But here again I felt that the thing was somehow not quite as high-
minded as it seemed. The goal designated was, after all, the goal
of success. It was not suggested that the unrewarded and self-
denying life was perhaps the noblest. The point was to come to the
front somehow, and it was only indicating a sort of waiting game
for the boys who were conscious neither of intellectual nor
athletic capacity. It was a sort of false socialism, this pretence
of moral equality, a kind of consolation prize that was thus
emphasised. And I felt that here again the assumption was an untrue
one. That is the worst of life, if one examines it closely, that it
is by no means wholly run on moral lines. It is strength that is
rewarded, rather than good desires. The Bishop seemed to have
forgotten the ancient maxim that prosperity is the blessing of the
Old Testament, and affliction the blessing of the New. These
qualities that were going to produce ultimate success--
conscientiousness, generosity, modesty, public spirit--they are,
after all, as much gifts as any other gifts of intellect and bodily
skill.
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