We have to take up a totally new method of meeting and dealing with the poor; and rich and poor alike must learn to think—­which is an accomplishment not possessed by many of either class.  In the early part of the century, when the ideas of the Revolution were still very vital, there was hope that a time might come when wealth and power would be shared so as to secure genuine human existence to the whole population.  Then came the mad hopes that followed the Reform Bill, when grave Parliamentary men wept and huzzaed like schoolboys on seeing that remarkable measure passed.  People thought that the good days had at last come, and even the workers who were still left out in the cold fancied that in some vague way they were to receive benefits worth having.  The history of human delusions is a very sad one, as sad almost as the history of human wickedness; and all those poor enthusiasts had a sad awakening, for they found that the barren fights of placemen would still go on, that the people would continue to be shorn, and that the condition of the poor was uncommonly likely to be worse than ever.  The hour of hopefulness passed away, and there succeeded bitter years of savage despair.  The unhappy Chartists struggled hard; and there is something pathetic in thinking how good men were treated for preaching political commonplaces which are now deemed almost Conservative.  The wild time in which every crown in Europe tottered was followed by another period of optimism; for the great religious revival had begun, and the Church resumed her ancient power over the people, despite the shock given by Newman’s secession.  Then once again the query “Are we wealthy?” was answered with enthusiasm; and even the poor were told that they were wealthy, for had they not the reversion of complete felicity to crown their entry into a future world?  We must believe that there is some compensation for this life’s ills, or else existence would become no longer bearable; but it was hard for people in general to think that everything was for the best on this earth.  Soon came the day of doubt and bitterness, which assailed eager philanthropists and mere ordinary people as well.  The poor folk did not feel the effects of Darwin’s work, but those effects were terrible in certain quarters, for many precipitate thinkers became convinced that we must perish like the dumb beasts.  Wherefore came the question, “Why should the poor go without their share of the good things of this world, since there is nothing for them in the next?” A very ugly query it is too, because, when the question of number arises, rash spirits may say, as it was said long ago, “Are we not many, and are you not few?”