SIR.—Why does net Beryl Seaton dispense with her charwoman and
put the money thus saved towards repairing or renewing her bed ? On her own showing she gets neither service nor companionship, and philan- thropy is not only not necessary but not possible in the circumstances she describes. She can only be buying a feeling of superiority.
I was once as class-conscious as Mrs. Scaton, on the other side of the fence. On no less evidence than she is content to produce I was ready to condemn her class for the shortcomings she implies are peculiar to mine—fecklessness, slovenliness, lack of intelligence and common-sense. This is to make an arbitrary selection of data to fit a preconceived theory with no basis in fact, in order to claim that a difference in social status is a virtue in oneself, productive of virtues, and in others a vice productive of vices. The same process of argument is applied to differences in sex, or religion, or the colour of the skin or the place of birth in relation to an imaginary line. It is this attitude of mind that is responsible for most of the unhappiness in the world. It excuses to himself all man's intolerance, injustice and cruelty to those who, deny it as he may, are his own kind.—Your faithfully, FRANCES MILES.
63 Doneraile House, Ebury Bridge Road. S.W.I.
Previous page
