Yet
nobody would be an Eskimo if he had a chance of bettering his
condition. By all means let us take life seriously. But let us be
serious about things that matter."
"Things that matter, Count! Is it not creditable for a man to support
his wife and family in the best conditions possible?"
"Assuredly. But chosen spirits will do this in regions where the same
results can be obtained with a smaller outlay of vital force. We have
only a certain amount of energy at our disposal. It is not seemly to
consume every ounce of it in a contest with brute nature. Man is made
for better things. Whatever fails to elevate the mind is not truly
profitable. Tell me, sir, how shall the mind be elevated if the body be
exhausted with material preoccupations? Consider the complex conditions
under which a Northern family is obliged to live. Think of the labour
expended upon that unceasing duel with the elements--the extra clothing
and footwear and mufflers and mantles, the carpets, the rugs, the
abundant and costly food required to keep the body in sound working
condition, the plumbing, the gas, the woodwork, the paintings and
repaintings, the tons of fuel, the lighting in winter, the contrivances
against frost and rain, the never-ending repairs to houses, the daily
polishings and dustings and scrubbings and those thousand other
impediments to the life of the spirit! Half of them are non-existent in
these latitudes; half the vitality expended upon them could therefore
be directed to other ends.
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