f duty,
would not have been troubled by the pagan mother's distress--Jesuit
missionaries in Canada in the early French times, for instance; see
episodes quoted by Parkman.

Y.M. Well, let us adjourn. Where have we arrived?

O.M. At this. That we (mankind) have ticketed ourselves with a number of
qualities to which we have given misleading names. Love, Hate, Charity,
Compassion, Avarice, Benevolence, and so on. I mean we attach misleading
MEANINGS to the names. They are all forms of self-contentment,
self-gratification, but the names so disguise them that they distract
our attention from the fact. Also we have smuggled a word into the
dictionary which ought not to be there at all--Self-Sacrifice. It
describes a thing which does not exist. But worst of all, we ignore and
never mention the Sole Impulse which dictates and compels a man's every
act: the imperious necessity of securing his own approval, in every
emergency and at all costs. To it we owe all that we are. It is our
breath, our heart, our blood. It is our only spur, our whip, our goad,
our only impelling power; we have no other. Without it we should be
mere inert images, corpses; no one would do anything, there would be
no progress, the world would stand still. We ought to stand reverently
uncovered when the name of that stupendous power is uttered.

Y.M. I am not convinced.

O.M. You will be when you think.

III

Instances in Point

Old Man. Have you given thought to the Gospel of Self-Approval since we
talked?

Young Man. I have.

O.M. It was I that moved you to it. That is to say an OUTSIDE INFLUENCE
moved you to it--not one that originated in your head. Will you try to
keep that in mind and not forget it?

Y.M. Yes. Why?

O.M. Because by and by in one of our talks, I wish to further impress
upon you that neither you, nor I, nor any man ever originates a thought
in his own head. THE UTTERER OF A THOUGHT ALWAYS UTTERS A SECOND-HAND
ONE.

Y.M. Oh, now--

O.M. Wait. Reserve your remark till we get to that part of our
discussion--tomorrow or next day, say. Now, then, have you been
considering the proposition that no act is ever born of any but a
self-contenting impulse--(primarily). You have sought. What have you
found?

Y.M. I have not been very fortunate. I have examined many fine and
apparently self-sacrificing deeds in romances and biographies, but--

O.M. Under searching analysis the ostensible self-sacrifice disappeared?
It natural