It needed
development, so my father was happy felling the trees, damming the
streams, building the roads, getting possession of the land. That was
his job in life, and he did it well, because the country needed it. He
didn't bother his head with why he was doing it; he just thought he was
making money. As a matter of fact, he didn't make money; he died nearly
bankrupt."
The orator bowed his head for a moment.
"I might have done the same thing. It's all legitimate business. But I
couldn't. The country is being developed by its inhabitants: work of
that kind couldn't satisfy me. Why, friends? _Because now it would be
selfish work_. My father didn't know it, but the reason he was happy was
because the work he was doing for himself was also work for other
people. You can see that. He didn't know it, but he was helping develop
the country. But it wouldn't have been quite so with me. The country is
developed in that way. If I did that kind of work, I'd be working for
myself and nobody else at all. That turns out all right for most people,
because they don't see it: they do their duty as citizens and good
business men and fathers and husbands, and that ends it.
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