Page:Tolstoy - Pamphlets.djvu/47

38 disastrous; if, in one's imagination, at least, a straight line be not the shortest distance between two points.

There is only one way of serving mankind. That is, to become better yourself. "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." A man cannot denounce sin while standing in the mire of sin.

The problem for us all is one and the same: From our position of property, with our many wants, and absence of work useful to mankind,—to learn to live with fewer demands, without the wish for more, and to learn to do work that is unquestionably useful to men. And to this we must descend by degrees, that is, according to our attainment in the one direction and the other.

To be useful to men! How? Not with money; not even by doing material services. To sweep a skating rink, make boots, wash clothes, sit for