“I’m not so sure,” he answered, thoughtfully. “If the stroke or two is taken from one’s own work instead of being given in excess of it. One must do one’s own hoeing first. That’s the foundation of things. A religion that would mean to be ‘altogether absorbed’ in my neighbour’s hoeing would be genuinely pernicious, surely. My row, meanwhile, would lie open to weeds.”

“But if your neighbour’s row grew flowers?”

“Unfortunately weeds grow faster than the flowers, and the weeds of my row would spread until they choked and killed my neighbour’s flowers, I am sure.”

“That seems selfish though,” she persisted. “Suppose my neighbour were maimed or halt or blind? His poor little row would never be finished. My stroke or two would not help very much.”