thoughts, will have the strongest hold on his
interest, will take the lion's share of his time, and will, by those
means--barring the few purely exceptional instances--slowly and surely
end in leaving him, to all good moral and mental purpose, certainly an
uncultivated, and, possibly, a dangerous man."

A cry from the camp of the adversaries: "He's got to it at last! A man
who leads an out-of-door life, and uses the strength that God has given
to him, is a dangerous man. Did any body ever hear the like of that?"

Cry reverberated, with variations, by the two human echoes: "No! Nobody
ever heard the like of that!"

"Clear your minds of cant, gentlemen," answered Sir Patrick. "The
agricultural laborer leads an out-of-door life, and uses the strength
that God has given to him. The sailor in the merchant service does the
name. Both are an uncultivated, a shamefully uncultivated, class--and
see the result! Look at the Map of Crime, and you will find the most
hideous offenses in the calendar, committed--not in the towns, where the
average man doesn't lead an out-of-door life, doesn't as a rule, use his
strength, but is, as a rule, comparatively cultivated--not in the towns,
but in the agricultural districts. As for the English sailor--except
when the Royal Navy catches and cultivates him--ask Mr. Brinkworth,
who has served in the merchant navy, what sort of specimen of the moral
influence of out-of-door life and muscular cultivation _he_ is."

"In nine cases out of ten," said Arnold, "he is as idle and vicious as
ruffian as walks the earth."

Another cry from the Opposition: "Are _we_ agricultural laborers? Are
_we_ sailors in the merchant service?"

A smart reverberation from the human echoes: "Smith! am I a laborer?"
"Jones! am I a sailor?"

"Pray let us not be personal, gentlemen," said Sir Patrick. "I am
speaking generally, and I can only meet extreme objections by pushing
my argument to extreme limits. The laborer and the sailor have served my
purpose. If the laborer and the sailor offend you, by all means let them
walk off the stage! I hold to the position which I advanced just now. A
man may be well born, well off, well dressed, well fed--but if he is an
uncultivated man, he is (in spite of all those advantages) a man with
special capacities for evil in him, on that very account. Don't mistake
me! I am far from saving that the present rage for exclusively muscular
accomplishments must lead inevitably downward t