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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Sesame and Lilies by John Ruskin: his brains beaten out, and be maimed for life, at any moment, and
never be thanked; the sailor wrestling with the sea's rage; the
quiet student poring over his book or his vial; the common worker,
without praise, and nearly without bread, fulfilling his task as
your horses drag your carts, hopeless, and spurned of all: these
are the men by whom England lives; but they are not the nation; they
are only the body and nervous force of it, acting still from old
habit in a convulsive perseverance, while the mind is gone. Our
National wish and purpose are only to be amused; our National
religion is the performance of church ceremonies, and preaching of
soporific truth (or untruths) to keep the mob quietly at work, while
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