4 In all work for our fellow creatures the sound maxim of "Thoroughness" should be persistently kept in view, but it is most of all imperative in regard to work for the weak in intellect. Better let it quite alone than half do it; better leave our weakly brethren to fulfil their destiny without our interference than to protect them for a part of their lives, propping them for a while, only that their fall may ultimately be more disastrous for themselves and for others. For needs to be understood from the outset that the feeble-minded cannot be taught to stand alone. You might as well say to the one-legged man, who is proficient in the use of a crutch, "You can walk well now, my friend; give me your crutch and go ahead," as to say to the weak-minded man whom you have trained in good habits, "Now you can work; go out and take upon you the ordinary duties of a citizen." Weakness of will is the most common characteristic of the feeble-minded: nor can the lacking will-power be made to grow up within them; it must be supplied from without. As the lame man needs his physical crutch, so the weak-minded needs his mental crutch; all his life long he must be propped and guided. In short, though it is a hard saying, weakness of intellect is not a curable disease. We ought clearly to understand that no one can honestly promise to cure the sufferers who are such a curse to themselves and to society. No one can make the faulty brain into a perfect one, change the diseased rickety body for one glowing with health and beauty, and strengthen the feeble will so that it has all the power of the highest and strongest of God's creatures. But science has shown us what we can do if only we will, We can develop the faulty brain in those directions in which it has power; we can minimize the bodily weakness and suffering; we can give the feeble will right guidance and support, so that, for every sufferer who comes under our care, life shall be made as pure and [end]