not one of them would dream of offering Catholic tracts to people,
for example, in the streets of London. Certainly I have never seen
an Italian to be guilty of such rudeness. It seems to me that it
is not only toleration that is a duty; we ought to go beyond this
now; we should conform, when we are among a sufficient number of
those who would not understand our refusal to do so; any other
course is to attach too much importance at once to our own opinions
and to those of our opponents. By all means let a man stand by his
convictions when the occasion requires, but let him reserve his
strength, unless it is imperatively called for. Do not let him
exaggerate trifles, and let him remember that everything is a
trifle in comparison with the not giving offence to a large number
of kindly, simple-minded people. Evolution, as we all know, is the
great doctrine of modern times; the very essence of evolution
consists in the not shocking anything too violently, but enabling
it to mistake a new action for an old one, without "making believe"
too much.

One day when I was eating my lunch near a fountain, there came up a
moody, meditative hen, crooning plaintively after her wont. I
threw her a crumb of bread while she was still a good way off, and
then threw more, getting her to come a little closer and a little
closer each time; at last she actually took a piece from my hand.
She did not quite like it, but she did it. This is the evolution
principle; and if we wish those who differ from us to understand
us, it is the only method to proceed upon. I have sometimes
thought that some of my friends among the priests have been
treating me as I treated the meditative hen. But what of that?
They will not kill and eat me, nor take my eggs. Whatever,
therefore, promotes a more friendly feeling between us must be pure