I shall endeavour by and bye to make some reservation upon the great
author's sweeping statement; but here it is enough to remark that
even Mr. Carlyle would admit that the very great majority of these
seventeen millions get very decently and creditably through the
task which God sets them in this world. Let it be admitted that they
are not so wise as they should be; yet surely it may be admitted
too, that they possess that in heart and head which makes them
good enough for the rough and homely wear of life. No doubt they
blow and occasionally stumble, they sometimes even bite and kick
a little; yet somehow they get the coach along. For it is to be
remembered that the essential characteristic of a screw is, that
though unsound, it can yet by management be got to go through a
great deal of work. The screw is not dead lame, nor only fit for
the knacker; it falls far short of the perfection of a horse, but
still it is a horse, after all, and it can fulfil in some measure
a horse's duty. You see, my friend, the moderation of my view. I
do not say that men in general are mad, but only that men in general
are screws. There is a little twist in their intellectual or moral
nature; there is something wanting or something wrong; they are
silly, conceited, egotistical, and the like; yet decently equal
to the work of this world. By judicious management you may get a
great deal of worthy work out of the unsound minds of other men;
and out of your own unsound mind. But always remember that you have
an imperfect and warped machine to get on with; do not expect too
much of it; and be ready to humour it and yield to it a little.
Just as a horse which is lame and broken-winded can yet by care
and skill be made to get creditably through a wonderful amount of
labour; so may a man, low-spirited, foolish, prejudiced, ill-tempered,
soured, and wretched, be enabled to turn off a great deal of work
for which the world may be the better. A human being who is really