saying. But in claiming that labor, blessed by God, is a hundred times more useful than love, I but use a right that belongs to me. You may approve or disapprove of my opinions. But to judge which of us is right or wrong, God and the Czar only have the right.
XX.
My readers will say, or at least think to themselves. How is that? All the universe and the highest authority are founded on love for others, as a mountain rests upon the rocks, for there is not in the eyes of the world a more elevated virtue than love for our neighbor. But alas! behold how this edifice suddenly falls down, for they have here and there undermined its base; in short, love for others is dead. Love is the least, and not the greatest of these virtues. If we eat without good reason the bread of others, and thus disobey the primitive law, love is then a virtue without any value. But, some readers will say, we have centred our hopes in money, as on God, believing that we will secure both temporal and eternal happiness; now this Bondareff does not esteem money, and he exacts personal labor. Must we. tell him he lies? But we cannot base our opinions on legitimate reasons. Man's inconstant fortune rests always on a tottering throne; and he does not know when, or from what side, it will be overthrown. When the moment comes in which their fortune shall perish, my readers will say and think that the proverb is true which says: "The thunder does not always come from the clouds, but often from a heap of dust."
