ntil that seventh year, in which
they should be put (on certain conditions) finally in possession of
their property; and the men, thus necessarily not before their
twenty-eighth, nor usually later than their thirty-first year, become
eligible to offices of State. So that the rich and poor should not be
sharply separated in the beginning of the war of life; but the one
supported against the first stress of it long enough to enable them,
by proper forethought and economy, to secure their footing; and the
other trained somewhat in the use of moderate means, before they were
permitted to have the command of abundant ones. And of the sources
from which these State incomes for the married poor should be
supplied, or of the treatment of those of our youth whose conduct
rendered it advisable to refuse them permission to marry, I defer what
I have to say till we come to the general subjects of taxation and
criminal discipline; leaving the proposals made in this letter to
bear, for the present, whatever aspect of mere romance and
unrealizable vision they probably may, and to most readers, such as
they assuredly will. Nor shall I make the slightest effort to redeem
them from these imputations; for though there is nothing in all their
purport which would not be approved, as in the deepest sense
"practical"--by the Spirit of Paradise--

"Which gives to all the self-same bent,
Whose lives are wise and innocent,"

and though I know that national justice in conduct, and peace in
heart, could by no other laws be so swiftly secured, I confess with
much _dis_peace of heart, that both justice and happiness have at this
day become, in England, "romantic impossibilities."

LETTER XXI.

OF THE DIGNITY OF THE FOUR FINE ARTS; AND OF THE PROPER SYSTEM OF
RETAIL TRADE.

_April 15, 1867._

127. I return now to the part of the subject at which I was
interrupted--the inquiry as to the proper means of finding persons
willing to maintain themselves and others by degrading occupations.

That, on the whole, simply manual occupations _are_ degrading, I
suppose I may assume you to admit; at all events, the fact is so,
and I suppose few general readers will have any doubt of it.[A]

[A] Many of my working readers have disputed this statement
eagerly, feeling the good effect of work in themselves; but
observe, I only say, _simply_ or _totally_ manual work; and
that, al