wretchedness. The mob orators, who gather "the millions" about them, are
very wide of the mark, when, instead of seeking to train their crowd of
hearers to habits of frugality, temperance, and self-culture, they
encourage them to keep up the cry, "Will nobody help us?"

The cry sickens the soul. It shows gross ignorance of the first elements
of personal welfare. Help is in men themselves. They were born to help
and to elevate themselves. They must work out their own salvation. The
poorest men have done it; why should not every man do it? The brave,
upward spirit ever conquers.

The number of well-paid workmen in this country has become very large,
who might easily save and economize, to the improvement of their moral
well-being, of their respectability and independence, and of their
status in society as men and citizens. They are improvident and
thriftless to an extent which proves not less hurtful to their personal
happiness and domestic comfort, than it is injurious to the society of
which they form so important a part.

In "prosperous times" they spend their gains recklessly, and when
adverse times come, they are at once plunged in misery. Money is not
used, but abused; and when wage-earning people should be providing
against old age, or for the wants of a growing family, they are, in too
many cases, feeding folly, dissipation, and vice. Let no one say that
this is an exaggerated picture. It is enough to look round in any
neighbourhood, and see how much is spent and how little is saved; what a
large proportion of earnings goes to the beershop, and how little to the
savings bank or the benefit society.

"Prosperous times" are very often the least prosperous of all times. In