becomes cankered to the core. The remedy is only to be found in
the cherishment of a larger Christian sympathy and more genuine
benevolence. Thus only can the breath of society be sweetened and
purified. Money gifts avail nothing, as between rich and poor. Unless
there is a soul of goodness, and a real human fellowship between them,
the mischief and the curse which the excellent Judge Talfourd lamented
with his dying breath will never be overcome.

Some allege that this want of sympathy arises, for the most part, from
the evils of Competition. It is "heartless," "selfish," "mischievous,"
"ruinous," and so on. It is said to produce misery and poverty to the
million. It is charged with lowering prices, or almost in the same
breath with raising them. Competition has a broad back, and can bear any
amount of burdens.

And yet there is something to be said for competition, as well as
against it. It is a struggle,--that must be admitted. All life is a
struggle. Amongst workmen, competition is a struggle to advance towards
higher wages. Amongst masters, to make the highest profits. Amongst
writers, preachers, and politicians, it is a straggle to succeed,--to
gain glory, reputation, or income. Like everything human, it has a
mixture of evil in it. If one man prospers more than others, or if some
classes of men prosper more than others, they leave other classes of men
behind them. Not that they leave those others worse, but that they
themselves advance.

Put a stop to competition, and you merely check the progress of
individuals and of classes. You preserve a dead uniform level. You
stereotype society, and its several orders and conditions. The motive
for emulation is taken away, and Caste, with all its mischiefs, is
perpetuated. Stop competition, and you stop the struggle of
individualism. You also stop the advancement of individualism, and
through that of society at large.

Under competition, the lazy man is put under the necessity of exerting
himself; and if he will not exert himself, he must fall behind. If he do
not work, neither shall he eat. My lazy friend, you must not look to me
to do my share of the world's work, and yours too! You must do your own
fair share of work, save your own money, and not look to me and to
others to keep you out of the poor-house. There is enough for all; but
do your own share of work you must.

Success grows out of struggles to overcome difficulties. If there were
no difficulties, there