Suicides do not disprove this, for they take their lives—except in very rare cases—while suffering from temporary insanity.
Work, we must; and we become more and more the slaves of labor as civilization increases and fictitious wants are created.
The unequal distribution of wealth, that causes such bitterness of spirit and fierce struggles between capital and labor, is the natural result of a complicated social system; nor is it easy to suggest an effective, lasting remedy; for we are inclined to think that even the most earnest socialist would be unwilling to renounce his right to amass property. Furthermore, if the goods of the earth were equally divided to-day, within a year matters would be about as they are now; for some would hoard, others squander, and the more venturesome would speculate, thus largely increasing their wealth, or losing it all.
Beyond a question it is piteous to see a thinly clad woman, barefooted, blue with cold, clasping a famished babe to the breast that quivers with suppressed sobs—with grief for the hapless little one who can find there no warmth or nourishment: while a luxurious carriage rolls by, the gouty epicure within too ill-humored to take the trouble of
