation of the lost must tend to develop into an endless variety of ameliorative measures,of some of which I shall have somewhat to say hereafter.I only mention the subject here in order that no one may say I am blind to the necessity of going further and adopting wider plans of operation than those which I put forward in this book.The renovation of our Social System is a work so vast that no one of us,nor all of us put together,can define all the measures that will have to be taken before we attain even the Cab-Horse Ideal of existence for our children and children's children.All that we can do is to attack,in a serious,practical spirit the worst and most pressing evils,knowing that if we do our duty we obey the voice of God.He is the Captain of our Salvation.
If we but follow where He leads we shall not want for marching orders,nor need we imagine that He will narrow the field of operations.
I am labouring under no delusions as to the possibility of inaugurating the Millennium by any social specific.In the struggle of life the weakest will go to the wall,and there are so many weak.The fittest,in tooth and claw,will survive.All that we can do is to soften the lot of the unfit and make their suffering less horrible than it is at present.No amount of assistance will give a jellyfish a backbone.
No outside propping will make some men stand erect.All material help from without is useful only in so far as it develops moral strength within.And some men seem to have lost even the very faculty of self-help.There is an immense lack of common sense and of vital energy on the part of multitudes.