What I felt was that somehow the goal
proposed was--dare I hint it?--a vulgar one; that it was a
glorification of prudence and good-humoured self-interest; and yet
if the Bishop had preached the gospel of disinterestedness and
quiet faithfulness and devotion, he would have had few enthusiastic
hearers. If he had said that an awkward and surly manner, no matter
what virtues it concealed, was the greatest bar to ultimate mundane
success, it would have been quite true, though perhaps not
particularly edifying. But what I desired was not startling paradox
or cynical comment, but something more really manly, more just,
more unconventional, more ardent, more disinterested. The boys were
not exhorted to care for beautiful things for the sake of their
beauty; but to care for attractive things for the sake of their
acceptability.
And yet in a way it did us all good to listen to the great man. He
was so big and kindly and fatherly and ingenuous; he had made
virtue pay; I do not suppose he had ever had a low or an impure or
a spiteful thought; but his path had been easy from the first; he
was a scholar and an athlete, and he had never pursued success, for
the simple reason that it had fallen from heaven like manna round
about his dwelling, with perhaps a few dozen quails as well! Boys,
parents, masters, young and old alike, were assembled that day to
worship success, and the Bishop prophesied good concerning them.
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