234 TALKS ON " AT THE FEET OF THE MASTER ff
it is comparatively rarely that one man preaches the
beginning of that reform and sees it clear through to
the end. Much more often one man, or group of
men, will see this thing and begin to talk about it,
but he, or they, will probably be ridiculed, scoffed at,
no attention will be paid to them, and it will seem
that their work has been absolutely without results
But at least they will convert some people. These
people will carry the thing on. Presently you will
arrive at a point where Society will accept the reform
for which they have been working. The work of
those first pioneers seemed to be absolutely fruitless;
but of course it was not. What was done by their
successors could never have been done but for the
apparently unsuccessful work of these first pioneers.
It is like building a big house. First of all deep
strong foundations must be laid. Yet these foundations
do not show. Presently some one else comes along
and puts a layer of bricks above ground. His work is
seen, but the house could not have existed without
those strong foundations. When it is a finished building
the foundations are an integral part of the whole
structure. Just so it may often be the nature of our
work to bring something nearer to its accomplish-
ment ; and then some one else will step inland put the
final touches. His work will be recognised, and prob-
ably he will be considered to have done the whole
thing. But we must not mind that: we know
quite well, within ourselves, that the earlier work