d no doubt on which side of the battle he was
himself meant to fight. And so he determined that he would devote his
life to the work, and that he would not allow any excessive intrusion
of extraneous elements. The blessing of the academical life was that
it entailed a certain amount of social intercourse; it compelled one to
come into contact with a large variety of people. Without this Hugh
felt that his outlook would have become narrow and self-centred. He
knew of course that there would be times when it would seem to him that
his life was an ineffective one, when he would envy the men of affairs,
when he would wonder what, after all, his own performance amounted to.
But Hugh felt that the great lack of many lives was the failure to
perceive the interest of ideas; that many men and women went through
existence in a dull and mechanical way, raking together the straws and
dust of the street; and he thought that a man might do a great work if
he could put a philosophy of life into an accessible shape. The great
need was the need of simplification; the world was full of palpitating
interests, of beauty, of sweetness, of delight. But many people had no
criterion of values; they filled their lives with petty engagements,
and smilingly lamented that they had no time to think or read. For
such people the sun rose over dewy fields, in the freshness of the
countryside, in vain: in vain the sunset glared among the empurpled
cloud-banks; in vain the moon rose pale over the hushed garden-walks,
while the nightingale, hidden in the dark heart of the bush, broke into
passionate song. And even if it were argued that it was possible to be
sensible and virtuous without being responsive to the appeal of nature,
what did such people make of their social life? they made no
excursions into the hearts and minds of others; their religion was a
conventional thing; they went to concerts, where the violins thrilled
with sweet passion, and the horns complained with a lazy richness, that
they might chatter in gangways and nod to their friends. It was all so
elaborate, so hollow! and yet in the minds of these buzzing, voluble
persons one could generally discern a trickle of unconventional
feeling, which could have made glad the sun-scorched pleasaunce.

Hugh determined with all his might that he would try to preach this
simple gospel; that he would praise and uphold the doctrine of
sincerity, of appreciation, of joy. He made up his mind