"And why should the people do that?"
"So as to teach people the example, and try to make them be good as he was."
"Do your people need to have such examples to make them do good?"
"That may not be necessary," replied the Professor, as he vainly tried to hide the smile that was trying to manifest itself.
"But do you not find it necessary to set the people a good example?" asked the Professor.
For a moment he looked around at the company in bewilderment, and he slowly replied: "No, I do not think it would do any good. If the people are bad, and they want to be bad, it will do them no good to tell them that I have always tried to do right."
There was a respectful silence, at this avowal, and the Professor continued: "There are many who think as you do, and we had one great teacher, called Confucius, who said: 'Do good not for the hope of reward, but because it is right.' Then we have also a precept which, interpreted, means: that happiness is in the heart."
"I do not know what that means," he replied.
"It means that the desire and the wish must come from within, and not from without." And the savage nodded an assent.
"But," continued the Professor, "I have some news to impart, that makes us all happy again. It is[p. 203] something that pertains to Sutoto, and I know you will all join in wishing him all happiness in the good fortune which Wonder Island brings to him, while this island is vying with us to make him happy."