s to forced labor, used to find great
pleasure in telling of the generosity, courage and humanity he had
observed, not only among a large number of the condemned, but also
among the convict guards. For the moment one is tempted to exclaim:
Where will not the good hide away! And in truth life offers here great
surprises and embarrassing contrasts. There are good men, officially so
recognized, quoted among their associates, I had almost said guaranteed
by the Government or the Church, who can be reproached with nothing but
dry and hard hearts; while we are astonished to encounter in certain
fallen human beings, the most genuine tenderness, and as it were a
thirst for self-devotion.

* * * * *

I should like to speak next--apropos of the inglorious good--of a class
that to-day it is thought quite fitting to treat with the utmost
one-sidedness. I mean the rich. Some people think the last word is said
when they have stigmatized that infamy, capital. For them, all who
possess great fortunes are monsters gorged with the blood of the
miserable. Others, not so declamatory, persist, however, in confounding
riches with egoism and insensibility. Justice should be visited on these
errors, be they involuntary or calculated. No doubt there are rich men
who concern themselves with nobody else, and others who do good only
with ostentation; indeed, we know it too well. But does their inhumanity
or hypocrisy take away the value of the good that others do, and that
they often hide with a modesty so perfect?

I knew a man to whom every misfortune had come which can strike us in
our affections. He had lost a beloved wife, had seen all his children
buried, one after another. But he had a great fortune, the result of his
own labor. Living in the utmost simplicity, almost without personal
wants, he spent his time in searching for opportunities to do good, and
profiting by them. How many people he surprised in flagrant poverty,
what means he combined for relieving distress and lighting up dark
lives, with what kindly thoughtfulness he took his friends unawares, no
one can imagine. He liked to do good to others and enjoy their surprise
when they did not know whence the relief came. It pleased him to repair
the injustices of fortune, to bring tears of happiness in families
pursued by mischance. He was continually plotting, contriving,
machinating in the dark, with a childish fear of being caught with his
hand in the bag.