The bowels of compassion: what a wonderful
old phrase! They ought to be kept open. I look around me, and see
extraordinarily little goodwill among my fellow-creatures. Here is Miss
Wilberforce. What she yearns for is the milk of human kindness--gentle
words, gentle dealing, from all of us. Instead of that, every one is
ready to cast stones at her. She is treated like a pariah. For my part
I do not pass her by; I am not ashamed to consort with sinners, if such
they be; I would like, if I could, to make her free and happy instead
of imprisoning her in a place of self-reproach. A healthy man is
naturally well disposed, not on principle or from any divine
inspiration but because his bodily organs are performing their proper
functions. His judgment is not warped by the black humours of
indigestion. He perceives that natural laws, however harsh they seem,
are never so harsh as our amateurish attempts to circumvent them.
Modern philanthropy is an attempt of this nature. It is crass
emotionalism. Regarded from the point of view of the race, your
philanthropy is a disguised form of brutality.
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