Page:Labour - The Divine Command, 1890.djvu/130

126 The cause is always the same: they have hidden from the world the law of labor. If this law was made known, a hundred men could live together. He who should command need not be haughty, and he who should obey need not be quick to take offence. If among this group a father or mother should die, the children would rest in this centre of cordial harmony, and the bereaved spouse would feel the blow less keenly. The orphans would find among them fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters, in a word, many protectors and defenders.

Women are usually compassionate: they will care for orphans in preference to their own children. Thus this law carries with it all virtues and is opposed to all vices. It was not in vain that God said in creating the world: "Let there be light, for that is good." You have taken away this gift of God in the sight of men, and you say softly to each other, "What fools these men are who nourish us and supply us with good clothes for nothing! We give them orders, and they obey us!"

163. If a man speaks of a crime before a numerous society, he does not designate any one as its author, for he cannot look into the consciences of those present; he speaks of the crime from a legal point of view, and touches no one's