"Why not? Instead of that, the great Powers be bristling with fighting men, and all the sinews of the world be wasted on war. And it shows the uselessness of the Book, anyway, that the Christian nations--so-called--keep the biggest armies and the largest number of men idle, rotting their bodies and souls away in barracks and battleships." Baskerville nodded. "There's sense of a lop-sided sort in much that you say, Jack. But 'tisn't the Book that's to blame--'tis the world that misunderstands the Book and daren't go by the Book--because of the nations around that don't go by it." "Then why do they pretend they'm Christians? They know if they went by the Book they'd go down; yet they want to drive it into the heads of the next generation. The child hears his father damning the Government because they ban't building enough men-of-war, and next day when the boy comes home with a black eye, his father turns round and tells him to mind his Bible and remember that the peacemakers be blessed." "I could wish a Government would give Christianity a chance," confessed Mr. Baskerville; "but I suppose 'tis much the same thing as Free Trade--a fine thing if everybody played the game, but a poor thing for one nation if t'others are all for Protection." "That's a lie," answered Mr. Head. "We've shown Free Trade is a fine thing--single-handed we've shown it, and why? Because Free Trade's a strong sword; but Christianity's rusty and won't stand the strain no longer. We've passed that stage; and if we was to start Christianity now and offer the cheek to the smiter--well, he'd damn soon smite, and then where are we?" They chattered on and set the world right according to their outlook, instinct, and understanding. Then the conversation turned into personal channels, and Mr. Baskerville, while admitting the justice of much that Jack asserted, yet blamed him for a certain impatience and bitterness. "If evolution is going to set all right and the unborn will come into a better world, why get so hot?" he asked. "Because I'm a thinking, feeling man," answered the other. "Because I hate to see wrong done in the name of right. And you're the same--only you haven't got as much sense as me seemingly. I'm useful--you only want to be useful and don't see how." "I want to do my part in the world; but just the right way is difficult to choose out among the many roads that offer, Jack. You are positive, and that saves a deal of trouble, no doubt. The positive people go the furthest--for good or evil. But I'm not so certain. I see deeper than you because I've been better educated, though I'm not so clever by nature. Then there's another thing--sympathy. People don't like me, and to be disliked limits a man's usefulness a lot."