--What a
happy London you would make if you were Sultan Haroun!' he added,
laughing. 'You would put an end to poverty altogether, would you
not?'
I did not reply at once.
'But I beg your pardon,' he resumed; 'I am very rude.'
'Not at all,' I returned. 'I was only thinking how to answer you.
They would be no worse after all than those who inherit property
and lead idle lives.'
'True; but they would be no better. Would you be content that your
quondam poor should be no better off than the rich? What would be
gained thereby? Is there no truth in the words "Blessed are the
poor"? A deeper truth than most Christians dare to see.--Did you
ever observe that there is not one word about the vices of the poor
in the Bible--from beginning to end?'
'But they have their vices.'
'Indubitably. I am only stating a fact. The Bible is full enough
of the vices of the rich. I make no comment.'
'But don't you care for their sufferings?'
'They are of secondary importance quite. But if you had been as
much amongst them as I, perhaps you would be of my opinion, that the
poor are not, cannot possibly feel so wretched as they seem to us.
They live in a climate, as it were, which is their own, by natural
law comply with it, and find it not altogether unfriendly. The
Laplander will prefer his wastes to the rich fields of England, not
merely from ignorance, but for the sake of certain blessings amongst
which he has been born and brought up.
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