II


Nevertheless, in his quality of a wise plain man, he would never agree
that any problem of human conduct, however hard and apparently
hopeless, could not be solved by dint of sagacity and
ingenuity--provided it was the problem of another person! He is quite
fearfully good at solving the problems of his friends. Indeed, his
friends, recognizing this, constantly go to him for advice. If a
friend consulted him and said:

"Look here, I'm engaged in an enterprise which will absorb all my
energies for three years. It will enable me in the meantime to live
and to keep my family, but I shall have scarcely a moment's freedom of
mind. I may have a little leisure, but of what use is leisure without
freedom of mind? As for pleasure, I shall simply forget what it is. My
life will be one long struggle. The ultimate profit is extremely
uncertain. It may be fairly good; on the other hand, it may be nothing
at all."

The plain man, being also blunt, would assuredly interrupt:

"My dear fellow, what a fool you've been!"

Yet this case is in essence the case of the wise plain man. The chief
difference between the two cases is that the wise plain man has
enslaved himself for about thirty years instead of three, with naught
but a sheer gambling chance of final reward! Not being one of the rare