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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/36489-8.txt b/36489-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..352ec35 --- /dev/null +++ b/36489-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2583 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Modern Society, by Julia Ward Howe + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Modern Society + +Author: Julia Ward Howe + +Release Date: June 21, 2011 [EBook #36489] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MODERN SOCIETY *** + + + + +Produced by Sharon Joiner, paksenarrion, Bryan Ness and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + + MODERN SOCIETY. + BY + JULIA WARD HOWE. + + BOSTON: + ROBERTS BROTHERS. + 1881. + + COPYRIGHT, 1880, + BY ROBERTS BROTHERS. + + PRINTED BY + ALFRED MUDGE AND SON. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + MODERN SOCIETY 5 + + CHANGES IN AMERICAN SOCIETY 49 + + + + +MODERN SOCIETY. + + +What means this summons, oh friends! to the groves of Academe? I heard, +in the distance, the measured tread of Philosophy. I mused: "How grave +and deliberate is she! How she matches thought with thought! How +patiently she questions inference and conclusion! No irrelevance, no +empty ballooning, is allowed in that Concord school. Nothing frivolous +need apply there for admission." And lo! in the midst of this severe +entertainment an interlude is called for in the great theatre. The stage +manager says, "Ring up Puck. Wanted, an Ariel." And no Shakespeare being +at hand, I, of the sex much reproved for never having produced one, am +invited to fly hither as well as my age and infirmities will allow, and +to represent to you that airy presence whose folly, seen from the +clouds, is wisdom; that presence which, changing with the changes of the +year and of the day, may yet sing, equally with the steadfast stars and +systematic planets,-- + + "The hand that made me is divine." + +Modern society, concerning which you have bid me discourse to you, is +this tricksy spirit, many-featured and many-gestured, coming in a +questionable shape, and bringing with it airs from heaven and blasts +from hell. I have spoken to it, and it has shown me my father's ghost. +How shall I speak of it, and tell you what it has taught me? You must +think my alembic a nice one indeed, since you bid me to the analysis of +those subtle and finely mingled forces. You have sent for me, perhaps, +to receive a lesson instead of giving one. You may intend that, having +tried and failed in this task, I shall learn, for the future, the +difficult lesson of holding my peace. For so benevolent, so +disinterested an intention, I may have more occasion to thank you +beforehand, than you shall find to thank me, having heard me. + +But, since a text is supposed to make it sure that the sermon shall have +in it one good sentence, let me take for my text a saying of the +philosopher Kant, who, in one of his treatises, rests much upon the +distinction to be made between logical and real or substantial +opposition. According to him, a logical opposition is brought in view +when one attribute of a certain thing is at once affirmed and denied. +The statement of a body which should be at once stationary and in motion +would imply such a contradiction, of which the result will be _nihil +negativum irrepræsentabile_. + +A real or substantial opposition is found where two contradictory +predicates are recognized as coexistent in the same subject. A body +impelled in one direction by a given force, and in another by its +opposite, is easily cogitable. One force neutralizes the other, but the +result is something, viz., rest. Let us keep in mind this distinction +between opposites which exclude each other, and opposites which can +coexist, while we glance at the contradictions of all society, ancient +as well as modern. + +How self-contradictory, in the first place, is the nature of man! How +sociable he is! also how unsociable! We have among animals the +gregarious and the solitary. But man is of all animals at once the most +gregarious and the most solitary. This is the first and most universal +contradiction, that of which you find at least the indication in every +individual. But let us look for a moment at the contrasts which make one +individual so unlike to another. We sometimes find it hard to believe +the saying that God hath made of one blood all the nations of the earth. +This in view of the contrast between savage and civilized nations, or +between nations whose habits and beliefs differ one from the other. In +the same race, in the same family also, we shall find the unlikeness +which seems to set the bond of nature at defiance. + +See this sly priest, bland and benevolent in proportion to the narrow +limits of the minds which he controls. He hears the shrift of the +brigand and assassin, of the girl mastered by passion, of the unfaithful +wife and avenging husband. He gives an admonition, perhaps a grave one. +He inflicts a penance, light or severe. He does not trust his penitents +with the secret which can heal the plague-sores of humanity,--the secret +of its moral power. But see the meek flock who come to him. See the +whole range of consciences which cannot rest without his dismissing +_fiat_. The rugged peasant drops on his knees beside the confessional. +His horny palm relinquishes, without hesitation, the coin upon which it +has scarcely closed. Or here alights from her carriage some woman of the +world, bright in silks and jewels. With a hush and a rustle, reaching +the lowly bench, she, too, drops down, rehearses her wrong-doing, +promises such reparation as is enjoined, and asks for the word of peace. +Now this confessor, and one or more of his penitents, may be the +children of the same father and mother, and yet they shall be as unlike +in attitude and in character as two human beings can be. In the closest +alliance of blood you may thus find the opposite poles of one humanity. + +Humanity is, then, a thing of oppositions, and of oppositions which are +polar and substantial. Its contradictions do not exclude, but, on the +contrary, complement each other, and the action and reaction of these +contradictions result in the mighty agreements of the State and of the +Church, the intense sympathies and antipathies which bind or sunder +individuals, the affections and disaffections of the family. + +The opposite extremes of human nature embrace, between them, a wonderful +breadth and scope. The correlation and coaction of this multitude of +opposing forces on the wide arena of the world naturally give rise to a +series of manifestations, voluntary and involuntary, changeful in form +and color as a phantasmagoria, fitful as a fever-dream, but steadfast +and substantial in the infinite science, out of which all things come. +The unity in this web of contradictions is its great wonder. How if this +unity prove to be the law of which the oppositions are but one clause? +How if the perfect unity were only attainable through the freedom of the +natural diversity? And what is the substance and sum of this fundamental +agreement? The desire of good, the progressive conception of which +marks, more than anything else, the progress of the race. We cannot tell +out of what dynamics comes the initial of this fruitful and productive +opposition. It is, perhaps, the very unity of the object which develops +the diversity of action. In the progress of human society the diversity +becomes constantly multiplied. Is the sense of the unity lost in +consequence? No, it grows constantly with the growth of this opposing +fact. As education is enlarged, as freedom becomes more general and +entire, the agreement of mankind becomes greater in the objects to be +attained for the promotion of their best interests. + +We can suppose a family cast upon a barren shore, or forced to sit down +in the midst of an uninhabited region. All of its members will wish to +secure the necessary conditions of life, such as food, fuel, shelter, +safety from destructive agencies. If left to themselves, one will +naturally bestir himself to find fish, game, or fruits; another will +bring in firewood; a third will plan a tent or hut; a fourth will stand +sentry against any possible alarm. So a camp is a world in miniature; +and if food and drink be plenty, and there be time to think of +recreation, some one will carve a pipe from reed or willow, and, in +answer to the piping, will come the dance. Or, if our pilgrims are too +mystic and solemn for this, hymns will be sung, and the voice of prayer +will lift the soul out of the poverty of its surroundings into that +realm of imagination whose wealth far exceeds that of Ormus or of Ind. + +I seem to hear at this point the _non placet_ of those who ask for one +thing and receive another. I was not sent for to philosophize, but to +represent; and, with regard to the former process, "how not to do it" +should have been my study. Modern society is my theme. Where shall I +find society for you? Henry Thoreau found it here, in the passionless +face of Nature. Here, the shy Hawthorne could dwell unmolested, not even +overshadowed by the revered sage who makes reserve and distance such +important elements of good manners. Mr. Alcott has transplanted here +those olives whose sacred chrism rests upon his honored brow. The +society which my words shall introduce here must be neither vulgar nor +dull. + +Now, if I had a flying-machine! Well, I have one, and its name is +Memory. Sit with me, upon its movable platform, and I will give you some +peeps at the thing itself, leaving you to discuss after me its _raison +d'être_, its right to be. In experimental analysis, specimens are always +exhibited. Let us look at modern society in Cairo, Shepherd's hotel, and +the omnibus that bears one thither. The _table d'hôte_ unites a +catalogue as various as that of Don Giovanni. Here sit Sir Samuel and +Lady Baker, famous as African explorers. You may all know something of +the entertaining volumes which chronicle their discoveries and +adventures. Lady Baker wears, at times, a necklace made of tiger's +claws. Her husband shot the tiger in the great wilds of Africa, she +loading the gun with which he did it. + +She is Roumanian by birth, English by adoption, fair and comely. Sir +Samuel is a burly Briton. They have with them a young African servant, +dark and under-sized, with wild, crimped hair. Sir Samuel tells me that +this is altogether the best human creature he ever knew. Lady Baker does +not resent the extreme statement. I sit at table between a Russian count +and an English baronet. The Russian and his two daughters are amiable +and simple people. The baronet is a stanch Tory, as you will think +natural when you hear his story. He was once a poor boy, hard at work in +a coal mine. He used to walk six or seven miles daily, after working +hours, in order to acquaint himself with those three Fates who are +familiarly called the three R's. Becoming an expert in the coal +business, he went through the upward grades of his profession, became a +large owner of mines, and has now a heavy contract for supplying the +Egyptian government with coal. He is a member of Parliament, and, when I +saw him, was ready to start homeward on the first news of a division in +the House. It was lately stated in a London paper that Lord Beaconsfield +would probably raise him to the peerage before his own retirement from +office. So, it may have been done by this time. + +My Russian neighbors are much troubled about the fate of a poor Italian +family whose chief has lost his occupation, and which is thus reduced +to the extreme of want. "Why not get up a subscription at this hotel?" +say I. They are very willing that I should. I draw up a paper, we sign +our names and contributions. Sir George snubs us dreadfully, but gives +us a sovereign. Sir Samuel snubs, and gives nothing. The necessary sum +of money is raised, and the family is sent to its own country. Here, you +see, are Russia, England, and America, combining, on Egyptian soil, to +save Italy. This strange mixture is characteristic of the medley of the +time. + +We will not move yet, for the panorama of the table will save us that +trouble. Here is one of the recognized beauties of London society. A +very pretty woman, with dewy eyes, pearly teeth, dark, glossy hair, and +a soft, fresh complexion. A French wardrobe sets off those natural +advantages, with its happy disguises and apposite revelations. But it is +not good for beauty that it should become a profession. This lady's fine +eyes and teeth are made to do duty with such evident persistence of +intention, that one absolutely dreads to see the glitter of the one and +the flash of the other in the gymnastic of an advertised flirtation. + +I cannot yet release you. Here are two gentlemen who wear the +_tarbouche_ with their European costume. They were rebels in our war of +secession, and at its close took service with the Khedive. Ignoring +ancient sectional differences, they are very cordial with us, their +countrywomen. They would be glad to see their country again, but cannot +get their salaries paid, the French and English commissioners having +taken the direction of Egyptian finances, and making no allowance for +the past services of these American officers, who were dismissed at +their instance. + +We are still at Shepherd's _table d'hôte_, and before us sit an English +nobleman and his wife, who have obtained permission to give a _fête_ at +the Pyramids. A gay party of English residents and visitors are +gathering to accompany them, and presently the carriages and cavalcade +start, with a band of music, and a small army of servants. They +illuminate the Great Pyramid with colored fires, race their horses and +donkeys through the desert, sup and sleep in the Khedive's _kiosk_, not +without much boisterous mirth and disturbance. + +Or, behold me on Bairam day, paying a New-Year's visit to the harem of +the Khedive. A row of grinning eunuchs, black as night, guard the +entrance. After various turns of ceremonial, we greet the three +princesses, all wives of the Khedive, who has many others not of this +rank. In order not to give offence, we are obliged to smoke the +_chibouque_, a pipe about five feet in length. We smile and courtesy at +the proper moment, but find conversation difficult. They are curious to +hear where we came from, and whither we are going. I ask whether they, +also, enjoy travelling, and am reminded that their institutions do not +allow it. These poor princesses little knew that in two months from that +time an involuntary journey awaited them, on the occasion of the +Khedive's abdication, and departure from the country. + +We please ourselves, in these days, with the praise of Islamism, and +think, quite rightly, that Mahomet and his Koran had their _raison +d'être_, and have done their part for mankind. But here is Islamism in +modern society. The howling dervishes sit on the ground groaning _Allah, +Allah_. By and by they rise, and bend their heads backward and forward +until the most eminent among them fall in fits, and are taken up in an +unhappy condition. Within a short distance from our hotel, we hear of a +company of men met for a religious exercise. One of them chews a glass +goblet and swallows it. Another endeavors to swallow a small snake. A +third gashes himself wildly with a sword. These are religious +enthusiasts. If their faith be genuine, these dangerous experiments, +they say, can do them no harm. + +These things remind us of the temptation of Christ: "If thou be the Son +of God, cast thyself down from hence." + +But let us leave the city and hotel, and betake ourselves to the +historic river, dumb with all its mouths, and poor with all its wealth. +Modern society is well represented on board our steamer. Here are two +Californian gentlemen, two sons of a Sandwich Island missionary, two or +three Italians. Here is a sister-in-law of John Bright. She has visited +Alaska, and considers this Nile trip a small parenthesis in her voyage +round the world. Here are an English couple, belonging to fashionable +life. Here is a clergyman of the same nation, who glories in the fact +that Dr. Johnson hated, or said he hated, a Whig. Here is an American +who cannot visit the ruins because his whole day is divided into so many +glasses of milk, to be taken at such and such times. + +We land one day at Assiout, and visit its bazaars. The trade in ostrich +feathers is brisk, the natives steadily raising their prices as the +demand increases, until we find that the feathers might be more cheaply +bought in London or Paris. Amid the general confusion of tongues I am +accosted by a handsome youth, cleanly and civil, who speaks fair +English, and asks if he can serve me. + +Who are you? A pupil of the American Mission School in this place. He +brings two of his fellow-pupils to speak with me. One of these is a +girl, whose innocent, uncovered face seems to rebuke the hidden faces of +the Arab women, veiled and disfigured to evince their modesty, but +making more evident the immodesty of the men. + +We return to our steamer, followed by a crowd of boys and girls, +shrieking and naked, who plunge into the water to get the _backshish_, +which some of our party throw them. On the bank stand two beautiful +youths, nearly black, with eyes like sloes, and with crisped hair +standing erect like a flame above their foreheads. They are clad in +kilts of white cotton cloth. Struck with their beauty, we inquire of +what tribe they are. "Of the Bischouri," says our dragoman, "a tribe of +the desert, who feed only upon uncooked grain." To the last their bright +smile pursues us with its pathos. Would that they, too, were pupils of +the American Mission School. Would not our vegetarian chief send for +them?[1] + + [1] Mr. Alcott, Dean of the Concord School of Philosophy, has + always been known as a vegetarian. + +We gallop across the sands to a point opposite Philæ, and reach the +sacred spot by boat. We picnic among its tombs, climb its _pylon_, and +remark upon the beauty of the view. At the first cataract, which is very +near this place, an Arab woman shows me her baby with the pride of Eve +or Queen Victoria. It has a nose-ring of brass wire, and similar +adornments in the top of each ear. On my way back to the boat, my pocket +is picked by a cunning youth. The Arabs of the desert will compare in +this respect with the Arabs of European streets. A little Arab girl +offers to sell me her rag doll, whose veil is bedizened with spangles. A +little water-carrier, proud of her English, says, "Lady, give me +backshish." + +This shall end my peep at modern society in Egypt. + +But one more personal remembrance you must accord me. The scene is a +dirty, muddy street in a Cyprus seaport. The time is not far from noon. +I am exploring, with some curiosity, the new jewel which Lord +Beaconsfield has added to the crown of Great Britain. + +What a mean, poor bazaar is this; what dull streets, what a barren place +to live in, especially since _methymenic_ Albion has drunk up all the +best of the wine! I pass a shop, and a bright presence beams out upon +me. It is Lady Baker, with her fair, luminous face, full of energy and +resource. Sir Samuel, she tells me, is in the back shop buying hardware +for a hard journey. For they intend to travel through the island in a +huge covered wagon, drawn by oxen, which will be to them at once vehicle +and hotel. Where they went, and how they fared, I know not, nor would it +here import us, if I did. I only mention the appearance of these friends +in this place, because this appearance was so characteristic of modern +society, and because so many of its elements appeared there in their +persons. The education and high society of England, the court, the +literary circles, the almighty publisher, for an intended volume was +surely looming in the foreground of their picture. And here I have +clearly got hold of one feature of modern society; this is, that +everything is everywhere. The Zulus are in London, the Londoners in +Zululand. Empress Eugenie, the exploded star of French fashion in its +highest supremacy, visits Cape Town. The stars and stripes protect +American professors on the shores of the Bosphorus, within view of Mount +Lebanon. It would not surprise us to learn that a party of our +countrymen had read the Declaration of Independence beside the Pools of +Solomon, or within the desolate heart of Moab. + +In Jaffa of the Crusaders, Joppa of Peter and Paul, I find an American +Mission School, kept by a worthy lady from Rhode Island. Prominent among +its points of discipline is the clean-washed face which is so enthroned +in the prejudices of Western civilization. One of her scholars, a youth +of unusual intelligence, finding himself clean, observes himself to be +in strong contrast with his mother's hovel, in which filth is just kept +clear of fever point. "Why this dirt?" quoth he; "that which has made me +clean, will cleanse this also." So without more ado, the process of +scrubbing is applied to the floor, without regard to the danger of so +great a novelty. This simple fact has its own significance, for if the +innovation of soap and water can find its way to a Jaffa hut, where can +the ancient, respectable, conservative dirt-devil feel himself secure? + +The maxim also becomes vain nowadays, that there should be a place for +everything, and that everything should be in its place. Cleopatra's +Needles point their moral in London and in New York. The Prince of Wales +hunts tigers in the Punjaub. Hyde Park is in the desert or on the Nile. +America is all over the world. Against this universal game of "Puss in +the Corner," reaction must come, some day, in some shape, or anywhere +will mean nowhere, for those who, starting in the geographical pursuit +of pleasure, fail to find it and never return home. + +The oppositions of humanity have undergone many changes. Paul +characterized them in his day as "Greek and Barbarian, bond and free, +male and female." Christianity effaced old oppositions and created new +ones. The old oppositions were national, personal, selfish. The new +opposition was moral. It struck at evils, not at men, and tended to +unite the latter in a patient and reasonable overcoming of the former. I +know that the white heat at which its first blow was dealt left much for +philosophy to elaborate, for science to adjust and apply. A Jesus, +arrived at the plenitude of his intellectual vigor, could only have +three years in which to formulate his weighty doctrine, and could not +have had these without much care and hindrance. His work lay in the +normal direction of human nature. In spite of lapses and relapses, +mankind slowly creep towards the great unification which will make the +savage animals and the selfish passions the only enemies of the human +race. Modern society rests upon this unification as its basis of action. +A positive philosophy which Auguste Comte did not elaborate absorbs its +highest thought, and dictates its largest measures. + +And so prophetic souls bid farewell to the old negations. In their view, +the lion is already reconciled to the lamb. The taming of the elements +prefigures the general reconciliation. The deadly lightning runs on +errands and carries messages. The Titan steam is the servant of commerce +and industry, meek as Hercules when armed with the distaff of Omphale. +Emulation, the desire to excel, exquisite, dangerous stimulant to +exertion, is not in our day educated to the intensification of self, but +to the enlargement of public spirit and of general interest. The +constant discoveries of new treasures in our material world, of gold, +silver, iron, and copper, of states to be built up and of harvests to be +sown and reaped, are accompanied by corresponding discoveries +concerning the variety of human gifts and their application to useful +ends. What men and women can be good for may be more voluminously stated +to-day than in any preceding age of the world's history. + +Comparison should be a strong point in modern society. When travelling +was laborious and difficult, the masses of one country knew little +concerning those of another. When learning was rare, and instruction +costly and insufficient, the few knew the secrets of thought and +science, the many not even knowing that such things were to be known. +When wealth was uncommon, luxury was monopolized by a small class, the +greater part of mankind earning only for themselves the right to live +poorly. When distinctions were absolute, low life knew nothing of high +life but what the novelist could invent, or the servant reveal. How +changed is all this to-day! Competence, travel, tuition, and intelligent +company are within the reach of all who will give themselves the trouble +to attain them. The first consequence of this is that we become able to +make the largest and most general comparison of human conditions which +has ever been possible to humanity, nor does this ability regard the +present alone. The unveiling of the treasures of the past, the +interpretation of its experience and doctrine which we owe to the +scholar and archæologist, enable us to compare remote antiquity with the +things of the last minute. The work of antiquarian science culminates in +the discovery of the prehistoric man. Theology had long before invented +the post-historic angel. Now, indeed, we ought to be able to choose the +best out of the best, since the whole is laid in order before us. But +the chronic trouble hangs upon us still. Had we but such wisdom to +choose as we have chance to see! The gifts of our future are still shown +us in sealed caskets. Which of these conceals the condition of our true +happiness? The leaden one, surely, of which we distrust the dull +exterior, trusting in the inner brightness which it covers. + +What is the problem of modern society? + +How to use its vast resources. Here is where the office of true ethic +comes in. No gift can make rich those who are poor in wisdom. The wealth +which should build up society will pull it down if its possession lead +to fatal luxury and indulgence. The freedom of intercourse which makes +one nation known to another, and puts the culture of the most advanced +at the service of the most barbarous, is like a flood which carries +everywhere the seeds of good and of evil. The ripening of these depends +much upon the accident of the human soil they may happen to find. But +careful husbandry will have even more to do with the result. + +To America it was said at the outset, "Prepare to receive the World, and +to make it free." Oh, World, so full of corruption and of slavery, wilt +thou not rather bind us with thy gangrenous fetters? Wilt not the wail +of thy old injustice and suffering prolong itself until the new strophe +of hope shall be lost and forgotten? + +Where is God's image in this human brute who lands on our shores, full +only of the insolence of beggary? Far, far be from us ever the methods +and procedures which have made or left him what he is. Honor and glory +to those patient, good men and women who will redeem his children from +the degradation which seems almost proper to him. Theirs be a crown +above that of the poet or orator! + +Modern society, then, is chiefly occupied with a vast assimilation of +novelties. This task is by no means imposed upon us alone. While the +New World has to digest races and traditions, the Old World has to +digest ideas. Thanks to the good Puritan stomach which we inherit, the +process goes on here, with little interruption. But across the seas, in +Rome, in Germany, in Russia, what nausea, what quarrelling with the +fatal morsel upon which Providence compels the lips to close! + +"_Non possumus!_" say the priests of the old order. "_Possum_," replies +the eternal power. The French republic and the English monarchy succeed +best in this altering of old habits to suit new emergencies. But where +extremes are greatest, the contest is naturally fiercest. A Pope fears +the cup of poisoned chocolate, and dares not drink the wine of the +eucharist without a taster; the throne of the Russian autocrat is over +the deadly mine of the Nihilist. German vanity and diplomacy bring back +the shadow of the mediæval muddle. The living heart's blood of humanity +comes to us out of these struggles, an immeasurable gift, for good or +for evil. Can we be quick enough with our schools, just enough in our +government, sincere and devout enough in our churches? What will Europe +do with the ideas? What will America do with the people? These are the +questions of the present time. + +One of the serious social questions of the day is the omnipotence of +money. People often use this expression in a _quasi_ sarcastic sense, +not seriously intending what they say. But the power of money nowadays +is such that it becomes us seriously to ask whether there is anything +that it cannot do. What ancient strongholds of taste, sentiment, and +prejudice has it not stormed and carried? + +A servant, who sought a place during the first years of the shoddy +inflation, asked a lady who was willing to engage her, "Are you shoddy, +ma'am, or old family? I want to live with shoddy, because it pays the +highest wages." The watchwords of society as often come from its humbler +as from its higher level, and this woman unconsciously uttered the word +which was to rule society from that time to this. Money, during the last +twenty years, has swept over most of the old landmarks, and obliterated +them. + +Religion itself stands aghast at this baptism of gold, which can convert +the alien and the heathen, ay, the brigand and the robber, into saints +of social prestige. For money bribes the court and pulpit, and buys the +press; the highest rank, the highest genius, pay homage to it. If the +duke has not money, he will seek in wedlock the most undesirable of +women, if she be also the richest. Royalty bows to the splendid cloak of +vulgarity, and invites it to dine and drive. Happy day, you will say, +for labor, which money symbolizes. Monarchs may well show it respect. +But money does not always symbolize honest and intelligent industry. A +great fortune often represents transactions akin to theft; sometimes the +thing itself, which the world is Spartan enough to approve of, if the +criminal can only escape positive detection. Those, too, who have earned +their money honestly, leave it to children who turn their back upon the +class of which their parents came, and desire to know nothing of the +bread-winning arts which they were constrained to practise. + +We have had, within the last ten years, a severe lesson concerning the +instability of wealth in some of its most trusted forms. Yet are we not +compelled by sympathy and antipathy, at the bottom of our hearts, to pay +it an homage which our lips would not avow? Do we not desire wealth for +our children as the condition which shall set our minds at rest +concerning them? When we see mediocrity and vulgarity riding in the +swift carriage, and wearing the jewels and the robes, bright in +everybody's eyes and praised in everybody's mouth, do we not harbor +somewhere a regret that we have not, in some way possible to us, set our +best abilities to work to secure a similar distinction for ourselves? + +It should not frighten one to see the court and its underlings venal. +Court and courtiers are a show, and money is the condition by which a +show lives. But I look into the domain of letters, and ask whether that +is still uncorrupted. I do not think that it is. The refined tastes of +literary people lead them to value entertainment at the hands of the +rich. The luxurious rooms, the abundant table, the easy _persiflage_ in +which worldly tact knows enough to flatter recognized talent. Do not +these _illicebræ_ seduce, to-day, even the stern heart of philosophy? + +How unkind was society to Margaret Fuller! It was reluctant to show her +the courtesy due to a gentlewoman. Its mean gossip treated her as if she +had been beyond the pale of elegance and good taste, verging away even +from good behavior. What was her offence against society? A humanity too +large and absorbing, a mind too brave and independent for its +commonplace. Add to these the fact that she had neither fashion nor +fortune. The things she asked for are granted to-day by every thinking +mind, and she is remembered as illustrious. But if she could come back +to-morrow as she was, poor in purse and plain in person, and assume her +old leadership, would Boston treat her any better than it did in days of +yore? Would she not find, even among Brook farmers, a looking toward +Beacon Street which might surprise her? The literary man, who went so +bravely from abstract philosophy to its concrete expression, whose +learned hands took up the spade and hoe, and whose early peas were +praised by those who contemned his principles, would he, at a later +day,--grown urbane and fashionable,--would he have bowed without a pang +to his former self, if he had met him, dusty and on foot, in Central +Park, he himself being well mounted? + +I said just now that money could buy the press. This is shameful, +because the press, more than any other power, can afford to be frank and +sincere. Freedom is the very breath of life in its nostrils, yet is it +to-day largely salaried by the enemies of freedom. While speaking of the +press, I will mention the regret with which I lately read, in the +"Boston Daily Advertiser," an editorial treating of the expulsion of the +Jesuits from France. The writer, who denounced this measure with some +severity, described the religious body with which it deals as a band of +mild and inoffensive men, chiefly occupied with the tuition of youth. He +might as well have characterized a tiger as a harmless creature, +incapable of the use of firearms. + +To me the worship of wealth means, in the present, the crowning of low +merit with undeserved honor,--the setting of successful villany above +unsuccessful virtue. It means absolute neglect and isolation for the few +who follow a high heart's love through want and pain, through evil and +good report. It means the bringing of all human resources, material and +intellectual, to one dead level of brilliant exhibition--a second Field +of the Cloth of Gold--to show that the barbaric love of splendor still +lives in man, with the thirst for blood, and other _quasi_ animal +passions. It means, in the future, some such sad downfall as Spain had +when the gold and silver of America had gorged her soldiers and nobles; +something like what France experienced after Louis XIV. and XV. I am no +prophet, and, least of all, a prophet of evil; but where, oh where, +shall we find the antidote to this metallic poison? Perhaps in the +homoeopathic principle of cure. When the money miracle shall be +complete, when the gold Midas shall have turned everything to gold, then +the human heart will cry for flesh and blood, for brain and muscles. +Then shall manhood be at a premium, and money at a discount. + +The French have found, among many others, one fortunate expression. They +speak of a life of representation, by which they mean the life of a +person conspicuous in the great world. This society of representation +has some recognition in every stage of civilization, since even nations +which we consider barbarous have their festivals and processions. The +ministerial balls in Paris, and perhaps many other entertainments in +that city, are of this character. + +The guests are admitted in virtue of a card, which is really a ticket, +though money cannot command it. Many of the persons entertained are not +personally acquainted with either host or hostess, and do not +necessarily make their acquaintance by going to their house. Everything +is arranged with a view to large effects: music, decorations, supper, +etc. A party of friends may go there for their own amusement, or a +single individual for his own. But there are no general introductions +given, there is no social fusion. + +Now this I call society of representation. It bears about the same +relation to genuine society that scene-painting bears to a carefully +finished picture. People of culture and education enjoy a peep at this +spectacular drama of the social stage, but their idea of society would +be something very different from this. Where this show-society +monopolizes the resources of a community, it implies either a dearth of +intellectual resources, or a great misapprehension of what is really +delightful and profitable in social intercourse. + +Where the stage form of society predominates too largely, its intimate +form languishes and declines. The communings of a chosen few around a +table simply spread, with no view to the recognition of the great +Babylon, but rather with a pleasure in its avoidance; refined sympathy +and support given and received in a round of daily duties, by those +whose hands are busy and whose minds are full; the inner sweetness of a +beautiful song or poem, the kindling of mind from mind, till all become +surprised at what each can do,--this sort of society maintains itself by +keeping the noisy rush of the crowd at arm's length. Horace says,-- + + "Odo profanum vulgus et arceo," + +and I, a democrat of the democrats, will say so too. I reverence the +masses of mankind, rich or poor. My heart beats high when I think of the +good which human society has already evolved, and of the greater good +which is in store for those who are to come after us. But I hate the +profane vulgarity which courts public notice and mention as the chief +end of existence, and which, in so doing, puts out of sight those +various ends and interests which each generation is bound to pursue for +itself, and to promote for its successors. + +The time of poor Marie Antoinette was the culmination of such a period +of show. Its glare and glitter, and its lavish waste, had put out of +sight the true and intimate relations of man to man. And so, as the +gilded portion of the age made its musters of beautiful empty heads, of +vanities throned upon vanities, the ungilded part made its deadly muster +of discontent, displeasure, and despair. The empty heads fell, and much +that was precious and noble fell with them. The great stage produced its +bloody drama, and the curtain of horror closed upon it. + +Critics of society usually direct their invective against the +extravagance and shallowness of this exhibitory department, and would +almost make these an excuse for the opposite extreme of misanthropic +spleen and avoidance. They should remember that while society, from an +inward necessity, provides for these musterings and displays, it is +unable to provide for that intimate and personal intercourse which +individuals must found and cultivate for themselves. So much is left for +each one of us to do, to find our peers, and open with them an honest +exchange of our best for their best. The family most easily begins this, +with its intense and ever-enlarging interests. Out of true family life +comes a neighborhood; out of a neighborhood the body politic, and the +body sympathetic. + +If, in the matter of social intercourse, show is allowed to usurp the +place of substance, the indolence of mankind must bear its part of the +blame. It is far easier to order a suit for the great occasion, than to +brighten one's mental jewels for the small one. Many a soldier is brave +on parade, who would not shine on a field of battle. Many a woman will +pass for elegant in a ball-room, or even at a court drawing-room, whose +want of true breeding would become evident in a chosen company. + +The reason why education is usually so poor among women of fashion is, +that it is not needed for the life which they elect to lead. With a good +figure, good clothes, and a handsome equipage, with a little reading of +the daily papers, and of the fashionable reviews, and above all, with +the happy tact which often enables women to make a large display of very +small acquirements, the woman of fashion may never feel the need of true +education. We pity her none the less, since she will never know its +peace and delight. + +In our own country, at this moment, and in Europe as well, ambitions +seem to be unduly directed to this department of social action, the +training and discipline for which differ widely from that proper to +intimate and domestic life. Hence comes an observable regard, not to +appearances only, but to appearance. As actors often paint their faces +too highly for near effects, in order to look well at the farthest point +of view, so the dress and manners of the day fit themselves for the +stage of the great world, and their wearers seem to meditate not only +what will not appear amiss, but what will attract attention by some +singularity of becoming effect. Hence the supremacy for the time of +those whose calling it is to minister to appearance. The tailor has +long been a man of destiny, but the modern plainness of male attire has +somewhat sobered his pretensions. But look at the sublime arrogance of +the ladies' dressmaker, and the almost equally sublime meekness of the +victim, who not only submits, but desires to be as wax in her hands. +This supreme functionary has, of course, _carte blanche_ for her +ordinances. The subject says to her, "Do what you will with me. Make me +modest or immodest. Tie up my feet or straighten my arms till use of +them becomes impossible. Deprive my figure of all drapery, or upholster +it like a window-frame. Nay, set me in the centre of a movable tent, but +array me so that people shall look at me, and shall say I look well." + +I cannot but hate, to-day, the slavish fashion which seems to have been +invented in order to intensify that self-consciousness which is the +worst enemy of beauty. It is administered by means of a system of lacets +and whalebones, which everywhere impinge upon nature. A young lady who +is in her dress like a sword in its scabbard (the French name for the +fashion is _fourreau_), is made to think of this point, and of that, +until her whole gait and movement become an interrogation of her silks +and elastics. Can I sit? Can I walk? Can I put this foot forward, or +lift this hand to my head? Ask the satin strait-jacket in which your +artist has imprisoned you, receiving high compensation for the service. +Much as I resent this constraint and restraint of the body, my saddest +thought is, that where it is endured the mind has first been enslaved. + +Foreign travel is so established a feature in American life, that it may +well become us to take account of what it costs and comes to. + +Our own importation of men and women is various and enormous. They who +come to us poor and ignorant in one generation, are seen comfortable and +well educated in the next. The disfranchised and landless man comes to +us, and receives political rights, and the title of a farm in fee +simple. No inordinate tribute robs him of the product of his industry, +be it large or small. He pays to the State what it pays him well to +afford, for protection and education. But how is it with the tribute +which Europe levies upon us in the shape of our sons and daughters? + +Many polite tastes have, no doubt, been fostered in our young men by +studies pursued in a German university, or art learned in a French +studio. Some of the best scholars of the elder generation have profited, +in their youth, by such advantages. But if we go beyond the limits of +literary or professional life, we may not consider the results so +fortunate. Our society-men sometimes become so depolarized in their +tastes and feelings, as to be at ease nowhere but in Europe, and not +much at ease there. Those who return bring back a love of betting and of +horse-racing, and ape the display of European grandees as far as their +fortunes will allow. + +And our young women? Some of them study soberly abroad, and return to +give their countenance and support to all that is improving and refining +in their own country. Some float hither and thither, between England and +Italy, like a feather on the wave, disappearing at last. The Daisy +Millerish chit is seen, offending in pure ignorance of what common-sense +should easily teach mothers and daughters. + +Family groups of Americans are often met with in Europe, in which one +figure is wanting. This is the father, absent, in America, working at +his business or speculation. These ladies are often companionable +people, who enjoy good hotels, galleries, music on the public square, +and, above all, the sensation of being far from home. + +One feels about them a dreary atmosphere of homelessness. As the writer +of the Potiphar papers, while watching a gay young mother's performance +in the "German," was constrained to think of a complaining babe in her +nursery, so, in hearing those ladies boast of their enjoyments, one +cannot help remembering with commiseration the wifeless husband and +daughterless father at home, who works like a steam-fan to keep these +butterflies in motion. + +More sad still are my reflections, when I hear that numbers of American +girls, with large or even moderate fortunes, go abroad and allow it to +be known that they seek a husband with a title. These are to be had, of +various grades, if the pecuniary consideration be only sufficient. And +so many of our laborious men of business work hard in order to earn for +themselves the luxury of a titled son-in-law, who has not the ability to +earn his own support, and would scorn to do it if he had. + +American women with money are at a premium in fashionable Europe. Even +without this supreme merit, they are favorites. A London journal calls +attention to the fact that some of the leading ladies in the fashionable +London of to-day are Americans. The versatility of mind and ease of +manner which a free and social life develops, appear in strong contrast +with the results of the more formal education, which are often seen in +the opposite extremes of timidity and assurance. + +As our young men are often entrapped, while abroad, into marriages which +prove to be very unwise and unsuitable, I wish very much that we might +bring and keep our young people in a better understanding with each +other, so that even the most ambitious among them should be content to +marry with their peers, and abide in the home of their fathers. + +I have been surprised, at some periods of my late visit to Europe, to +perceive the growing interest of thinking people in all that is most +characteristic of American progress. Again and again, in private and in +public, I have found myself invited to discourse concerning the happy +country in which popular education has been so long established, that +its results are no longer putative, but ascertained and verified. The +country in which the fairest woman, provided she be a modest one, can +walk abroad by day or night, unmolested and unsuspected, the country in +which women have acquired the courage to think for themselves, and to +stand by each other. + +These invitations, though not given in derision, yet seemed akin to the +Hebrew refrain, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!" And when I related +the facts familiar to all of us, to those who listened with +half-incredulous wonder, it was, indeed, like singing the Lord's song of +freedom in a strange land. + +The reasons why Europe should come to America are obvious and pressing. +The reasons why America should visit Europe are equally binding and +cogent. The material and the moral life of to-day are kept at their +height by this flux and reflux of human personality, which carries with +it every variety of opinion and experience. Could we only send our best +abroad, and for the best reasons! Could Europe only send her best, also, +for their best help and study! But the human average profits first of +all by its material enlargement, and will be received just as it is. So, +our fools go abroad, to show that folly is a thing of all times and +climes; and, along with the tidal wave of ignorance and bigotry, the +dark, designing Jesuit seeks our shore, and spins his fatal web among +our rose-trees. Sun of divine truth, storms of divine justice, sweep +away the evil and ripen the good! + +When I see an American of either sex caught in the vortex of European +attraction, depolarized from natural relations, and charmed into +alliance with feudal barbarism and ignorance, my heart rings the bell of +alarm which is hung at the gates of Paradise. + +From all these Western splendors can this shallow soul turn away? From +these golden fields whose overflow gives Europe food, while her human +overflow gives them labor? From this large construction of human right, +which lifts the cruel yoke from the neck of labor, and gives him who +earns the livelihood of many his own life to enjoy and perfect? From +this holy record of pious endeavor, from these splendid achievements of +souls inspired by freedom, thou canst go, joyous and triumphant, to pay +homage to the lies which are no longer believed by those who profess +them; lies whose fallacy America exposes every day and hour to the +detection of the world. + +Thou wilt accept a title, empty as an egg-shell, for a thing truly +noble! Thou wilt call a courtier's grimace polite, a courtesan's fashion +elegant! Thou wilt curry favor in a vulgar court, courtesying low to a +prince of harlequins and harlots! Thou, child of the Puritans, wilt +kneel and kiss the hand which, still and sole, disputes with Christ the +mastery of the world! Then art thou simply an anachronism! Some are born +into the world centuries before their time, some centuries after it. + +Other attractions, innocent in themselves, and conceivable to all, +detain some of our valued fellow-citizens in perpetual exile. The quiet +and beauty of English country-life, the literary and artistic resources +of a foreign capital, the romances of ancient chateaux and cathedrals, +some delicious touch of climate, some throbbing beauty of a southern +sky. How delightful we have found these, it is as much a pain as a +pleasure to remember! But let us also call to mind the lesson of a +well-known fairy tale. While Beauty prolongs her absence, the faithful +Beast languishes and comes nigh unto death. While we enjoy these choice +delights, the society to which we belong is sowing its wheat and its +tares. We are far from the field in which the life of our own generation +is planted and tended. Every honest heart, every thinking mind, has its +value in the community to which it belongs. Our value, such as it is, +remains wanting to our community, and, when its crises of trial shall +come, we shall not have been trained by watchful experience to +understand either their cause or their remedy. + +How delightful was Italy to Milton! His Allegro and Pensieroso show that +he could fully appreciate both its mirth and its majesty. He returns not +the less to live out a life of illustrious service in his own country, +where his brave heart and philosophic mind were of more avail to his +time than even his sacred song to ours. + +No one has any reason to be surprised at any new manifestation of human +folly. Yet I am sometimes surprised, to-day, by the disrespect which is +often shown to the word "Protestant." This name dates, at farthest, from +the time of Luther, but the fact for which it stands is as old as human +history. Moses made a protest when he led his people out of the luxury +and slavery of Egypt to find the free hills of Judæa, and to build on +one of them a temple to the God of freedom. Christ made His protest +against the hypocrisy and injustice of the old social and ecclesiastical +order. England and France have made their protests against monarchical +supremacy. Both went back from their daring determination, but the +lesson was not forgotten. The Puritans made their protest when they +faced the frowning sea and the savage wilderness, in order that they +might train their children, and live themselves in the freedom which +conscience asks. Mr. Garrison and his associates made their protest +against American slavery. Mrs. Butler, of England, makes her protest +to-day against the personal degradation of women. Lucy Stone makes hers +against their political enslavement. + +Does society inherit? Is man the heir of man? Whence come those +creatures of the present day who smile, and shrug their shoulders, and +feebly say, "We don't protest. Our fathers did something of the kind, +upon what ground we cannot possibly imagine. But we are quite of another +sort. We don't protest." + +To those courageous souls which, alone and unaided, have been able to +face the world's passion and inertia,--to those leaders of forlorn hopes +who have seen glory in the depths of death and have sought it there,--to +those voices proclaiming in the wilderness the triumphant progress of +truth,--to those brave spirits whose strength the fires of hell have +annealed, not consumed,--my soul shall ever render its glad and duteous +homage. And if, in my later age, I might seek the crowning honor of my +life, I should seek it with that small, faithful band who have no choice +but to utter their deepest conviction, and abide its issues. Fruitful +shall be their pains and privations. They who have sown in tears the +seeds of unpopular virtue, shall reap its happy harvest in the good and +gratitude of mankind. + + + + +CHANGES IN AMERICAN SOCIETY. + + +I have been invited to speak to you to-day concerning changes in +American society. In preparing to consider this subject, I cannot but +remember that the very question of social change is to some people an +open one. The supposition of any real onward movement in society is as +unwelcome and as untrue to these persons as was Galileo's theory +concerning the revolution of the earth around the sun. They will assert, +as indeed they may, that the same crimes are committed in all ages, with +the same good deeds to counterbalance them and that the capital +tendencies of human nature are always substantially the same. This also +must be allowed. The error of these friends consists in overlooking the +most characteristic and human of these tendencies, which is that of +progressive desire. This trait, deeper and stronger than the mere love +of change, pushes the whole heterogeneous mass of humanity onward in a +way from which there is no return. + +The laws of human motive and action, meanwhile, remain as steadfast and +immovable as the laws by whose application Galileo made his discovery. +To discern at once the steadfast truth and its metamorphic developments +will be the task of the greatest wisdom. + +When Theodore Parker invited the religious world to consider the +transient and the permanent elements of Christianity, he made a popular +application of a truth long known to philosophy. This truth is that life +in all of its aspects exhibits these two opposite qualities or +conditions. Much is transient in the individual, more is permanent in +the race. + +The study of anthropology, so greatly enriched to-day by discovery and +investigation, would give us much to say under both of these heads, but +most, I think, under the last. + +I remember that in reading Livy's history of the second Punic war, in +our own war time, I was struck by certain resemblances between the time +in which he wrote and that in which I read him. When I learned from his +pages that the merchants and ship-owners of ancient Rome managed to +impose the most worthless of their vessels upon the government for the +transport of troops and provisions, I exclaimed, "What Yankees these +Romans were!" + +In reading some well-known satires of Horace I have been struck with the +resemblance of the ancient to the modern bore. Boileau's famous take-off +of the dinner given by a _parvenu_ is scarcely more than a French +adaptation of the feast of Nasidienus, as described by the Roman bard +who was Boileau's model. + +In Virgil's account of the good housewife, who rises early in order to +measure out the work of the household, and in Solomon's description of +the thrifty woman of his time, one sees the value set upon feminine +industry and economy in times far removed from our own, yet resembling +it in this appreciation. + +On the other hand, the dissimilarity of ancient and modern society is +equally seen in the same mirror of literature. The mention of matters +which, by common consent, are banished from decent speech to-day, the +position of Woman, from the vestal virgin buried alive for breach of +trust to the _devium scortum_, whom Horace frankly invites to his feast, +the gross superstition which saw in religion little save portents and +propitiation,--these mark on the dial of history an hour as distant from +our own in sympathy as in time. + +You will wish to hear from me some account of changes which have come +within the sphere of my own observation, both as I have been able to see +for myself, and to compare what I have seen with what I have received +from the generation immediately preceding my own. Let me remind you +that, with all the advantages of personal observation, it may be more +difficult for us to give a true account of the age to which we belong +than of more distant times, upon which thought and reflection have +already done their critical and explanatory work. Familiarity so dulls +the edge of perception, as to make us least acquainted with things and +persons making part of our daily life. Mindful of these difficulties, I +will do my best to characterize the threescore years which have carried +me into and out of the heart of the nineteenth century. + +I have seen in this time a great growth in the direction of liberal +thought, of popular government, of just laws and useful institutions. I +have seen human powers so multiplied by mechanical appliances as to +destroy the old measures of time and distance, and almost to justify +the veto once laid by the great Napoleon upon the use of the word +"impossible": "_Ne me dîtes jamais ce bête de mot_," said he; and it has +now become more _bête_ than ever. + +What feature of society has not changed in the phantasmagoria of these +wonderful lustres? Each decade has made a fool of the one which went +before it. Whether in the region of extended observation and experiment, +or in that of subtle and profound investigation, human effort has seemed +in this time to put itself at compound interest, working at once with +matters infinitely little and with matters infinitely great, and surely +introducing mankind to a higher plane of comfort and co-operation than +has been reached in anterior ages. + +While the mechanism of life has thus been brought much nearer to +perfection by the labor of our age, the principles of life remain such +as they have always been. + +Pile luxury as high as you will, health is better, and the body of a +well-fed and not over-worked ploughman is, nine times out of ten, a +better possession than the body of a man of fortune, especially if he be +at the same time a man of pleasure. Marshal and gild the pomp of +circumstance, and do it homage with bated breath, character remains the +true majesty, honor and intelligence its prime ministers. Money can help +people to education, by paying for the support of those who can give it. +But money cannot excuse its possessor from the smallest of the mental +operations through which, if at all, a man comes to know what, as a man, +he should know. + +The great _desiderata_ of humanity still remain these: to preserve the +integrity of nature, the purity of sentiment, and the coherence of +thought. The great extension of educational opportunities which we see +to-day should make the attainment of these objects easier than in ages +of less instruction. But while the pursuit of them is ever normal to the +human race, the inherent difficulties of their attainment remain +undiminished. Without self-discipline and self-sacrifice, no man to-day +attains true education, or the dignity of true manhood. For here comes +in the terrible fact of man's freedom as a moral agent. + +Could our age possess and administer the powers of the universe to its +heart's content, in that heart would yet rest the issues of its life and +of its death. + +The period of which I have to speak has certainly witnessed great +improvements in the theory of hygiene. The old heroic treatment of +diseases has nearly disappeared. The nauseous draughts, the +blood-letting and blisters, have given place to moderate medication, the +choice of climate and the regulation of diet. Women have been admitted +as copartners with men in the guardianship of the public health. +Athletic sports help the student to fresh blood and efficient muscle, +without which the brain sickens and perishes. + +But even in this department how much is left to desire and to do! Our +greatest and richest city is still festering with the corruption that +breeds disease. No board of health seems to have power to sweep its side +streets and dark alleys. Fashion keeps her avenues clean, and neglects +the rest of the vast domain, for which she has her reward in many a +ghastly epidemic. The late Edward Clarke, of Boston,--heaven rest his +soul!--could alarm the whole continent with his threats of the physical +evils which the more perfect education of one sex would entail on both. +But he has left no public protest against the monstrosities of toilet +which deform and mutilate the bodies of women to-day, nor against the +selfish frivolity of life in both sexes, which is equally inimical to +true motherhood and to true fatherhood. + +I have seen in fashions of dress and furniture the curious cycle which +my elders foretold, and which it takes, I should think, half a century +to fulfil. My earliest childish remembrance is of the slim dresses which +display as much as is possible of the outlines of the figure. I remember +the _élégantes_ of Gotham walking the one fashionable street of +fifty-five years ago, attired in pelisses of pink or blue satin. A white +satin cloak trimmed with dark fur seemed, even to my childish +observation, a chill costume for a pedestrian in the heart of winter. My +mother's last Paris bonnet, bought probably in 1825, appeared to her +children, twenty years later, such a caricature, that pious hands +destroyed it, in order that we might have no ludicrous association with +the sweet young creature whose death had left us babes in the nursery. + +After many fluctuations and oscillations, I have seen modern head-gear +near of kin to the subject of this holocaust. I have seen the old forms +and colors return to popular favor. I have even heard that the very +white satin cloak, which seemed _outré_ to the critic of six years, has +been worn and greatly admired in the recent gay world of Paris. The +return in these cases, it must be said, is not to the identical point of +departure. Progress, according to some thinkers, follows a spiral, and +is neither shut in a circle nor extended in a straight line. The hoops +of our great-grandmothers are not the hoops which we remember to have +seen or worn. Their eelskin dresses are not the model of ours. Still, +the recurrence of the same vein of fancy marks a periodical +approximation to the region or belt of influence in which certain +forgotten possibilities suggest themselves to the seeker of novelty, and +in which the capricious, antithetical fancy delights to crown with honor +all that it found most devoid of beauty a few lustres ago. + +Does this encyclical tendency in the familiar æsthetics of life imply a +corresponding tendency in the moral and intellectual movement of +mankind? I fear that it does. I fear that seriousness and frivolity, +greed and disinterest, extravagance and economy, in so far as these are +social and sympathetic phenomena, do succeed each other in the movement +of the ages. But here the device of the spiral can save us. We must make +the round, but we may make it with an upward inclination. "Let there be +light!" is sometimes said in accents so emphatic, that the universe +remembers and cannot forget it. We carry our problem slowly forward. +With all the ups and downs of every age, humanity constantly rises. +Individuals may preserve all its early delusions, commit all its +primitive crimes; but to the body of civilized mankind, the return to +barbarism is impossible. + +The æsthetic elaboration of ethical ideas, always a feature of +civilization, becomes in our day a task of such prominence as to engage +the zeal and labor of those even who have little natural facility for +any of its processes. + +The ignoring of this department of culture by our Puritan ancestors, had +much to do with the bareness of surrounding and poverty of amusement +which almost affright us in the record of their society. With all their +insufficiency, these periods of severe simplicity are of great +importance in the history of a people. The temporary withdrawal from the +sensible and pleasurable to the severe verities of ethical study +accumulates a reserve force which is sure to be very precious in the +emergencies to which all nations are exposed. The reaction against the +extreme of this is as likely to be excessive as was the action itself. + +If we tend to any extreme, nowadays, it is to that of making art take +the place of thought, as may somewhat appear in the general rage for +illustration and decoration. + +The ministrations of art to ethics are indeed unspeakably grand and +helpful. The cathedrals of the Old World, and its rich and varied +galleries, preserve for us the fresh and naïve spirit of mediæval piety. +Religious art, indeed, becomes almost secularized by its repetitions; +yet each of its great works has the isolation of its own atmosphere, and +speaks its own language, which we reverently learn while we look upon +it. + +Of all arts, music is the one most intimately interwoven with the +ethical consciousness of our own time. The oratorios of Handel and of +Mendelssohn so blend the sacred text and the divine music, that we think +of the two together, and almost as of things so wedded by God, that man +must not seek to put them asunder. When I have sat to sing in the chorus +of the Messiah, and have heard the tenor take up the sweet burden of +"Comfort ye my people!" I have felt the whole chain of divine +consolation which those historic words express, and which link the +prophet of pre-Christian times to the saints and sinners of to-day. In +far-off Palestine I have been shown the plain on which it is supposed +that the shepherds were tending their flocks when the birth of the +Messiah was announced to them. But as I turned my eyes to view it, my +memory was full of that pastoral symphony of Handel's, in which the +divine glory seems just muffled enough to be intelligible to our abrupt +and hasty sense. Nay, I lately heard a beloved voice which read the +chapter of Elijah's wonderful experiences in the wilderness. While I +listened, bar after bar of Mendelssohn's music struck itself off in the +resonant chamber of memory, and I thanked the Hebrew of our own time for +giving the intensity of life to that mystical drama of insight and +heroism. + +The transcendentalists of our own country made great account of the +relation of art to ethics, and perhaps avenged the Puritan partiality by +giving art the leading, and ethics the subordinate place in their +statements and endeavors. But the masters of the transcendental +philosophy in Europe did not so. Spinoza, Kant, and Fichte were +idealists of the severest type. Standing for the moment between the two, +I will only say that the danger of forgetting the high labors and +rewards of thought in the pleasure of beautiful sights and sounds is +one to which the highest civilization stands most exposed. To think +aright, to resolve and pray aright, we must retire from those delights +to the contemplation of that whose sublimity they can but faintly image, +as we pass with joy from the likeness of our friend into his presence. + +Love of ornament is by no means synonymous with love of the beautiful. +The taste which overloads dress and architecture with superfluous +irrelevancies, is often quite in opposition to that true sense of beauty +which is indispensable to the artist and precious to the philosopher. +"[Greek: To kalon]," the Greeks said. Was it a naïve utterance on their +part? Was it through their poverty of expression, or their want of +experience, that the same word with them signified the good and the +beautiful? No. It was through the depth of their insight, and the power +of their mental appreciation, that they so stamped this golden word as +that it should show the supreme of form on one of its faces, and the +supreme of spirit on the other. + +The social domain of religion has also undergone a change. In my early +life I remember that all earnest and religious people were supposed to +live out of the great world, and to keep company only with one another +and with the subjects of their charitable beneficence. The +disadvantages of this course are easily seen. Free intercourse with the +average of mankind is one of the most important agencies in enlarging +and correcting the action of the human mind. The exigencies of ordinary +intercourse develop a sense of the dependence of human beings upon each +other, and a power corresponding to the needs involved in this +interdependence. The religious susceptibilities of individuals, which +are at once very strong in their character and very uncertain in their +action, are liable to become either exaggerated or exhausted by a course +of life which should rely wholly upon them for guidance and for +interest. + +Let us, therefore, by all means have saints in the world, keeping to +their pure standard, and recommending it more by their actions than by +their professions. But these saints must be brave as well as pure. +Unworthy doctrine must not escape their reprobation. When a just cause +is contemned, they must stand by it. If the world shall cast them out in +consequence, it will not be their fault. The social leagues which group +themselves around the various churches of to-day, seem to me a feature +of happy augury. It is the office of the church to inspire and direct +the tone of social intercourse, and these associations should greatly +help it to that end. I lately heard Wendell Phillips complain that +church exercises nowadays largely consist of picnics and other +merry-makings. Only a little before, Mr. Phillips, in his reply to Mr. +Parkman's article against Woman Suffrage, had spoken of the growth of +social influence as a good. + +It does, to be sure, look a little whimsical to read on the bulletin of +a Methodist church such announcements as this,--"Private theatricals for +the benefit of the Sunday school." But Wesley introduced the use of +secular tunes in his church on the ground that the devil should not have +all the good music. Neither should he monopolize the innocent amusements +with which, if they are left to him, he does indeed play the devil. + +Although the great ocean will always hold Europe at arm's length from +us, yet the currents of belief and sympathy bring its various peoples +near to us in various ways. I remember to have taken note of this long +before the ocean steamships brought the eastern hemisphere within a few +days' journey from our own seaboard, and very long before the +time-annihilating cables were dreamed of. The French have always had +with us the prestige of their social tact and sumptuary elegance. The +English manners are affected by those among us who mistake the +aristocracy of position for the aristocracy of character. The Italians +rule us by their great artists in the past, and by their subtle policy +in the present. The Germans have, as they deserve, the pre-eminence in +music, in metaphysics, and in many departments of high culture. + +I have not long since been taken to task by a writer in a prominent New +York paper for some strictures regarding the quasi-omnipotence of money +in the society of to-day. The writer in question enlarged somewhat upon +the greatly increased expenditure of money in our own country, as if +this must be considered as a good in itself. He concludes his statement +by remarking that Mrs. Howe has never studied the proper significance of +the money question. I desire to say here only that I have not neglected +the study of this question, which so regards the very life of society. +One of its problems I have ventured to decide for myself, viz., whether +the luxury of the rich really supports the industry of the poor. + +The æsthetic of luxury is a mean and superficial one. The critique of +luxury is compliant and cowardly; and, despite its glittering promise to +pay any price for what it desires, luxury orders poorly, pays poorly, +and in the end undermines the credit of the State, the very citadel of +its solvency. I regret and deplore its prevalence to-day, and consider +it not as the safeguard, but as the most dangerous enemy of republican +institutions. + +In our America, ay, even in our Puritan New England, the day has come in +which economy is a discredit and poverty a disgrace. With the common +school ever at work to lift the social level, unfolding to the child of +the day-laborer the page which instructs the son of the peer, the cry is +still that money is God, and that there is none other. One may ask, in +the business streets, whether rich people have any faults, or poor +people any virtues. A woman who sells her beauty for a rich dower is +honored in church and in State. Both alike bow to the money in her hand. +One proverb says that Time is money, as if it were + + "Only that, and nothing more." + +Another proverb says that Money is power. And in this form, no doubt, it +receives the most fervent worship, for luxury palls sooner or later, +while ambition is never satisfied. But we constantly meet, on the other +hand, with instances in which money is not power. Money does not give +talent or intelligence. You cannot buy good government, good manners, or +good taste: You cannot buy health or life. Do some of you remember the +shipwreck, some twenty years ago, of a steamer homeward-bound from +California? The few survivors told how the desperate passengers brought +their belts and bags of gold to the cabin, and threw them about with a +bitter contempt of their worthlessness. States have such shipwrecks, in +which avenging Fate seems to say to those who have sacrificed all for +wealth, "Thy money perish with thee." + +The heroics of history are full of the story of great ends, accomplished +by very small means. Now a handful of resolute men hold the forces of a +great empire in check, and beat back the ocean surge of barbarism from +the marble of their strong will. Now a single martyr turns the scale of +the world's affection by throwing into the balance the weight of one +small life. Now a State with every disadvantage of territory, cursed +with sterility, or exposed to the murderous overflow of the salt sea, +takes its stand upon the simple determination to conquer for itself a +free and worthy existence. Frederick of Prussia and his small army, +Washington, with his handful of men, in these and so many other +instances, we admire the attainment of mighty ends through means which +seem infinitesimal in proportion to them. How shall it be in our +country, to which Nature has given the widest variety of climate, soil, +and production? Shall we become a lesson to the world in the opposite +direction? Shall we show how little a people may accomplish with every +circumstance in its favor, and with nothing wanting to its success but +the careful mind and resolute spirit? God forbid! + +The belief in pacific methods of settling international differences has +made a noticeable progress in my time. + +In my school-days I remember a grave Presbyterian household at whose +fireside I one day saw an elderly man seat himself, with little notice +from the members of the family. I inquired who he might be, and was +told, with some good-natured laughter, that this old gentleman was the +American Peace Society, _i.e._, the last surviving member of that +association. This was a humorous exaggeration of the truth. Judge Jay, +of New York, was living at that time, and all the enthusiasm of the +peace cause lived in him, and no doubt in many others. I have remembered +the incident, nevertheless; and when I have seen the stately Peace +Congresses held in Europe and elsewhere, when I have seen rapacious +England submitting to arbitration, when I have seen the flag of military +prestige go down before the white banner of Peace, as in the late change +of the ministry in that country, I have remembered that day of small +things, and have learned that the faith of individuals is the small seed +from which spring the mighty growths of popular conviction and sympathy. + +The extensive wars which have taken place within the last forty years, +as extensive and as deadly as any the world ever saw, are sometimes +quoted in derision of those who believe, as I do, in the sober, steady +growth of the pacific spirit among people of intelligence. The reasons +for this advance lie deeper than the vision of the careless observer may +reach. Within the period of our own century the value of human life to +the individual has been greatly increased by the wide diffusion of the +advantages of civilization. The value of the individual to the State has +become greatly increased by the multiplication of industrial resources, +and by the immense emigration which at times threatens to drain the +older society of its working population. The spread of education has at +once undermined the blind belief of the multitude in military leaders, +and toned down the blind ferocity of instinct to which those leaders are +forced to appeal. Wars of mere spoliation are scarcely permitted to-day. +Wars of pure offence are deeply disapproved of. + +The military and diplomatic injustice of past times has left unsettled +many questions of territory and boundary which will not rest until they +shall be set right. The populations which war has plundered and +subjugated, lay their cause before the world's tribunal. In aid of this, +the friends of the true law and order are ever busy in forming a nucleus +of moral power, which governments will be forced to respect. Thus, +though the war-demon dies hard, he is doomed, and we shall yet see the +battlements of his grim cathedrals places for lovers to woo and for +babes to play in. + +In religion I have seen the dark ministrations of terror give way before +the radiant gospel of hope. I remember when Doctrine sat beside the bed +of death, and offered its flimsy synonym to the eyes upon which the +awful, eternal truth was about to dawn. I remember when a man with a +poor diploma and a human commission assumed to hold the keys of heaven +and hell in his hands, and to dispense to those who would listen to him +such immortality as he thought fit. I remember when it went hard with +those who, in forming their religious opinions, persisted in daring to +use the critical power of their own judgment. They were lonely saints; +they wandered in highways and byways, unrecognized, excommunicated of +men. No one had power to burn their bodies, but it was hoped that their +souls would not escape the torment of eternal flame. I have seen this +time, and I have lived to see a time in which these rejected stones, +hewn and polished by God's hand, have come to be recognized as +corner-stones in the practical religious building of the age. What a +discredit was it once to hear Theodore Parker! How happy are they now +esteemed who have heard him! Let not Mr. Emerson's urbanity lead him to +forget the days in which polite Boston laughed him to scorn. Brook Farm +was once looked upon as a most amusing caricature. But when the world +learned something about Nathaniel Hawthorne, George Ripley, William +Henry Channing, John Dwight, and George William Curtis, the public heart +bowed itself with remorseful homage before the ruined threshold of what +was, with all its shortcomings, a blameless temple to ideal humanity. + +It is quite true that every change which I have seen in the society of +my time cannot be said to be, in itself, for the better. The price of +progress, like that of liberty, is eternal vigilance. + +A time of religious enfranchisement may induce a period of religious +indifference. Cosmopolitan enlargement may weaken the force of +patriotism. The charity of society may degenerate into an indifference +concerning private morals, which, if it could prevail, would go far +towards destroying public ones. Humanity ever needs the watchman on the +tower. It needs the warning against danger, the guidance out of it. I +can imagine a set of prophets less absolute than the Hebrew seers, whose +denunciation of evils, near or present, should always couple itself with +profound and sober suggestions of help. And this will be the work of +faith in our day, to believe in the good which can overcome the evil, +and to seek it with earnest and brave persistence. + +Let me return for a moment, very briefly, to what I touched upon just +now, the great changes in religious thought which this century has +witnessed. What manifold contrasts have we observed in this domain! What +a wild and wide chase in the fields of conjecture! What impatience with +the idols of the past, historical and metaphysical! There have been +moments in the last twenty years in which one might have said to the +religious ideals of past ages that the time had come in which every one +who raised his hand against them thought that he was doing God service. +This iconoclasm had its time, and, one supposes, its office. + +But the religious necessities of mankind are permanent, and will outlast +any and all systems of pure criticism. The question arises, in all this +havoc of illusory impressions, Who is to provide for the culture and +direction of those instincts of reverence which are so precious to, so +ineradicable in the race? We must ask this service of those who believe +that religion is, on the whole, wiser than its critics. Those who have +been able to hold fast this persuasion will be the religious trainers of +our youth. Those who have relinquished it will have no more skill to +teach religion than a sculptor will have to feed an army. + +The greatest trouble with human society is, that its natural tendency +leads it, not to learn right measure through one excess, but, on +becoming convinced of this, to rush into an opposite excess with equal +zeal and equal error. The mechanism of society requires constant +correction in order to keep up the succession of order and progress +through and despite this proneness to extravagance and loss of power. +This rectification of direction without interruption of movement is the +office of critical and constructive thought. Precious are the men, and +rare as precious, who carry this balance in their minds, and, while the +ship lurches now on this side and now on that, strain after the compass +with masterful courage and patience. We have all known such men, but we +have known, too, that their type is not a common one. + +Among all who are out of work to-day, so far as the market is concerned, +those men of careful and critical judgment are the least called for, and +the least wished for by the majority of men. Headlong enthusiasm, +headlong activity, headlong doubt and cynicism, the prevalence of these +shows the force with which the present whirl of the spindle was cast. +Fair and softly, my quick-flying Century. To find out whether you are +going right or wrong, whether you are faithful or faithless, solvent or +bankrupt, you must have recourse to these same slow, patient men and +women, who try such questions by a more accurate and difficult method +than that of the popular inclination. + +I find that the philosopher Kant, writing more than a hundred years ago, +remarks that in so sociable an age as his own Culture must naturally be +expected to assume an encyclopedic character. It will, he says, +necessarily desire to present a manifold number of agreeable and +instructive acquisitions, easy of apprehension, for entertainment in +friendly intercourse. + +These words seem prophetic of the efforts after general information, +with a view to conversation as an accomplishment, which have constituted +a marked feature of American and English society within forty years. In +the dissolving view of the public predilection, this object has lost +much of its prominence. The ornate and well-rounded periods of the +conversationist are not more in request, nowadays, than were the +high-sounding sentiments of Joseph Surface to Sir Peter Teazle, when +experience had shown him their emptiness. + +Blunt speech and curt expression rather are in favor. The heroines of +novels are supposed to fall in love with men of a somewhat brutal type. +Adonis is out of fashion. Hercules pleases, and even Vulcan is +preferred. One thinks that the influence of the mercantile spirit may be +recognized in this change. Long speeches and roundabout statements are +found not to pay. The man who listens to them with one ear, hearkens +with the other for the ocean telegrams, news of the stock market, +considers the maturing of a note, the success or failure of a scheme. +When there is no one to listen, loquacity itself will grow economical of +breath. + +The world is quite right in its tacit protest against over talk. A great +deal of empty, irrelevant speech is liable to be imposed upon the +good-nature of society in the garb of instructive conversation. It is +weary to listen by the hour to men or women who principally teach you +their own opinion of their own erudition. But woe to the world if its +haste and greed should ever be such that the true teacher should want an +audience, the long lessons of philosophy find interpreters, but no +pupils. + +The present is, on the whole, an encyclopedic, cosmopolitan era. I +suppose that it succeeds as a reaction to one of more special and +isolated endeavor. The example and influence of Goethe have had much to +do with the formation of the ideas of culture which have been prevalent +in our time. This wonderful man went, with such a happy tact, from one +thing to another. In poetry he did so much, in high criticism so much, +in science so much, and in world-wisdom so much! How naturally were the +lovers of study, who made him their model, led to undertake, as he did, +to render the most eminent service, to attain the highest honors in a +dozen different departments! + +But the man Goethe was more wonderful even than his writings. His +individuality was too powerful to suffer loss through the variety of his +pursuits. He could be at once a courtier and a philosopher, a poet and a +scientist, a critic of morals and a man of the world, and in all things +remain himself. + +I sometimes wonder why we Americans are so apt to show, in our conduct +and remarks, an undue preponderance of what the phrenologists term love +of approbation. This is an amiable and useful trait in human nature, +which may degenerate into a weak and cowardly vanity, or even into a +malignant selfishness. To desire the approbation which can enlighten us +as to the merits of what we have done or attempted, is wise as well as +graceful. To make constant laudation a prominent object in any life is a +capital mistake in its ordering. To prefer the praise of men to the +justification of conscience, is at once cowardly and criminal. I observe +these three phases in American life. I value the first, compassionate +the second, and reprobate the third. Surely, if there is any virtue +which a republican people is bound to show, it is that self-respect +which is the only true majesty, and which can afford to be as generous +and gracious as majesty should be. + +It is, perhaps, natural that many of us should, through a want of +experience, mistake the standpoint of people conspicuous in the older +European society as greatly superior to our own. We can learn much, +indeed, from the observation of such a standpoint; but, in order to do +so, we must hold fast our own plain, honest judgment, as we derive it +from education, inheritance, and natural ability. + +It must, I should think, be very tedious and very surprising to +Europeans to hear Americans complain of being so young, so crude, so +immature. This is not according to nature. Imagine a nursery full of +babies who should bewail the fact of their infancy. Any one who should +hear such a complaint would cry out, "Why, that's the best thing about +you. You have the newness, the promise, the unwasted vigor of +childhood,--gifts so great that Christ enjoined it upon holy men to +recover, if they had lost them." + +If our society is young, its motto should be the saying of Saint Paul to +Timothy, "Let no man despise thy youth." The great men of our early +history deserve to rank with the ripest products of civilization. Was +Washington crude? Was Franklin raw? Were Jay, Jefferson, and Hamilton +immature? The authorities of the older world bowed down to them, and did +them homage. The Republicans of France laid the key of the Bastille at +the feet of Washington. Franklin was honored and admired in the court +circle of Louis XVI. There was a twofold reason for this. These men +represented the power and vigor of our youth; but our youth itself +represented the eternal principles of truth and justice, for whose +application the world had waited long. And thinking people saw in us the +dignity of that right upon which we had founded our hope and belief as a +nation. + +I will instance a single event of which I heard much during my last +visit in Rome. A German, naturalized in America, and who had made a +large fortune by a railroad contract in South America, had purchased +from some European government the title of "Count." He was betrothed to +the sister-in-law of a well-known California millionnaire, whose wife +has been for some years a resident of Paris, where her silver, her +diamonds, and her costly entertainments are matters of general remark. +All of these parties are Roman Catholics. The wedding took place in +Rome, and was signalized by a festival, at which twelve horses, belong +to the bridegroom, were ridden in a race, whose prizes were bestowed by +the hand of the bride. The invitations for this occasion were largely +distributed by a monsignor of the Romish Church, and the king of Italy +honored the newly married pair by his presence. + +Not long after this, I read in the Italian papers that this very count +had become a candidate for a seat in the Italian Parliament. I suppose +that money will assist an election as much in Italy as elsewhere. The +monsignor who interested himself so efficiently about the invitations +for the wedding party, was none other than the master of ceremonies of +Pope Leo XIII. He would, no doubt, have taken even greater interest in +the return of his friend to the Parliament. I do not know whether this +gentleman has ever succeeded in usurping the place of a representative +of the Italian people; but the chance of his being able to do so lay in +the American gold of which he had become possessed. Here is one instance +of the direct relations between Rome and America which Americans so +placidly overlook. + +In this day of the world hope is so strong, and the desire for an +improved condition so prevalent, that much may be looked for in Europe +as the result of the legitimate action and influence of America. But if +American capital busies itself with upholding the shams of the old +world, if American taste and talent are led and pledged to work with the +reactionary agents everywhere against the enfranchisement of the human +race, where shall the hope of the world find refuge? + +Goldsmith has a touching picture of the emigrants who, in his time, were +compelled to leave the country which would not feed them, for a distant +bourne, which could, by no means, be to them a home. But let us assist +at the embarkation of another group of exiles. These people have been +living abroad, and are about to return home. The rich, beautiful land +whose discovery has changed the fortunes of the human race, invites them +on the other side of the Atlantic. The flag which represents the noblest +chapter of modern history waves over them. + +From dynastic, aristocratic Europe they go to inherit the work of an +ancestry heroic in thought and action. They go to the land which still +boasts a Longfellow, a Whittier, an Emerson, a Harriet Beecher Stowe. +Are they glad? Are they happy? No. They have learned the follies of the +old world, not its wisdom. They are not going home,--they are going into +exile. + +Let us look a little at their record in the Europe which they regret so +passionately. They went abroad with money, and the education which it +commands, with leisure and health. What good deeds may they not have +done! What gratifying remembrance may they have left behind them! Shall +we not find them recorded as donors to many a noble charity, as students +in many a lofty school? We shalt indeed, sometimes. But in many cases we +shall hear only of their fine clothes and expensive entertainments, with +possible mortifying anecdotes of their fast behavior. + +If the mother leaves a daughter behind her, it is likely to be as the +wife of some needy European nobleman, who despises all that she is bound +to hold dear, and is proud not to know that which it should be her glory +to understand. + +I said at Concord, and I say it to-day, that the press is much affected +by the money debauch of the period. Let us examine the way in which this +result is likely to be brought about. + +A newspaper or periodical is almost always an investment in which the +idea of gain is very prominent. This expectation may either regard what +the proposed paper shall earn as a medium of information, or the profit +of certain enterprises which its statements may actively promote. + +Special organs are founded for special emergencies, as is a campaign +sheet, or for the advocate of special reforms, like the antislavery +"Standard" of old, and the "Woman's Journal" of to-day. These papers +rarely repay either the money advanced for them, or the literary labor +bestowed upon them. + +Under the head of its earnings the newspaper depends upon two classes of +persons, viz., its advertisers and its subscribers. Either or both of +these may be displeased by the emphatic mention of some certain fact, +the expression of some certain opinion. "If we tell this unwelcome +truth," say the managers, "we shall lose such and such subscribers. If +we take this stand, some of our wealthiest advertising firms will choose +another medium of communicating with the public." The other set of +considerations just spoken of, the enterprises which are to be favored +and promoted, may still more seriously affect the tone and action of the +paper, which will thus be drawn in a twofold way to lend itself to the +publication only of what it will pay to say. + +The annals of journalism in this country will, no doubt, show a fair +average of courageous and conscientious men among its chiefs. I am +willing to believe all things and to hope all things in this direction. +But I must confess that I fear all things, too, in view of a great +power, whose position makes it almost an irresponsible one. And I should +regard with great favor the formation of an unofficial censorship of +public organs, in view not so much of what may be published, as of what +is unfairly left out of the statements and counterstatements of +conflicting interests. + +Of all the changes which I can chronicle as of my own time, the change +in the position of women is perhaps the most marked and the least +anticipated by the world at large. Whatever opinions heroic men and +women may have held concerning this from Plato's time to our own, the +most enlightened periods of history have hardly given room to hope that +the sex in general would ever reach the enfranchisement which it enjoys +to-day. I date the assurance of its freedom from the hour in which the +first university received women graduates upon the terms accorded to +pupils of the opposite sex. For education keeps the key of life, and a +liberal education insures the first conditions of freedom, viz., +adequate knowledge and accustomed thought. This first and greatest step +gained, the gate of professional knowledge and experience quickly +opened, and that of political enfranchisement stands already ajar. The +battle can have but one result, and it has been fought, with chivalrous +temper and determination, not by one sex against the other, but by the +very gospel of fairness and justice against the intrenched might of +selfish passion, inertia, and prejudice. Equal conditions of life will +lift the whole level of society, which is so entirely one body that the +lifting or lowering of one half lifts or lowers the other half. This +change, which in the end appeared to come suddenly, has been prepared by +such gradual tentatives, by such long and sound labor, that we need not +fear to lose sight of it in any sudden collapse. There are women of my +age, and women of earlier generations, who have borne it in their hearts +all their lives through, who have prayed and worked for it, without rest +and without discouragement. Horace Mann was its apostle, Theodore Parker +was its prophet, Margaret Fuller, Lucy Stone, and a host of wise and +true-hearted women, whom the time would fail me to name, have been its +female saints. It was in nature; they have brought it into life; even as +Christ said, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." The slender +thread which crossed the dark abyss of difficulty was not the silken +spinning of vanity, nor the cobweb fibre of madness. From the faith of +pure hearts the steadfast links were wrought, and the great chasm is +spanned, and is ready to become the strong and sure highway of hope, for +this nation and for the nations of the earth. + +The customs of society prescribe the mental garb and gait proper to +those who desire the favorable notice of their peers in their own time. +As these are partly matters of tradition and inheritance, we can learn +something of the merits and demerits of a generation by studying the +habits of familiar judgment which it hands down to its successor. A +narrow, ill-educated generation leaves behind it corresponding garments +of rule and prescription, to which the next generation must for a time +accommodate itself, because a custom or a fashion is not made in a day. +The rulers of society seem often more occupied in dwarfing the mind to +suit the custom than in enlarging the custom so as to fit it to the +growth of mind. The most dangerous rebellions, individual and social, +are natural revolts against the small tyranny which perpetuates the +insufficiency of the past. + +The copper shoes which so cramp the foot of a female infant in China as +to destroy its power of growth, are not more cruel or deleterious than +are the habits of unreflecting prejudice which compress the growth of +human minds until they, too, lose their native power of expansion, and +the idol Prejudice is enthroned and worshipped by those on whom it has +imposed its own deformity as the standard of truth and beauty. + +The heavy tasks which nature imposes upon women leave them less at +leisure than men to reform and readjust these inherited garments. The +necessity for prompt and early action obliges them to follow the +intuitive faculties, as all must do who have not time to work out the +problems of the reasoning ones. The instinct of possession is a ruling +one in human nature, and a woman inheriting a superstition or a +prejudice holds fast to it because it is something, and she has got it. +It seems to her a possession. It may be a mischievous and unfortunate +one, but it will take a good deal of time and thought to find that out. +Those who have the training of women's minds often train them away from +such a use of time and from such a labor of thought. Hence the fatal +persistence of large classes of women in superstitions which the +thinking world has outgrown, and the equally fatal zeal with which they +impose the same insufficient modes of judgment upon their children. + +I pray this generation of women, which has seen such enlargements of the +old narrow order regarding the sex, I pray it to deserve its high post +as guardian of the future. Let it bequeath to its posterity a noble +standard of womanhood, free, pure, and, above all, laborious. + +The standard of manhood really derives from that of womanhood, and not +_vice versa_, as many imagine. However we may receive from tradition the +order of their material creation, in that of training and education, +the woman's influence comes before that of the man, and outlasts it. + +The figure of the infant Christ dwells always in our mind, accompanied +by that of the gracious mother who gave Him to the world. Let the fact +of this great gift prefigure to us the august office of Woman. Hers be +it also to preserve and transmit from age to age the Christian doctrine +and the Christlike faith. And, in order that she may fully realize the +glory and blessedness of giving, let her remember that what is worthily +given to one time is given to all time. + + + * * * * * + + + + + UNIFORM WITH ARNOLD'S POEMS. + + + THE LIGHT OF ASIA; OR, The Great Renunciation. + + Being the Life and Teaching of Gautama, Prince of India and Founder + of Buddhism (as told in verse by an Indian Buddhist). + + BY EDWIN ARNOLD, M.A. + + "It is a work of great beauty. It tells a story of + intense interest, which never flags for a moment; its + descriptions are drawn by the hand of a master with the + eye of a poet and the familiarity of an expert with the + objects described; its tone is so lofty that there is + nothing with which to compare it but the New Testament; + it is full of variety, now picturesque, now pathetic, + now rising into the noblest realms of thought and + aspiration; it finds language penetrating, fluent, + elevated, impassioned, musical always, to clothe its + varied thoughts and sentiments."--OLIVER WENDELL + HOLMES, _International Review_, October, 1879. + + "In Mr. Edwin Arnold, Indian poetry and Indian thought + have at length found a worthy English exponent. He + brings to his work the facility of a ready pen, a + thorough knowledge of his subject, a great sympathy for + the people of this country, and a command of public + attention at home."--_Calcutta Englishman._ + + "'The Light of Asia' is a remarkable poem, and worthy of + a place amongst the great poems of our time. Mr. Arnold + is far more than 'a coiner of sweet words'--he is the + exponent of noble impressions. He is a scholar and a + philosopher; but he is also a true singer."--_London + Daily Telegraph._ + + + LIBRARY EDITION. 16mo. Cloth. Price $1.00 + CHEAP EDITION. 16mo. Paper. Price .25 + + ROBERTS BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, BOSTON. + + + + + _Messrs. Roberts Brothers' Publications._ + + ON THE RIGHT USE OF BOOKS. + + A LECTURE. By WILLIAM P. ATKINSON, Professor of English + and History in the Massachusetts Institute of + Technology. 16mo. Cloth. Price 50 cents. + + "Full of good sense, sound taste, and quiet + humor.... It is the easiest thing in the world to + waste time over books, which are merely tools of + knowledge like any other tools.... It is the + function of a good book not only to fructify, but + to inspire, not only to fill the memory with + evanescent treasures, but to enrich the imagination + with forms of beauty and goodness which leave a + lasting impression on the character."--_N. Y. + Tribune._ + + "Contains so many wise suggestions concerning + methods in study and so excellent a summary of the + nature and principles of a really liberal education + that it well deserves publication for the benefit of + the reading public. Though it makes only a slight + volume, its quality in thought and style is so + admirable that all who are interested in the subject + of good education will give to it a prominent and + honorable position among the many books upon + education which have recently been published. For it + takes only a brief reading to perceive that in this + single lecture the results of wide experience in + teaching and of long study of the true principles of + education are generalized and presented in a few + pages, each one of which contains so much that it + might be easily expanded into an excellent + chapter."--_The Library Table._ + + + READING AS A FINE ART. + + By ERNEST LEGOUVÉ, of the Académie Française. + Translated from the Ninth Edition by ABBY LANGDON + ALGER. 16mo. Cloth. 50 cents. + + + (_Dedication._) + TO THE SCHOLARS OF THE HIGH AND NORMAL SCHOOL. + + For you this sketch was written: permit me to + dedicate it to you, in fact, to intrust it to your + care. Pupils to-day, to-morrow you will be + teachers; to-morrow, generation after generation of + youth will pass through your guardian hands. An + idea received by you must of necessity reach + thousands of minds. Help me, then, to spread abroad + the work in which you have some share, and allow me + to add to the great pleasure of having numbered you + among my hearers the still greater happiness of + calling you my assistants. E. LEGOUVÉ. + + We commend this valuable little book to the + attention of teachers and others interested in the + instruction of the pupils of our public schools. It + treats of the "First Steps in Reading," "Learning-to + Read," "Should we read as we talk," "The Use and + Management of the Voice," "The Art of Breathing," + "Pronunciation," "Stuttering," "Punctuation," + "Readers and Speakers," "Reading as a Means of + Criticism," "On Reading Poetry," &c., and makes a + strong claim as to the value of reading aloud, as + being the most wholesome of gymnastics, for to + strengthen the voice is to strengthen the whole + system and develop vocal power. + + _Sold by all Booksellers. Mailed, post-paid, by the + Publishers_, + + ROBERTS BROTHERS, BOSTON. + + + + + THE NO NAME (SECOND) SERIES. + SIGNOR MONALDINI'S NIECE. + + _Extracts from some Opinions by well-known Authors._ + + "We have read 'Signor Monaldini's Niece' with intensest + interest and delight. The style is finished and + elegant, the atmosphere of the book is enchanting. We + seem to have lived in Italy while we were reading it. + The author has delineated with a hand as steady as it + is powerful and skilful some phases of human life and + experience that authors rarely dare attempt, and with + marvellous success. We think this volume by far the + finest of the No Name Series." + + "It is a delicious story. I feel as if I had been to + Italy and knew all the people.... Miss Conroy is a + strong character, and her tragedy is a fine background + for the brightness of the other and higher natures. It + is all so dramatic and full of color it goes on like a + lovely play and leaves one out of breath when the + curtain falls." + + "I have re-read it with great interest, and think as + highly of it as ever.... The characterization in it is + capital, and the talk wonderfully well done from first + to last." + + "The new No Name is enchanting. It transcends the + ordinary novel just as much as a true poem by a true + poet transcends the thousand and one imitations.... It + is the episode, however, of Miss Conroy and Mrs. Brandon + that is really of most importance in this book.... I + hope every woman who reads this will be tempted to read + the book, and that she will in her turn bring it to the + reading of other women, especially if she can find any + Mrs. Brandon in her circle." + + In one volume, 16mo, bound in green cloth, black and + gilt lettered. Price $1.00. + + _Our publications are to be had of all Booksellers. When + not to be found, send directly to_ + + ROBERTS BROTHERS, BOSTON. + + + + + The No Name (Second) Series. + + + THE COLONEL'S OPERA CLOAK. + + "A jollier, brighter, breezier, more entertaining book + than 'The Colonel's Opera Cloak' has not been published + for many a day. We defy the coldest-blooded reader to + lay it down before it is finished, or to read it + through without feeling his time well spent. There is + plenty of satire in its pages, but it is good-natured + satire. The characters are sharply drawn--some of them + from nature, we fancy--and there is spice enough in the + way of incident to satisfy the most exacting palate. Of + course, everybody will read it, and, in that + presumption, we promise everybody two hours of thorough + enjoyment."--_Boston Transcript._ + + "The No Name Series abounds in contrasts, and that + between 'Signor Monaldini's Niece' and the present story + is among the most decided it has offered. This we do not + mention by way of disparagement. On the contrary, we can + see a distinctive merit in a series which includes so + much variety of aim and interest as this does, without + any regard for the conventional demand that a succession + of stories in the same binding should all be of one + school and in something the same tone. We can see why an + admirer of the last novel may at first be taken aback by + the light tone of this, and in so far disappointed; but + we shall expend no sympathy on that person. 'The + Colonel's Opera Cloak' is a bright and thoroughly + alluring little book, with which it would be foolish to + find fault on any score. And, more than that, it is well + written and brimming over with wit. The notion of a + story in which there is avowedly no hero or heroine + excepting an old opera cloak, is clever, and, so far as + we know, quite new.... We can assure every one who + wishes the double pleasure of laughter and literary + enjoyment, that this is one of the books to carry to the + country."--_Boston Courier._ + + "The author's touch is always that of the artist; it + always has the magic power of portraying individual men + and women, never giving us shadowy outlines, however few + or hurried the strokes of the pencil may be, and saying + this we say that the author of 'The Colonel's Opera + Cloak' has in large measure the best and most necessary + qualification for doing really fine work in fiction. If + he is still young, as certain things in his story + indicate that he is, his future efforts may well be + looked for hopefully."--_N.Y. Evening Post._ + + + In one volume. 16mo. Green cloth. Price $1.00. + + _Our publications are to be had of all Booksellers. + When not to be found, send directly to_ + ROBERTS BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, =BOSTON=. + + + + + SARAH TYTLER'S ART BOOKS. + + + THE OLD MASTERS AND THEIR PICTURES. + + + MODERN PAINTERS AND THEIR PAINTINGS. + + By SARAH TYTLER, author of "Papers for Thoughtful Girls." + 16mo. Cloth, neat. Price of each, $1.50. + + Designed for the use of Schools and Learners in Art, + and extensively used in Academies, Seminaries, &c., + throughout the country. + + "An excellent introduction to the history of + art."--_Daily News._ + + "These two books give in a simple and concise manner + the prominent facts that every one who desires to be + well informed should know about the great artists of + the world. For beginners in art and for school use + they are valuable."--_Courier-Journal._ + + "Really supplies what has long been a want."--_British + Quarterly Review._ + + "We are not aware of any work of the kind written with + so much intelligence which yet is so + untechnical."--_Nonconformist._ + + "Too much praise cannot be given the conscientious + manner in which the author has worked. There is no + obtrusion of useless details or of unwelcome + criticism; but in very pleasant style, with clear and + well-defined purpose, the story of the growth and + progress of art is told through the lives and works of + artists. The volumes are most agreeable reading and + profitable study."--_Boston Post._ + + + MUSICAL COMPOSERS AND THEIR WORKS. + + For the Use of Schools and Students in America. By + SARAH TYTLER. 1 vol. 16mo. $1.50. + + In this unostentatious but carefully written volume, + the author of "Old Masters" and "Modern Painters" has + given a simple account of the great musicians of the + world and of their works. The book is designed more + especially for the use of young people in the course + of their musical education, but the author + trusts--and with very good reason--that it will + commend itself also to older people, who are + interested in the subject, but who have not time or + opportunity to refer to original sources of + information. Not the least attractive portion of the + work is the sketch of Wagner with which it closes. + + + + + [Illustration] + + "NO NAME SERIES." + + _The First Series, completed_, + COMPRISES TWELVE NOVELS, VIZ., + + MERCY PHILBRICK'S CHOICE. HETTY'S STRANGE HISTORY. + IS THAT ALL? WILL DENBIGH, EMAN. + KISMET. THE WOLF AT THE DOOR. + THE GREAT MATCH. MARMORNE. + A MODERN MEPHISTOPHELES. MIRAGE. + AFTERGLOW. GEMINI. + + AND TWO POETICAL VOLUMES: + + DEIRDRÉ. A Novel in Verse. + + A MASQUE OF POETS. Original Poems, by Fifty Poets, + written specially for this book; including "GUY VERNON," + an entire Novelette in verse. + + Fourteen volumes in all, uniformly bound in black cloth, + red and gilt lettered. Price $1.00 each. + + + NO NAME [SECOND] SERIES. + + The new series will retain all the peculiar features + which made the first so popular, differing from it only + in the style of binding. Now ready, + + SIGNOR MONALDINI'S NIECE, + THE COLONEL'S OPERA CLOAK, + HIS MAJESTY, MYSELF, + MRS. BEAUCHAMP BROWN, + Price $1.00 each. SALVAGE. + + _Our publications are to be had of all booksellers. + When not to be found send directly to_ + + ROBERTS BROTHERS, Publishers, BOSTON. + + + + + + THE "NO NAME SERIES." + + KISMET. A Nile Novel. + + + Opinions, generous tributes to genius, by well-known authors + whose names are withheld. + + "Well, I have read 'Kismet,' and it is certainly + very remarkable. The story is interesting,--any + well-told love story is, you know,--but the book + itself is a great deal more so. Descriptively and + sentimentally,--I use the word with entire + respect,--it is, in spots, fairly exquisite. It + seems to me all glowing and overflowing with what + the French call _beauté du diable_.... The + conversations are very clever, and the wit is often + astonishingly like the wit of an accomplished man + of the world. One thing which seems to me to show + promise--great promise, if you will--for the future + is that the author can not only reproduce the + conversation of one brilliant man, but can make two + men talk together as if they _were_ men,--not women + in manly clothes." + + "It is a charming book. I have read it twice, and + looked it over again, and I wish I had it all new to + sit up with to-night. It is so fresh and sweet and + innocent and joyous, the dialogue is so natural and + bright, the characters so keenly edged, and the + descriptions so poetic. I don't know when I have + enjoyed any thing more,--never since I went sailing + up the Nile with Harriet Martineau.... You must give + the author love and greeting from one of the + fraternity. The hand that gives us _this_ pleasure + will give us plenty more of an improving quality + every year, I think." + + "'Kismet' is indeed a delightful story, the best of + the series undoubtedly." + + "If 'Kismet' is the first work of a young lady, as + reported, it shows a great gift of language, and + powers of description and of insight into character + and life quite uncommon.... Of the whole series so + far, I think 'Mercy Philbrick's Choice' is the best, + because it has, beside literary merit, some moral + tone and vigor. Still there are capabilities in the + writer of 'Kismet' even higher than in that of the + writer of 'Mercy Philbrick's Choice.'" + + "I liked it extremely. It is the best in the series + so far, except in construction, in which 'Is That + All?' slight as it is, seems to me superior. + 'Kismet' is winning golden opinions everywhere. I + have nothing but praises for it, and have nothing + but praise to give it." + + "I have read 'Kismet' once, and mean to read it + again. It is thoroughly charming, and will be a + success." + + One volume, bound in cardinal red and black. Price + $1.00. + + Our publications are to be had of all booksellers. When + not to be found, send directly to + + ROBERTS BROTHERS, + Publishers, Boston. + + + + + PUBLISHERS' ADVERTISEMENT. + _From the Boston Daily Advertiser._ + + + THE "NO NAME SERIES." + + "LEIGH HUNT, _in his 'Indicator,' has a pleasant + chapter on the difficulty he encountered in seeking a + suitable and fresh title for a collection of his + miscellaneous writings. Messrs. Roberts Brothers have + just overcome a similar difficulty in the simplest + manner. In selecting_ "NO NAME," _they have selected + the very best title possible for a series of Original + American Novels and Tales, to be published Anonymously. + These novels are to be written by eminent authors, and + in each case the authorship of the work is to remain an + inviolable secret. "No Name" describes the Series + perfectly. No name will help the novel, or the story, + to success. Its success will depend solely on the + writer's ability to catch and retain the reader's + interest. Several of the most distinguished writers of + American fiction have agreed to contribute to the + Series, the initial volume of which is now in press. + Its appearance will certainly be awaited with + curiosity_." + + [Illustration] + + The plan thus happily foreshadowed will be immediately + inaugurated by the publication of "MERCY PHILBRICK'S + CHOICE," from the pen of a well-known and successful + writer of fiction. + + It is intended to include in the Series a volume of + anonymous poems from famous hands, to be written + especially for it. + + The "No Name Series" will be issued at convenient + intervals, in handsome library form, 16mo, cloth, price + $1.00 each. + + + ROBERTS BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS. + BOSTON, Midsummer, 1876. + + + * * * * * + + + + + TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES + + + Punctuation has been normalized. + + On page 52 "immediatly" changed to "immediately". + "... the generation immediately preceding my own." + + On page 54 "self-dicipline" changed to "self-discipline". + "Without self-discipline and self-sacrifice...." + + On page 61 "superflous" changed to "superfluous." + "... with superfluous irrelevancies...." + + On page 72 "religous" changed to "religious." + "... will be the religious trainers...." + + On page 72 capitalization in "Who" retained as printed. + + On page 86 "aginst" changed to "against." + "... revolts against the small tyranny...." + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Modern Society, by Julia Ward Howe + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MODERN SOCIETY *** + +***** This file should be named 36489-8.txt or 36489-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/4/8/36489/ + +Produced by Sharon Joiner, paksenarrion, Bryan Ness and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Modern Society + +Author: Julia Ward Howe + +Release Date: June 21, 2011 [EBook #36489] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MODERN SOCIETY *** + + + + +Produced by Sharon Joiner, paksenarrion, Bryan Ness and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 408px;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="408" height="600" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + +<h1><span class="smcap">Modern Society.</span></h1> + +<p class="grande">BY</p> +<p class="venti">JULIA WARD HOWE.</p> + +<p class="center">BOSTON:<br /> +ROBERTS BROTHERS.<br /> +1881.<br /></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span></p> + +<p class="center"><br /><br /><span class="smcap">Copyright</span>, 1880,<br /> +BY ROBERTS BROTHERS.</p> + +<p class="center"><br /><br /> +PRINTED BY<br /> +ALFRED MUDGE AND SON.<br /></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Modern Society</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_5">5</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Changes in American Society </span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_49">49</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><span class="smcap">Modern Society.</span></h2> + + +<p>What means this summons, oh friends! to the +groves of Academe? I heard, in the distance, the +measured tread of Philosophy. I mused: "How +grave and deliberate is she! How she matches +thought with thought! How patiently she questions +inference and conclusion! No irrelevance, +no empty ballooning, is allowed in that Concord +school. Nothing frivolous need apply there for +admission." And lo! in the midst of this severe +entertainment an interlude is called for in the +great theatre. The stage manager says, "Ring +up Puck. Wanted, an Ariel." And no Shakespeare +being at hand, I, of the sex much reproved +for never having produced one, am invited to fly +hither as well as my age and infirmities will allow, +and to represent to you that airy presence whose +folly, seen from the clouds, is wisdom; that presence +which, changing with the changes of the year <span class="pagenum"> +<a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> +and of the day, may yet sing, equally with the +steadfast stars and systematic planets,—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The hand that made me is divine."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Modern society, concerning which you have bid +me discourse to you, is this tricksy spirit, many-featured +and many-gestured, coming in a questionable +shape, and bringing with it airs from heaven +and blasts from hell. I have spoken to it, and it +has shown me my father's ghost. How shall I +speak of it, and tell you what it has taught me? +You must think my alembic a nice one indeed, +since you bid me to the analysis of those subtle +and finely mingled forces. You have sent for me, +perhaps, to receive a lesson instead of giving one. +You may intend that, having tried and failed in +this task, I shall learn, for the future, the difficult +lesson of holding my peace. For so benevolent, +so disinterested an intention, I may have more +occasion to thank you beforehand, than you shall +find to thank me, having heard me.</p> + +<p>But, since a text is supposed to make it sure +that the sermon shall have in it one good sentence, +let me take for my text a saying of the philosopher +Kant, who, in one of his treatises, rests +much upon the distinction to be made between <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> +logical and real or substantial opposition. According +to him, a logical opposition is brought in view +when one attribute of a certain thing is at once +affirmed and denied. The statement of a body +which should be at once stationary and in motion +would imply such a contradiction, of which the +result will be <i>nihil negativum irrepræsentabile</i>.</p> + +<p>A real or substantial opposition is found where +two contradictory predicates are recognized as +coexistent in the same subject. A body impelled in +one direction by a given force, and in another by +its opposite, is easily cogitable. One force neutralizes +the other, but the result is something, viz., +rest. Let us keep in mind this distinction between +opposites which exclude each other, and opposites +which can coexist, while we glance at the contradictions +of all society, ancient as well as modern.</p> + +<p>How self-contradictory, in the first place, is the +nature of man! How sociable he is! also how +unsociable! We have among animals the gregarious +and the solitary. But man is of all animals +at once the most gregarious and the most +solitary. This is the first and most universal contradiction, +that of which you find at least the indication +in every individual. But let us look for a +moment at the contrasts which make one individual <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> +so unlike to another. We sometimes find it +hard to believe the saying that God hath made of +one blood all the nations of the earth. This in +view of the contrast between savage and civilized +nations, or between nations whose habits and +beliefs differ one from the other. In the same +race, in the same family also, we shall find the unlikeness +which seems to set the bond of nature +at defiance.</p> + +<p>See this sly priest, bland and benevolent in proportion +to the narrow limits of the minds which +he controls. He hears the shrift of the brigand +and assassin, of the girl mastered by passion, of the +unfaithful wife and avenging husband. He gives +an admonition, perhaps a grave one. He inflicts +a penance, light or severe. He does not trust his +penitents with the secret which can heal the +plague-sores of humanity,—the secret of its +moral power. But see the meek flock who come +to him. See the whole range of consciences +which cannot rest without his dismissing <i>fiat</i>. +The rugged peasant drops on his knees beside the +confessional. His horny palm relinquishes, without +hesitation, the coin upon which it has scarcely +closed. Or here alights from her carriage some +woman of the world, bright in silks and jewels. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> +With a hush and a rustle, reaching the lowly +bench, she, too, drops down, rehearses her wrong-doing, +promises such reparation as is enjoined, +and asks for the word of peace. Now this confessor, +and one or more of his penitents, may be +the children of the same father and mother, and +yet they shall be as unlike in attitude and in character +as two human beings can be. In the closest +alliance of blood you may thus find the opposite +poles of one humanity.</p> + +<p>Humanity is, then, a thing of oppositions, and +of oppositions which are polar and substantial. +Its contradictions do not exclude, but, on the contrary, +complement each other, and the action and +reaction of these contradictions result in the +mighty agreements of the State and of the +Church, the intense sympathies and antipathies +which bind or sunder individuals, the affections +and disaffections of the family.</p> + +<p>The opposite extremes of human nature embrace, +between them, a wonderful breadth and +scope. The correlation and coaction of this multitude +of opposing forces on the wide arena of the +world naturally give rise to a series of manifestations, +voluntary and involuntary, changeful in +form and color as a phantasmagoria, fitful as a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> +fever-dream, but steadfast and substantial in the +infinite science, out of which all things come. +The unity in this web of contradictions is its +great wonder. How if this unity prove to be the +law of which the oppositions are but one clause? +How if the perfect unity were only attainable +through the freedom of the natural diversity? +And what is the substance and sum of this fundamental +agreement? The desire of good, the progressive +conception of which marks, more than +anything else, the progress of the race. We +cannot tell out of what dynamics comes the initial +of this fruitful and productive opposition. It is, +perhaps, the very unity of the object which develops +the diversity of action. In the progress of +human society the diversity becomes constantly +multiplied. Is the sense of the unity lost in consequence? +No, it grows constantly with the +growth of this opposing fact. As education is +enlarged, as freedom becomes more general and +entire, the agreement of mankind becomes greater +in the objects to be attained for the promotion of +their best interests.</p> + +<p>We can suppose a family cast upon a barren +shore, or forced to sit down in the midst of an +uninhabited region. All of its members will wish <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> +to secure the necessary conditions of life, such as +food, fuel, shelter, safety from destructive agencies. +If left to themselves, one will naturally +bestir himself to find fish, game, or fruits; another +will bring in firewood; a third will plan a tent or +hut; a fourth will stand sentry against any possible +alarm. So a camp is a world in miniature; +and if food and drink be plenty, and there be time +to think of recreation, some one will carve a +pipe from reed or willow, and, in answer to the +piping, will come the dance. Or, if our pilgrims +are too mystic and solemn for this, hymns will be +sung, and the voice of prayer will lift the soul out +of the poverty of its surroundings into that realm +of imagination whose wealth far exceeds that of +Ormus or of Ind.</p> + +<p>I seem to hear at this point the <i>non placet</i> of +those who ask for one thing and receive another. +I was not sent for to philosophize, but to represent; +and, with regard to the former process, "how +not to do it" should have been my study. Modern +society is my theme. Where shall I find society +for you? Henry Thoreau found it here, in the passionless +face of Nature. Here, the shy Hawthorne +could dwell unmolested, not even overshadowed by +the revered sage who makes reserve and distance <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> +such important elements of good manners. Mr. +Alcott has transplanted here those olives whose +sacred chrism rests upon his honored brow. The +society which my words shall introduce here must +be neither vulgar nor dull.</p> + +<p>Now, if I had a flying-machine! Well, I have +one, and its name is Memory. Sit with me, upon +its movable platform, and I will give you some +peeps at the thing itself, leaving you to discuss +after me its <i>raison d'être</i>, its right to be. In +experimental analysis, specimens are always exhibited. +Let us look at modern society in Cairo, +Shepherd's hotel, and the omnibus that bears one +thither. The <i>table d'hôte</i> unites a catalogue as +various as that of Don Giovanni. Here sit Sir +Samuel and Lady Baker, famous as African explorers. +You may all know something of the +entertaining volumes which chronicle their discoveries +and adventures. Lady Baker wears, at +times, a necklace made of tiger's claws. Her +husband shot the tiger in the great wilds of +Africa, she loading the gun with which he did it.</p> + +<p>She is Roumanian by birth, English by adoption, +fair and comely. Sir Samuel is a burly +Briton. They have with them a young African +servant, dark and under-sized, with wild, crimped <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> +hair. Sir Samuel tells me that this is altogether +the best human creature he ever knew. Lady +Baker does not resent the extreme statement. +I sit at table between a Russian count and an +English baronet. The Russian and his two +daughters are amiable and simple people. The +baronet is a stanch Tory, as you will think +natural when you hear his story. He was once +a poor boy, hard at work in a coal mine. He used +to walk six or seven miles daily, after working +hours, in order to acquaint himself with those +three Fates who are familiarly called the three +R's. Becoming an expert in the coal business, +he went through the upward grades of his profession, +became a large owner of mines, and has +now a heavy contract for supplying the Egyptian +government with coal. He is a member of Parliament, +and, when I saw him, was ready to start +homeward on the first news of a division in the +House. It was lately stated in a London paper +that Lord Beaconsfield would probably raise him +to the peerage before his own retirement from +office. So, it may have been done by this time.</p> + +<p>My Russian neighbors are much troubled about +the fate of a poor Italian family whose chief has +lost his occupation, and which is thus reduced to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> +the extreme of want. "Why not get up a subscription +at this hotel?" say I. They are very +willing that I should. I draw up a paper, we sign +our names and contributions. Sir George snubs +us dreadfully, but gives us a sovereign. Sir +Samuel snubs, and gives nothing. The necessary +sum of money is raised, and the family is sent +to its own country. Here, you see, are Russia, +England, and America, combining, on Egyptian +soil, to save Italy. This strange mixture is characteristic +of the medley of the time.</p> + +<p>We will not move yet, for the panorama of the +table will save us that trouble. Here is one of +the recognized beauties of London society. A +very pretty woman, with dewy eyes, pearly teeth, +dark, glossy hair, and a soft, fresh complexion. +A French wardrobe sets off those natural advantages, +with its happy disguises and apposite revelations. +But it is not good for beauty that it should +become a profession. This lady's fine eyes and +teeth are made to do duty with such evident persistence +of intention, that one absolutely dreads +to see the glitter of the one and the flash of the +other in the gymnastic of an advertised flirtation.</p> + +<p>I cannot yet release you. Here are two gentlemen +who wear the <i>tarbouche</i> with their European <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> +costume. They were rebels in our war of secession, +and at its close took service with the Khedive. +Ignoring ancient sectional differences, they are +very cordial with us, their countrywomen. They +would be glad to see their country again, but +cannot get their salaries paid, the French and +English commissioners having taken the direction +of Egyptian finances, and making no allowance +for the past services of these American officers, +who were dismissed at their instance.</p> + +<p>We are still at Shepherd's <i>table d'hôte</i>, and +before us sit an English nobleman and his wife, +who have obtained permission to give a <i>fête</i> at +the Pyramids. A gay party of English residents +and visitors are gathering to accompany them, +and presently the carriages and cavalcade start, +with a band of music, and a small army of servants. +They illuminate the Great Pyramid with +colored fires, race their horses and donkeys through +the desert, sup and sleep in the Khedive's <i>kiosk</i>, +not without much boisterous mirth and disturbance.</p> + +<p>Or, behold me on Bairam day, paying a New-Year's +visit to the harem of the Khedive. A row +of grinning eunuchs, black as night, guard the +entrance. After various turns of ceremonial, we <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> +greet the three princesses, all wives of the Khedive, +who has many others not of this rank. In +order not to give offence, we are obliged to smoke +the <i>chibouque</i>, a pipe about five feet in length. We +smile and courtesy at the proper moment, but +find conversation difficult. They are curious to +hear where we came from, and whither we are +going. I ask whether they, also, enjoy travelling, +and am reminded that their institutions do not +allow it. These poor princesses little knew that +in two months from that time an involuntary journey +awaited them, on the occasion of the Khedive's +abdication, and departure from the country.</p> + +<p>We please ourselves, in these days, with the +praise of Islamism, and think, quite rightly, that +Mahomet and his Koran had their <i>raison d'être</i>, +and have done their part for mankind. But here +is Islamism in modern society. The howling dervishes +sit on the ground groaning <i>Allah, Allah</i>. +By and by they rise, and bend their heads backward +and forward until the most eminent among +them fall in fits, and are taken up in an unhappy +condition. Within a short distance from our +hotel, we hear of a company of men met for a +religious exercise. One of them chews a glass +goblet and swallows it. Another endeavors to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> +swallow a small snake. A third gashes himself +wildly with a sword. These are religious enthusiasts. +If their faith be genuine, these dangerous +experiments, they say, can do them no harm.</p> + +<p>These things remind us of the temptation of +Christ: "If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself +down from hence."</p> + +<p>But let us leave the city and hotel, and betake +ourselves to the historic river, dumb with all its +mouths, and poor with all its wealth. Modern +society is well represented on board our steamer. +Here are two Californian gentlemen, two sons of +a Sandwich Island missionary, two or three Italians. +Here is a sister-in-law of John Bright. +She has visited Alaska, and considers this Nile +trip a small parenthesis in her voyage round the +world. Here are an English couple, belonging +to fashionable life. Here is a clergyman of the +same nation, who glories in the fact that Dr. +Johnson hated, or said he hated, a Whig. Here +is an American who cannot visit the ruins because +his whole day is divided into so many glasses of +milk, to be taken at such and such times.</p> + +<p>We land one day at Assiout, and visit its bazaars. +The trade in ostrich feathers is brisk, the natives +steadily raising their prices as the demand increases, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> +until we find that the feathers might be +more cheaply bought in London or Paris. Amid +the general confusion of tongues I am accosted +by a handsome youth, cleanly and civil, who +speaks fair English, and asks if he can serve +me.</p> + +<p>Who are you? A pupil of the American Mission +School in this place. He brings two of his +fellow-pupils to speak with me. One of these is +a girl, whose innocent, uncovered face seems to +rebuke the hidden faces of the Arab women, veiled +and disfigured to evince their modesty, but making +more evident the immodesty of the men.</p> + +<p>We return to our steamer, followed by a crowd +of boys and girls, shrieking and naked, who plunge +into the water to get the <i>backshish</i>, which some +of our party throw them. On the bank stand two +beautiful youths, nearly black, with eyes like sloes, +and with crisped hair standing erect like a flame +above their foreheads. They are clad in kilts of +white cotton cloth. Struck with their beauty, we +inquire of what tribe they are. "Of the Bischouri," +says our dragoman, "a tribe of the +desert, who feed only upon uncooked grain." To +the last their bright smile pursues us with its +pathos. Would that they, too, were pupils of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> +American Mission School. Would not our vegetarian +chief send for them?<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Mr. Alcott, Dean of the Concord School of Philosophy, has +always been known as a vegetarian.</p></div> + +<p>We gallop across the sands to a point opposite +Philæ, and reach the sacred spot by boat. We +picnic among its tombs, climb its <i>pylon</i>, and +remark upon the beauty of the view. At the +first cataract, which is very near this place, an +Arab woman shows me her baby with the pride +of Eve or Queen Victoria. It has a nose-ring +of brass wire, and similar adornments in the top +of each ear. On my way back to the boat, my +pocket is picked by a cunning youth. The Arabs +of the desert will compare in this respect with +the Arabs of European streets. A little Arab +girl offers to sell me her rag doll, whose veil is +bedizened with spangles. A little water-carrier, +proud of her English, says, "Lady, give me backshish."</p> + +<p>This shall end my peep at modern society in +Egypt.</p> + +<p>But one more personal remembrance you must +accord me. The scene is a dirty, muddy street in +a Cyprus seaport. The time is not far from noon. +I am exploring, with some curiosity, the new jewel <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> +which Lord Beaconsfield has added to the crown +of Great Britain.</p> + +<p>What a mean, poor bazaar is this; what dull +streets, what a barren place to live in, especially +since <i>methymenic</i> Albion has drunk up all the +best of the wine! I pass a shop, and a bright +presence beams out upon me. It is Lady Baker, +with her fair, luminous face, full of energy and +resource. Sir Samuel, she tells me, is in the back +shop buying hardware for a hard journey. For +they intend to travel through the island in a huge +covered wagon, drawn by oxen, which will be to +them at once vehicle and hotel. Where they +went, and how they fared, I know not, nor would +it here import us, if I did. I only mention the +appearance of these friends in this place, because +this appearance was so characteristic of modern +society, and because so many of its elements +appeared there in their persons. The education +and high society of England, the court, the literary +circles, the almighty publisher, for an intended +volume was surely looming in the foreground +of their picture. And here I have clearly +got hold of one feature of modern society; this +is, that everything is everywhere. The Zulus +are in London, the Londoners in Zululand. Empress <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> +Eugenie, the exploded star of French fashion +in its highest supremacy, visits Cape Town. The +stars and stripes protect American professors on +the shores of the Bosphorus, within view of Mount +Lebanon. It would not surprise us to learn that +a party of our countrymen had read the Declaration +of Independence beside the Pools of Solomon, +or within the desolate heart of Moab.</p> + +<p>In Jaffa of the Crusaders, Joppa of Peter and +Paul, I find an American Mission School, kept by +a worthy lady from Rhode Island. Prominent +among its points of discipline is the clean-washed +face which is so enthroned in the prejudices of +Western civilization. One of her scholars, a youth +of unusual intelligence, finding himself clean, observes +himself to be in strong contrast with his +mother's hovel, in which filth is just kept clear +of fever point. "Why this dirt?" quoth he; "that +which has made me clean, will cleanse this also." +So without more ado, the process of scrubbing is +applied to the floor, without regard to the danger +of so great a novelty. This simple fact has its +own significance, for if the innovation of soap and +water can find its way to a Jaffa hut, where can +the ancient, respectable, conservative dirt-devil +feel himself secure? <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p> + +<p>The maxim also becomes vain nowadays, that +there should be a place for everything, and that +everything should be in its place. Cleopatra's +Needles point their moral in London and in New +York. The Prince of Wales hunts tigers in the +Punjaub. Hyde Park is in the desert or on the +Nile. America is all over the world. Against this +universal game of "Puss in the Corner," reaction +must come, some day, in some shape, or anywhere +will mean nowhere, for those who, starting in the +geographical pursuit of pleasure, fail to find it and +never return home.</p> + +<p>The oppositions of humanity have undergone +many changes. Paul characterized them in his +day as "Greek and Barbarian, bond and free, male +and female." Christianity effaced old oppositions +and created new ones. The old oppositions were +national, personal, selfish. The new opposition +was moral. It struck at evils, not at men, and +tended to unite the latter in a patient and reasonable +overcoming of the former. I know that the +white heat at which its first blow was dealt left +much for philosophy to elaborate, for science to +adjust and apply. A Jesus, arrived at the plenitude +of his intellectual vigor, could only have three +years in which to formulate his weighty doctrine, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> +and could not have had these without much care +and hindrance. His work lay in the normal +direction of human nature. In spite of lapses and +relapses, mankind slowly creep towards the great +unification which will make the savage animals +and the selfish passions the only enemies of the +human race. Modern society rests upon this unification +as its basis of action. A positive philosophy +which Auguste Comte did not elaborate +absorbs its highest thought, and dictates its +largest measures.</p> + +<p>And so prophetic souls bid farewell to the old +negations. In their view, the lion is already reconciled +to the lamb. The taming of the elements +prefigures the general reconciliation. The deadly +lightning runs on errands and carries messages. +The Titan steam is the servant of commerce +and industry, meek as Hercules when armed with +the distaff of Omphale. Emulation, the desire +to excel, exquisite, dangerous stimulant to exertion, +is not in our day educated to the intensification +of self, but to the enlargement of public +spirit and of general interest. The constant discoveries +of new treasures in our material world, +of gold, silver, iron, and copper, of states to be +built up and of harvests to be sown and reaped, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> +are accompanied by corresponding discoveries concerning +the variety of human gifts and their application +to useful ends. What men and women can +be good for may be more voluminously stated +to-day than in any preceding age of the world's +history.</p> + +<p>Comparison should be a strong point in modern +society. When travelling was laborious and difficult, +the masses of one country knew little concerning +those of another. When learning was +rare, and instruction costly and insufficient, the +few knew the secrets of thought and science, the +many not even knowing that such things were to +be known. When wealth was uncommon, luxury +was monopolized by a small class, the greater part +of mankind earning only for themselves the right +to live poorly. When distinctions were absolute, +low life knew nothing of high life but what the +novelist could invent, or the servant reveal. How +changed is all this to-day! Competence, travel, +tuition, and intelligent company are within the +reach of all who will give themselves the trouble +to attain them. The first consequence of this is +that we become able to make the largest and most +general comparison of human conditions which +has ever been possible to humanity, nor does this <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> +ability regard the present alone. The unveiling +of the treasures of the past, the interpretation of +its experience and doctrine which we owe to the +scholar and archæologist, enable us to compare +remote antiquity with the things of the last minute. +The work of antiquarian science culminates +in the discovery of the prehistoric man. Theology +had long before invented the post-historic +angel. Now, indeed, we ought to be able to +choose the best out of the best, since the whole +is laid in order before us. But the chronic trouble +hangs upon us still. Had we but such wisdom to +choose as we have chance to see! The gifts of +our future are still shown us in sealed caskets. +Which of these conceals the condition of our true +happiness? The leaden one, surely, of which we +distrust the dull exterior, trusting in the inner +brightness which it covers.</p> + +<p>What is the problem of modern society?</p> + +<p>How to use its vast resources. Here is where +the office of true ethic comes in. No gift can +make rich those who are poor in wisdom. The +wealth which should build up society will pull it +down if its possession lead to fatal luxury and +indulgence. The freedom of intercourse which +makes one nation known to another, and puts the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> +culture of the most advanced at the service of the +most barbarous, is like a flood which carries everywhere +the seeds of good and of evil. The ripening +of these depends much upon the accident of +the human soil they may happen to find. But +careful husbandry will have even more to do with +the result.</p> + +<p>To America it was said at the outset, "Prepare +to receive the World, and to make it free." +Oh, World, so full of corruption and of slavery, +wilt thou not rather bind us with thy gangrenous +fetters? Wilt not the wail of thy old injustice and +suffering prolong itself until the new strophe of +hope shall be lost and forgotten?</p> + +<p>Where is God's image in this human brute who +lands on our shores, full only of the insolence of +beggary? Far, far be from us ever the methods +and procedures which have made or left him what +he is. Honor and glory to those patient, good men +and women who will redeem his children from the +degradation which seems almost proper to him. +Theirs be a crown above that of the poet or +orator!</p> + +<p>Modern society, then, is chiefly occupied with a +vast assimilation of novelties. This task is by no +means imposed upon us alone. While the New <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> +World has to digest races and traditions, the Old +World has to digest ideas. Thanks to the good +Puritan stomach which we inherit, the process +goes on here, with little interruption. But across +the seas, in Rome, in Germany, in Russia, what +nausea, what quarrelling with the fatal morsel +upon which Providence compels the lips to close!</p> + +<p>"<i>Non possumus!</i>" say the priests of the old +order. "<i>Possum</i>," replies the eternal power. The +French republic and the English monarchy succeed +best in this altering of old habits to suit new +emergencies. But where extremes are greatest, +the contest is naturally fiercest. A Pope fears the +cup of poisoned chocolate, and dares not drink the +wine of the eucharist without a taster; the throne +of the Russian autocrat is over the deadly mine of +the Nihilist. German vanity and diplomacy bring +back the shadow of the mediæval muddle. The +living heart's blood of humanity comes to us out of +these struggles, an immeasurable gift, for good or +for evil. Can we be quick enough with our schools, +just enough in our government, sincere and devout +enough in our churches? What will Europe do +with the ideas? What will America do with the +people? These are the questions of the present +time. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p> + +<p>One of the serious social questions of the day +is the omnipotence of money. People often use +this expression in a <i>quasi</i> sarcastic sense, not seriously +intending what they say. But the power of +money nowadays is such that it becomes us seriously +to ask whether there is anything that it +cannot do. What ancient strongholds of taste, +sentiment, and prejudice has it not stormed and +carried?</p> + +<p>A servant, who sought a place during the first +years of the shoddy inflation, asked a lady who +was willing to engage her, "Are you shoddy, +ma'am, or old family? I want to live with shoddy, +because it pays the highest wages." The watchwords +of society as often come from its humbler +as from its higher level, and this woman unconsciously +uttered the word which was to rule society +from that time to this. Money, during the +last twenty years, has swept over most of the old +landmarks, and obliterated them.</p> + +<p>Religion itself stands aghast at this baptism of +gold, which can convert the alien and the heathen, +ay, the brigand and the robber, into saints of +social prestige. For money bribes the court and +pulpit, and buys the press; the highest rank, the +highest genius, pay homage to it. If the duke <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> +has not money, he will seek in wedlock the most +undesirable of women, if she be also the richest. +Royalty bows to the splendid cloak of vulgarity, +and invites it to dine and drive. Happy day, you +will say, for labor, which money symbolizes. Monarchs +may well show it respect. But money does +not always symbolize honest and intelligent industry. +A great fortune often represents transactions +akin to theft; sometimes the thing itself, which +the world is Spartan enough to approve of, if the +criminal can only escape positive detection. Those, +too, who have earned their money honestly, leave +it to children who turn their back upon the class +of which their parents came, and desire to know +nothing of the bread-winning arts which they were +constrained to practise.</p> + +<p>We have had, within the last ten years, a +severe lesson concerning the instability of wealth +in some of its most trusted forms. Yet are we +not compelled by sympathy and antipathy, at the +bottom of our hearts, to pay it an homage which +our lips would not avow? Do we not desire wealth +for our children as the condition which shall set +our minds at rest concerning them? When we see +mediocrity and vulgarity riding in the swift carriage, +and wearing the jewels and the robes, bright <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> +in everybody's eyes and praised in everybody's +mouth, do we not harbor somewhere a regret that +we have not, in some way possible to us, set our +best abilities to work to secure a similar distinction +for ourselves?</p> + +<p>It should not frighten one to see the court and +its underlings venal. Court and courtiers are a +show, and money is the condition by which a show +lives. But I look into the domain of letters, and +ask whether that is still uncorrupted. I do not +think that it is. The refined tastes of literary people +lead them to value entertainment at the hands +of the rich. The luxurious rooms, the abundant +table, the easy <i>persiflage</i> in which worldly tact +knows enough to flatter recognized talent. Do +not these <i>illicebræ</i> seduce, to-day, even the stern +heart of philosophy?</p> + +<p>How unkind was society to Margaret Fuller! +It was reluctant to show her the courtesy due to +a gentlewoman. Its mean gossip treated her as +if she had been beyond the pale of elegance and +good taste, verging away even from good behavior. +What was her offence against society? A humanity +too large and absorbing, a mind too brave and +independent for its commonplace. Add to these +the fact that she had neither fashion nor fortune. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> +The things she asked for are granted to-day by +every thinking mind, and she is remembered as +illustrious. But if she could come back to-morrow +as she was, poor in purse and plain in person, and +assume her old leadership, would Boston treat her +any better than it did in days of yore? Would +she not find, even among Brook farmers, a looking +toward Beacon Street which might surprise her? +The literary man, who went so bravely from +abstract philosophy to its concrete expression, +whose learned hands took up the spade and hoe, +and whose early peas were praised by those who +contemned his principles, would he, at a later +day,—grown urbane and fashionable,—would he +have bowed without a pang to his former self, if +he had met him, dusty and on foot, in Central +Park, he himself being well mounted?</p> + +<p>I said just now that money could buy the press. +This is shameful, because the press, more than +any other power, can afford to be frank and sincere. +Freedom is the very breath of life in its +nostrils, yet is it to-day largely salaried by the +enemies of freedom. While speaking of the press, +I will mention the regret with which I lately read, +in the "Boston Daily Advertiser," an editorial treating +of the expulsion of the Jesuits from France. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> +The writer, who denounced this measure with +some severity, described the religious body with +which it deals as a band of mild and inoffensive +men, chiefly occupied with the tuition of youth. +He might as well have characterized a tiger as +a harmless creature, incapable of the use of firearms.</p> + +<p>To me the worship of wealth means, in the +present, the crowning of low merit with undeserved +honor,—the setting of successful villany +above unsuccessful virtue. It means absolute +neglect and isolation for the few who follow a +high heart's love through want and pain, through +evil and good report. It means the bringing of +all human resources, material and intellectual, to +one dead level of brilliant exhibition—a second +Field of the Cloth of Gold—to show that the barbaric +love of splendor still lives in man, with the +thirst for blood, and other <i>quasi</i> animal passions. +It means, in the future, some such sad downfall as +Spain had when the gold and silver of America +had gorged her soldiers and nobles; something +like what France experienced after Louis XIV. +and XV. I am no prophet, and, least of all, a +prophet of evil; but where, oh where, shall we +find the antidote to this metallic poison? Perhaps <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> +in the homœig;opathic principle of cure. +When the money miracle shall be complete, when +the gold Midas shall have turned everything to +gold, then the human heart will cry for flesh and +blood, for brain and muscles. Then shall manhood +be at a premium, and money at a discount.</p> + +<p>The French have found, among many others, +one fortunate expression. They speak of a life +of representation, by which they mean the life of +a person conspicuous in the great world. This +society of representation has some recognition in +every stage of civilization, since even nations +which we consider barbarous have their festivals +and processions. The ministerial balls in Paris, +and perhaps many other entertainments in that +city, are of this character.</p> + +<p>The guests are admitted in virtue of a card, +which is really a ticket, though money cannot +command it. Many of the persons entertained +are not personally acquainted with either host or +hostess, and do not necessarily make their acquaintance +by going to their house. Everything is +arranged with a view to large effects: music, decorations, +supper, etc. A party of friends may go +there for their own amusement, or a single individual +for his own. But there are no general +introductions given, there is no social fusion. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p> + +<p>Now this I call society of representation. It +bears about the same relation to genuine society +that scene-painting bears to a carefully finished +picture. People of culture and education enjoy +a peep at this spectacular drama of the social +stage, but their idea of society would be something +very different from this. Where this show-society +monopolizes the resources of a community, +it implies either a dearth of intellectual +resources, or a great misapprehension of what is +really delightful and profitable in social intercourse.</p> + +<p>Where the stage form of society predominates +too largely, its intimate form languishes and +declines. The communings of a chosen few +around a table simply spread, with no view to +the recognition of the great Babylon, but rather +with a pleasure in its avoidance; refined sympathy +and support given and received in a round +of daily duties, by those whose hands are busy +and whose minds are full; the inner sweetness +of a beautiful song or poem, the kindling of mind +from mind, till all become surprised at what each +can do,—this sort of society maintains itself by +keeping the noisy rush of the crowd at arm's +length. Horace says,—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Odo profanum vulgus et arceo,"<br /></span> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></div></div> + +<p>and I, a democrat of the democrats, will say +so too. I reverence the masses of mankind, rich +or poor. My heart beats high when I think of +the good which human society has already +evolved, and of the greater good which is in +store for those who are to come after us. But +I hate the profane vulgarity which courts public +notice and mention as the chief end of existence, +and which, in so doing, puts out of sight those +various ends and interests which each generation +is bound to pursue for itself, and to promote for +its successors.</p> + +<p>The time of poor Marie Antoinette was the culmination +of such a period of show. Its glare and +glitter, and its lavish waste, had put out of sight +the true and intimate relations of man to man. +And so, as the gilded portion of the age made its +musters of beautiful empty heads, of vanities +throned upon vanities, the ungilded part made +its deadly muster of discontent, displeasure, and +despair. The empty heads fell, and much that +was precious and noble fell with them. The +great stage produced its bloody drama, and the +curtain of horror closed upon it.</p> + +<p>Critics of society usually direct their invective +against the extravagance and shallowness of this <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> +exhibitory department, and would almost make +these an excuse for the opposite extreme of misanthropic +spleen and avoidance. They should +remember that while society, from an inward +necessity, provides for these musterings and displays, +it is unable to provide for that intimate and +personal intercourse which individuals must found +and cultivate for themselves. So much is left for +each one of us to do, to find our peers, and open +with them an honest exchange of our best for their +best. The family most easily begins this, with its +intense and ever-enlarging interests. Out of true +family life comes a neighborhood; out of a neighborhood +the body politic, and the body sympathetic.</p> + +<p>If, in the matter of social intercourse, show is +allowed to usurp the place of substance, the indolence +of mankind must bear its part of the blame. +It is far easier to order a suit for the great occasion, +than to brighten one's mental jewels for the +small one. Many a soldier is brave on parade, +who would not shine on a field of battle. Many +a woman will pass for elegant in a ball-room, or +even at a court drawing-room, whose want of true +breeding would become evident in a chosen company.</p> + +<p>The reason why education is usually so poor <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> +among women of fashion is, that it is not needed +for the life which they elect to lead. With a good +figure, good clothes, and a handsome equipage, +with a little reading of the daily papers, and of +the fashionable reviews, and above all, with the +happy tact which often enables women to make +a large display of very small acquirements, the +woman of fashion may never feel the need of true +education. We pity her none the less, since she +will never know its peace and delight.</p> + +<p>In our own country, at this moment, and in +Europe as well, ambitions seem to be unduly +directed to this department of social action, the +training and discipline for which differ widely +from that proper to intimate and domestic life. +Hence comes an observable regard, not to appearances +only, but to appearance. As actors often +paint their faces too highly for near effects, in +order to look well at the farthest point of view, +so the dress and manners of the day fit themselves +for the stage of the great world, and their wearers +seem to meditate not only what will not appear +amiss, but what will attract attention by some +singularity of becoming effect. Hence the supremacy +for the time of those whose calling it +is to minister to appearance. The tailor has <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> +long been a man of destiny, but the modern plainness +of male attire has somewhat sobered his +pretensions. But look at the sublime arrogance +of the ladies' dressmaker, and the almost equally +sublime meekness of the victim, who not only +submits, but desires to be as wax in her hands. +This supreme functionary has, of course, <i>carte +blanche</i> for her ordinances. The subject says to +her, "Do what you will with me. Make me +modest or immodest. Tie up my feet or +straighten my arms till use of them becomes +impossible. Deprive my figure of all drapery, +or upholster it like a window-frame. Nay, set +me in the centre of a movable tent, but array me +so that people shall look at me, and shall say I +look well."</p> + +<p>I cannot but hate, to-day, the slavish fashion +which seems to have been invented in order to +intensify that self-consciousness which is the +worst enemy of beauty. It is administered by +means of a system of lacets and whalebones, +which everywhere impinge upon nature. A +young lady who is in her dress like a sword in +its scabbard (the French name for the fashion +is <i>fourreau</i>), is made to think of this point, and +of that, until her whole gait and movement become <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> +an interrogation of her silks and elastics. +Can I sit? Can I walk? Can I put this foot +forward, or lift this hand to my head? Ask the +satin strait-jacket in which your artist has imprisoned +you, receiving high compensation for the +service. Much as I resent this constraint and +restraint of the body, my saddest thought is, that +where it is endured the mind has first been +enslaved.</p> + +<p>Foreign travel is so established a feature in +American life, that it may well become us to take +account of what it costs and comes to.</p> + +<p>Our own importation of men and women is +various and enormous. They who come to us +poor and ignorant in one generation, are seen +comfortable and well educated in the next. The +disfranchised and landless man comes to us, and +receives political rights, and the title of a farm in +fee simple. No inordinate tribute robs him of +the product of his industry, be it large or small. +He pays to the State what it pays him well to +afford, for protection and education. But how is +it with the tribute which Europe levies upon us +in the shape of our sons and daughters?</p> + +<p>Many polite tastes have, no doubt, been fostered +in our young men by studies pursued in a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> +German university, or art learned in a French +studio. Some of the best scholars of the elder +generation have profited, in their youth, by such +advantages. But if we go beyond the limits of +literary or professional life, we may not consider +the results so fortunate. Our society-men sometimes +become so depolarized in their tastes and +feelings, as to be at ease nowhere but in Europe, +and not much at ease there. Those who return +bring back a love of betting and of horse-racing, +and ape the display of European grandees as far +as their fortunes will allow.</p> + +<p>And our young women? Some of them study +soberly abroad, and return to give their countenance +and support to all that is improving and +refining in their own country. Some float hither +and thither, between England and Italy, like a +feather on the wave, disappearing at last. The +Daisy Millerish chit is seen, offending in pure +ignorance of what common-sense should easily +teach mothers and daughters.</p> + +<p>Family groups of Americans are often met with +in Europe, in which one figure is wanting. This +is the father, absent, in America, working at his +business or speculation. These ladies are often +companionable people, who enjoy good hotels, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> +galleries, music on the public square, and, above +all, the sensation of being far from home.</p> + +<p>One feels about them a dreary atmosphere of +homelessness. As the writer of the Potiphar +papers, while watching a gay young mother's +performance in the "German," was constrained to +think of a complaining babe in her nursery, so, in +hearing those ladies boast of their enjoyments, one +cannot help remembering with commiseration the +wifeless husband and daughterless father at home, +who works like a steam-fan to keep these butterflies +in motion.</p> + +<p>More sad still are my reflections, when I hear +that numbers of American girls, with large or +even moderate fortunes, go abroad and allow it to +be known that they seek a husband with a title. +These are to be had, of various grades, if the pecuniary +consideration be only sufficient. And so +many of our laborious men of business work hard +in order to earn for themselves the luxury of a +titled son-in-law, who has not the ability to earn +his own support, and would scorn to do it if he +had.</p> + +<p>American women with money are at a premium +in fashionable Europe. Even without this supreme +merit, they are favorites. A London journal calls <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> +attention to the fact that some of the leading ladies +in the fashionable London of to-day are Americans. +The versatility of mind and ease of manner which +a free and social life develops, appear in strong +contrast with the results of the more formal education, +which are often seen in the opposite +extremes of timidity and assurance.</p> + +<p>As our young men are often entrapped, while +abroad, into marriages which prove to be very +unwise and unsuitable, I wish very much that +we might bring and keep our young people in a +better understanding with each other, so that +even the most ambitious among them should +be content to marry with their peers, and abide +in the home of their fathers.</p> + +<p>I have been surprised, at some periods of my +late visit to Europe, to perceive the growing interest +of thinking people in all that is most characteristic +of American progress. Again and again, in +private and in public, I have found myself invited +to discourse concerning the happy country in +which popular education has been so long established, +that its results are no longer putative, but +ascertained and verified. The country in which +the fairest woman, provided she be a modest one, +can walk abroad by day or night, unmolested and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> +unsuspected, the country in which women have +acquired the courage to think for themselves, and +to stand by each other.</p> + +<p>These invitations, though not given in derision, +yet seemed akin to the Hebrew refrain, "Sing us +one of the songs of Zion!" And when I related +the facts familiar to all of us, to those who listened +with half-incredulous wonder, it was, indeed, like +singing the Lord's song of freedom in a strange +land.</p> + +<p>The reasons why Europe should come to +America are obvious and pressing. The reasons +why America should visit Europe are equally +binding and cogent. The material and the moral +life of to-day are kept at their height by this flux +and reflux of human personality, which carries +with it every variety of opinion and experience. +Could we only send our best abroad, and for the +best reasons! Could Europe only send her best, +also, for their best help and study! But the +human average profits first of all by its material +enlargement, and will be received just as +it is. So, our fools go abroad, to show that +folly is a thing of all times and climes; and, +along with the tidal wave of ignorance and bigotry, +the dark, designing Jesuit seeks our shore, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> +and spins his fatal web among our rose-trees. +Sun of divine truth, storms of divine justice, +sweep away the evil and ripen the good!</p> + +<p>When I see an American of either sex caught +in the vortex of European attraction, depolarized +from natural relations, and charmed into alliance +with feudal barbarism and ignorance, my heart +rings the bell of alarm which is hung at the gates +of Paradise.</p> + +<p>From all these Western splendors can this +shallow soul turn away? From these golden +fields whose overflow gives Europe food, while +her human overflow gives them labor? From this +large construction of human right, which lifts the +cruel yoke from the neck of labor, and gives him +who earns the livelihood of many his own life to +enjoy and perfect? From this holy record of pious +endeavor, from these splendid achievements of +souls inspired by freedom, thou canst go, joyous +and triumphant, to pay homage to the lies which +are no longer believed by those who profess them; +lies whose fallacy America exposes every day and +hour to the detection of the world.</p> + +<p>Thou wilt accept a title, empty as an egg-shell, +for a thing truly noble! Thou wilt call a courtier's +grimace polite, a courtesan's fashion elegant! <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> +Thou wilt curry favor in a vulgar court, courtesying +low to a prince of harlequins and harlots! +Thou, child of the Puritans, wilt kneel and kiss +the hand which, still and sole, disputes with Christ +the mastery of the world! Then art thou simply +an anachronism! Some are born into the world +centuries before their time, some centuries after it.</p> + +<p>Other attractions, innocent in themselves, and +conceivable to all, detain some of our valued fellow-citizens +in perpetual exile. The quiet and +beauty of English country-life, the literary and +artistic resources of a foreign capital, the romances +of ancient chateaux and cathedrals, some delicious +touch of climate, some throbbing beauty of a southern +sky. How delightful we have found these, +it is as much a pain as a pleasure to remember! +But let us also call to mind the lesson of a well-known +fairy tale. While Beauty prolongs her +absence, the faithful Beast languishes and comes +nigh unto death. While we enjoy these choice +delights, the society to which we belong is sowing +its wheat and its tares. We are far from the field +in which the life of our own generation is planted +and tended. Every honest heart, every thinking +mind, has its value in the community to which it +belongs. Our value, such as it is, remains wanting <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> +to our community, and, when its crises of trial +shall come, we shall not have been trained by +watchful experience to understand either their +cause or their remedy.</p> + +<p>How delightful was Italy to Milton! His Allegro +and Pensieroso show that he could fully appreciate +both its mirth and its majesty. He returns +not the less to live out a life of illustrious service +in his own country, where his brave heart and +philosophic mind were of more avail to his time +than even his sacred song to ours.</p> + +<p>No one has any reason to be surprised at any +new manifestation of human folly. Yet I am +sometimes surprised, to-day, by the disrespect +which is often shown to the word "Protestant." +This name dates, at farthest, from the time of +Luther, but the fact for which it stands is as old +as human history. Moses made a protest when +he led his people out of the luxury and slavery +of Egypt to find the free hills of Judæa, and +to build on one of them a temple to the God +of freedom. Christ made His protest against +the hypocrisy and injustice of the old social +and ecclesiastical order. England and France +have made their protests against monarchical supremacy. +Both went back from their daring determination, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> +but the lesson was not forgotten. The +Puritans made their protest when they faced the +frowning sea and the savage wilderness, in order +that they might train their children, and live themselves +in the freedom which conscience asks. Mr. +Garrison and his associates made their protest +against American slavery. Mrs. Butler, of England, +makes her protest to-day against the personal +degradation of women. Lucy Stone makes hers +against their political enslavement.</p> + +<p>Does society inherit? Is man the heir of man? +Whence come those creatures of the present day +who smile, and shrug their shoulders, and feebly +say, "We don't protest. Our fathers did something +of the kind, upon what ground we cannot +possibly imagine. But we are quite of another +sort. We don't protest."</p> + +<p>To those courageous souls which, alone and unaided, +have been able to face the world's passion +and inertia,—to those leaders of forlorn hopes who +have seen glory in the depths of death and have +sought it there,—to those voices proclaiming in +the wilderness the triumphant progress of truth,—to +those brave spirits whose strength the fires of +hell have annealed, not consumed,—my soul shall +ever render its glad and duteous homage. And if, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> +in my later age, I might seek the crowning honor +of my life, I should seek it with that small, faithful +band who have no choice but to utter their +deepest conviction, and abide its issues. Fruitful +shall be their pains and privations. They who +have sown in tears the seeds of unpopular virtue, +shall reap its happy harvest in the good and gratitude +of mankind. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><span class="smcap">Changes in American Society.</span></h2> + + +<p>I have been invited to speak to you to-day +concerning changes in American society. In +preparing to consider this subject, I cannot but +remember that the very question of social change +is to some people an open one. The supposition +of any real onward movement in society is as +unwelcome and as untrue to these persons as was +Galileo's theory concerning the revolution of the +earth around the sun. They will assert, as indeed +they may, that the same crimes are committed in all +ages, with the same good deeds to counterbalance +them and that the capital tendencies of human +nature are always substantially the same. This +also must be allowed. The error of these friends +consists in overlooking the most characteristic and +human of these tendencies, which is that of progressive +desire. This trait, deeper and stronger +than the mere love of change, pushes the whole <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> +heterogeneous mass of humanity onward in a way +from which there is no return.</p> + +<p>The laws of human motive and action, meanwhile, +remain as steadfast and immovable as the +laws by whose application Galileo made his discovery. +To discern at once the steadfast truth +and its metamorphic developments will be the +task of the greatest wisdom.</p> + +<p>When Theodore Parker invited the religious +world to consider the transient and the permanent +elements of Christianity, he made a popular +application of a truth long known to philosophy. +This truth is that life in all of its aspects exhibits +these two opposite qualities or conditions. Much +is transient in the individual, more is permanent +in the race.</p> + +<p>The study of anthropology, so greatly enriched +to-day by discovery and investigation, would give +us much to say under both of these heads, but +most, I think, under the last.</p> + +<p>I remember that in reading Livy's history of +the second Punic war, in our own war time, I +was struck by certain resemblances between the +time in which he wrote and that in which I read +him. When I learned from his pages that the +merchants and ship-owners of ancient Rome managed <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> +to impose the most worthless of their vessels +upon the government for the transport of troops +and provisions, I exclaimed, "What Yankees +these Romans were!"</p> + +<p>In reading some well-known satires of Horace +I have been struck with the resemblance of the +ancient to the modern bore. Boileau's famous +take-off of the dinner given by a <i>parvenu</i> is scarcely +more than a French adaptation of the feast of +Nasidienus, as described by the Roman bard who +was Boileau's model.</p> + +<p>In Virgil's account of the good housewife, who +rises early in order to measure out the work of +the household, and in Solomon's description of +the thrifty woman of his time, one sees the value +set upon feminine industry and economy in times +far removed from our own, yet resembling it in +this appreciation.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, the dissimilarity of ancient +and modern society is equally seen in the same +mirror of literature. The mention of matters +which, by common consent, are banished from +decent speech to-day, the position of Woman, +from the vestal virgin buried alive for breach of +trust to the <i>devium scortum</i>, whom Horace frankly +invites to his feast, the gross superstition which <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> +saw in religion little save portents and propitiation,—these +mark on the dial of history an hour +as distant from our own in sympathy as in time.</p> + +<p>You will wish to hear from me some account +of changes which have come within the sphere of +my own observation, both as I have been able to +see for myself, and to compare what I have seen +with what I have received from the generation +immediately preceding my own. Let me remind +you that, with all the advantages of personal +observation, it may be more difficult for us to give +a true account of the age to which we belong +than of more distant times, upon which thought +and reflection have already done their critical +and explanatory work. Familiarity so dulls the +edge of perception, as to make us least acquainted +with things and persons making part of our daily +life. Mindful of these difficulties, I will do my +best to characterize the threescore years which +have carried me into and out of the heart of the +nineteenth century.</p> + +<p>I have seen in this time a great growth in the +direction of liberal thought, of popular government, +of just laws and useful institutions. I have seen +human powers so multiplied by mechanical appliances +as to destroy the old measures of time and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> +distance, and almost to justify the veto once laid +by the great Napoleon upon the use of the word +"impossible": "<i>Ne me dîtes jamais ce bête de mot</i>," +said he; and it has now become more <i>bête</i> than +ever.</p> + +<p>What feature of society has not changed in +the phantasmagoria of these wonderful lustres? +Each decade has made a fool of the one which +went before it. Whether in the region of extended +observation and experiment, or in that of +subtle and profound investigation, human effort +has seemed in this time to put itself at compound +interest, working at once with matters +infinitely little and with matters infinitely great, +and surely introducing mankind to a higher plane +of comfort and co-operation than has been +reached in anterior ages.</p> + +<p>While the mechanism of life has thus been +brought much nearer to perfection by the labor of +our age, the principles of life remain such as they +have always been.</p> + +<p>Pile luxury as high as you will, health is better, +and the body of a well-fed and not over-worked +ploughman is, nine times out of ten, a better possession +than the body of a man of fortune, especially +if he be at the same time a man of pleasure. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> +Marshal and gild the pomp of circumstance, and +do it homage with bated breath, character remains +the true majesty, honor and intelligence its +prime ministers. Money can help people to education, +by paying for the support of those who can +give it. But money cannot excuse its possessor +from the smallest of the mental operations +through which, if at all, a man comes to know +what, as a man, he should know.</p> + +<p>The great <i>desiderata</i> of humanity still remain +these: to preserve the integrity of nature, the +purity of sentiment, and the coherence of thought. +The great extension of educational opportunities +which we see to-day should make the attainment +of these objects easier than in ages of less instruction. +But while the pursuit of them is ever normal +to the human race, the inherent difficulties of +their attainment remain undiminished. Without +self-discipline and self-sacrifice, no man to-day +attains true education, or the dignity of true manhood. +For here comes in the terrible fact of +man's freedom as a moral agent.</p> + +<p>Could our age possess and administer the powers +of the universe to its heart's content, in that +heart would yet rest the issues of its life and of its +death. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p> + +<p>The period of which I have to speak has certainly +witnessed great improvements in the theory +of hygiene. The old heroic treatment of diseases +has nearly disappeared. The nauseous draughts, +the blood-letting and blisters, have given place to +moderate medication, the choice of climate and +the regulation of diet. Women have been admitted +as copartners with men in the guardianship +of the public health. Athletic sports help +the student to fresh blood and efficient muscle, +without which the brain sickens and perishes.</p> + +<p>But even in this department how much is left +to desire and to do! Our greatest and richest city +is still festering with the corruption that breeds +disease. No board of health seems to have power +to sweep its side streets and dark alleys. Fashion +keeps her avenues clean, and neglects the rest +of the vast domain, for which she has her reward +in many a ghastly epidemic. The late Edward +Clarke, of Boston,—heaven rest his soul!—could +alarm the whole continent with his threats of the +physical evils which the more perfect education of +one sex would entail on both. But he has left no +public protest against the monstrosities of toilet +which deform and mutilate the bodies of women +to-day, nor against the selfish frivolity of life in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> +both sexes, which is equally inimical to true +motherhood and to true fatherhood.</p> + +<p>I have seen in fashions of dress and furniture +the curious cycle which my elders foretold, and +which it takes, I should think, half a century to +fulfil. My earliest childish remembrance is of the +slim dresses which display as much as is possible +of the outlines of the figure. I remember the +<i>élégantes</i> of Gotham walking the one fashionable +street of fifty-five years ago, attired in pelisses of +pink or blue satin. A white satin cloak trimmed +with dark fur seemed, even to my childish observation, +a chill costume for a pedestrian in the heart +of winter. My mother's last Paris bonnet, bought +probably in 1825, appeared to her children, twenty +years later, such a caricature, that pious hands +destroyed it, in order that we might have no ludicrous +association with the sweet young creature +whose death had left us babes in the nursery.</p> + +<p>After many fluctuations and oscillations, I have +seen modern head-gear near of kin to the subject +of this holocaust. I have seen the old forms and +colors return to popular favor. I have even heard +that the very white satin cloak, which seemed +<i>outré</i> to the critic of six years, has been worn and +greatly admired in the recent gay world of Paris. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> +The return in these cases, it must be said, is not +to the identical point of departure. Progress, +according to some thinkers, follows a spiral, and +is neither shut in a circle nor extended in a +straight line. The hoops of our great-grandmothers +are not the hoops which we remember +to have seen or worn. Their eelskin dresses are +not the model of ours. Still, the recurrence of the +same vein of fancy marks a periodical approximation +to the region or belt of influence in which +certain forgotten possibilities suggest themselves +to the seeker of novelty, and in which the capricious, +antithetical fancy delights to crown with +honor all that it found most devoid of beauty a +few lustres ago.</p> + +<p>Does this encyclical tendency in the familiar +æsthetics of life imply a corresponding tendency +in the moral and intellectual movement of mankind? +I fear that it does. I fear that seriousness +and frivolity, greed and disinterest, extravagance +and economy, in so far as these are social +and sympathetic phenomena, do succeed each +other in the movement of the ages. But here +the device of the spiral can save us. We must +make the round, but we may make it with an upward +inclination. "Let there be light!" is sometimes <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> +said in accents so emphatic, that the universe +remembers and cannot forget it. We carry +our problem slowly forward. With all the ups +and downs of every age, humanity constantly +rises. Individuals may preserve all its early delusions, +commit all its primitive crimes; but to the +body of civilized mankind, the return to barbarism +is impossible.</p> + +<p>The æsthetic elaboration of ethical ideas, always +a feature of civilization, becomes in our day a task +of such prominence as to engage the zeal and +labor of those even who have little natural facility +for any of its processes.</p> + +<p>The ignoring of this department of culture by +our Puritan ancestors, had much to do with the +bareness of surrounding and poverty of amusement +which almost affright us in the record of +their society. With all their insufficiency, these +periods of severe simplicity are of great importance +in the history of a people. The temporary +withdrawal from the sensible and pleasurable to +the severe verities of ethical study accumulates +a reserve force which is sure to be very precious +in the emergencies to which all nations are exposed. +The reaction against the extreme of this +is as likely to be excessive as was the action itself. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></p> + +<p>If we tend to any extreme, nowadays, it is to +that of making art take the place of thought, as +may somewhat appear in the general rage for illustration +and decoration.</p> + +<p>The ministrations of art to ethics are indeed +unspeakably grand and helpful. The cathedrals +of the Old World, and its rich and varied galleries, +preserve for us the fresh and naïve spirit of mediæval +piety. Religious art, indeed, becomes almost +secularized by its repetitions; yet each of its great +works has the isolation of its own atmosphere, and +speaks its own language, which we reverently +learn while we look upon it.</p> + +<p>Of all arts, music is the one most intimately +interwoven with the ethical consciousness of our +own time. The oratorios of Handel and of Mendelssohn +so blend the sacred text and the divine +music, that we think of the two together, and +almost as of things so wedded by God, that man +must not seek to put them asunder. When I +have sat to sing in the chorus of the Messiah, and +have heard the tenor take up the sweet burden of +"Comfort ye my people!" I have felt the whole +chain of divine consolation which those historic +words express, and which link the prophet of pre-Christian +times to the saints and sinners of to-day. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> +In far-off Palestine I have been shown the plain +on which it is supposed that the shepherds were +tending their flocks when the birth of the Messiah +was announced to them. But as I turned my +eyes to view it, my memory was full of that pastoral +symphony of Handel's, in which the divine +glory seems just muffled enough to be intelligible +to our abrupt and hasty sense. Nay, I lately +heard a beloved voice which read the chapter of +Elijah's wonderful experiences in the wilderness. +While I listened, bar after bar of Mendelssohn's +music struck itself off in the resonant chamber of +memory, and I thanked the Hebrew of our own +time for giving the intensity of life to that mystical +drama of insight and heroism.</p> + +<p>The transcendentalists of our own country +made great account of the relation of art to ethics, +and perhaps avenged the Puritan partiality by giving +art the leading, and ethics the subordinate +place in their statements and endeavors. But +the masters of the transcendental philosophy in +Europe did not so. Spinoza, Kant, and Fichte +were idealists of the severest type. Standing for +the moment between the two, I will only say that +the danger of forgetting the high labors and rewards +of thought in the pleasure of beautiful <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> +sights and sounds is one to which the highest civilization +stands most exposed. To think aright, +to resolve and pray aright, we must retire from +those delights to the contemplation of that whose +sublimity they can but faintly image, as we pass with +joy from the likeness of our friend into his presence.</p> + +<p>Love of ornament is by no means synonymous +with love of the beautiful. The taste which overloads +dress and architecture with superfluous irrelevancies, +is often quite in opposition to that true +sense of beauty which is indispensable to the artist +and precious to the philosopher. "Το καλον," the +Greeks said. Was it a naïve utterance on their +part? Was it through their poverty of expression, +or their want of experience, that the same +word with them signified the good and the beautiful? +No. It was through the depth of their insight, +and the power of their mental appreciation, +that they so stamped this golden word as that it +should show the supreme of form on one of its +faces, and the supreme of spirit on the other.</p> + +<p>The social domain of religion has also undergone +a change. In my early life I remember +that all earnest and religious people were supposed +to live out of the great world, and to keep +company only with one another and with the subjects <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> +of their charitable beneficence. The disadvantages +of this course are easily seen. Free +intercourse with the average of mankind is one +of the most important agencies in enlarging and +correcting the action of the human mind. The +exigencies of ordinary intercourse develop a sense +of the dependence of human beings upon each +other, and a power corresponding to the needs involved +in this interdependence. The religious +susceptibilities of individuals, which are at once +very strong in their character and very uncertain +in their action, are liable to become either +exaggerated or exhausted by a course of life which +should rely wholly upon them for guidance and +for interest.</p> + +<p>Let us, therefore, by all means have saints in +the world, keeping to their pure standard, and +recommending it more by their actions than by +their professions. But these saints must be brave +as well as pure. Unworthy doctrine must not +escape their reprobation. When a just cause is +contemned, they must stand by it. If the world +shall cast them out in consequence, it will not be +their fault. The social leagues which group themselves +around the various churches of to-day, +seem to me a feature of happy augury. It is the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> +office of the church to inspire and direct the +tone of social intercourse, and these associations +should greatly help it to that end. I lately heard +Wendell Phillips complain that church exercises +nowadays largely consist of picnics and other +merry-makings. Only a little before, Mr. Phillips, +in his reply to Mr. Parkman's article against +Woman Suffrage, had spoken of the growth of +social influence as a good.</p> + +<p>It does, to be sure, look a little whimsical to +read on the bulletin of a Methodist church such +announcements as this,—"Private theatricals for +the benefit of the Sunday school." But Wesley +introduced the use of secular tunes in his church +on the ground that the devil should not have all +the good music. Neither should he monopolize +the innocent amusements with which, if they are +left to him, he does indeed play the devil.</p> + +<p>Although the great ocean will always hold Europe +at arm's length from us, yet the currents of belief +and sympathy bring its various peoples near to us +in various ways. I remember to have taken note +of this long before the ocean steamships brought +the eastern hemisphere within a few days' journey +from our own seaboard, and very long before +the time-annihilating cables were dreamed of. The <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> +French have always had with us the prestige of +their social tact and sumptuary elegance. The +English manners are affected by those among +us who mistake the aristocracy of position for the +aristocracy of character. The Italians rule us by +their great artists in the past, and by their subtle +policy in the present. The Germans have, as +they deserve, the pre-eminence in music, in +metaphysics, and in many departments of high +culture.</p> + +<p>I have not long since been taken to task by a +writer in a prominent New York paper for some +strictures regarding the quasi-omnipotence of +money in the society of to-day. The writer in +question enlarged somewhat upon the greatly +increased expenditure of money in our own country, +as if this must be considered as a good in +itself. He concludes his statement by remarking +that Mrs. Howe has never studied the proper significance +of the money question. I desire to +say here only that I have not neglected the study +of this question, which so regards the very life of +society. One of its problems I have ventured to +decide for myself, viz., whether the luxury of the +rich really supports the industry of the poor.</p> + +<p>The æsthetic of luxury is a mean and superficial <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> +one. The critique of luxury is compliant and +cowardly; and, despite its glittering promise to +pay any price for what it desires, luxury orders +poorly, pays poorly, and in the end undermines +the credit of the State, the very citadel of its solvency. +I regret and deplore its prevalence to-day, +and consider it not as the safeguard, but as the +most dangerous enemy of republican institutions.</p> + +<p>In our America, ay, even in our Puritan New +England, the day has come in which economy is a +discredit and poverty a disgrace. With the common +school ever at work to lift the social level, +unfolding to the child of the day-laborer the page +which instructs the son of the peer, the cry is still +that money is God, and that there is none other. +One may ask, in the business streets, whether rich +people have any faults, or poor people any virtues. +A woman who sells her beauty for a rich dower is +honored in church and in State. Both alike bow +to the money in her hand. One proverb says that +Time is money, as if it were</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Only that, and nothing more."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Another proverb says that Money is power. +And in this form, no doubt, it receives the most +fervent worship, for luxury palls sooner or later, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> +while ambition is never satisfied. But we constantly +meet, on the other hand, with instances +in which money is not power. Money does not +give talent or intelligence. You cannot buy good +government, good manners, or good taste: You +cannot buy health or life. Do some of you remember +the shipwreck, some twenty years ago, +of a steamer homeward-bound from California? +The few survivors told how the desperate passengers +brought their belts and bags of gold +to the cabin, and threw them about with a bitter +contempt of their worthlessness. States have +such shipwrecks, in which avenging Fate seems to +say to those who have sacrificed all for wealth, +"Thy money perish with thee."</p> + +<p>The heroics of history are full of the story of +great ends, accomplished by very small means. +Now a handful of resolute men hold the forces +of a great empire in check, and beat back the +ocean surge of barbarism from the marble of their +strong will. Now a single martyr turns the scale +of the world's affection by throwing into the balance +the weight of one small life. Now a State +with every disadvantage of territory, cursed with +sterility, or exposed to the murderous overflow of +the salt sea, takes its stand upon the simple determination <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> +to conquer for itself a free and worthy +existence. Frederick of Prussia and his small +army, Washington, with his handful of men, in +these and so many other instances, we admire the +attainment of mighty ends through means which +seem infinitesimal in proportion to them. How +shall it be in our country, to which Nature has +given the widest variety of climate, soil, and production? +Shall we become a lesson to the world +in the opposite direction? Shall we show how +little a people may accomplish with every circumstance +in its favor, and with nothing wanting to +its success but the careful mind and resolute +spirit? God forbid!</p> + +<p>The belief in pacific methods of settling international +differences has made a noticeable progress +in my time.</p> + +<p>In my school-days I remember a grave Presbyterian +household at whose fireside I one day saw +an elderly man seat himself, with little notice from +the members of the family. I inquired who he +might be, and was told, with some good-natured +laughter, that this old gentleman was the American +Peace Society, <i>i.e.</i>, the last surviving member +of that association. This was a humorous exaggeration +of the truth. Judge Jay, of New <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> +York, was living at that time, and all the enthusiasm +of the peace cause lived in him, and no +doubt in many others. I have remembered the +incident, nevertheless; and when I have seen the +stately Peace Congresses held in Europe and elsewhere, +when I have seen rapacious England submitting +to arbitration, when I have seen the flag +of military prestige go down before the white +banner of Peace, as in the late change of the +ministry in that country, I have remembered that +day of small things, and have learned that the +faith of individuals is the small seed from which +spring the mighty growths of popular conviction +and sympathy.</p> + +<p>The extensive wars which have taken place +within the last forty years, as extensive and as +deadly as any the world ever saw, are sometimes +quoted in derision of those who believe, as I do, in +the sober, steady growth of the pacific spirit +among people of intelligence. The reasons for +this advance lie deeper than the vision of the +careless observer may reach. Within the period +of our own century the value of human life to the +individual has been greatly increased by the wide +diffusion of the advantages of civilization. The +value of the individual to the State has become <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> +greatly increased by the multiplication of industrial +resources, and by the immense emigration +which at times threatens to drain the older society +of its working population. The spread of education +has at once undermined the blind belief of +the multitude in military leaders, and toned down +the blind ferocity of instinct to which those leaders +are forced to appeal. Wars of mere spoliation are +scarcely permitted to-day. Wars of pure offence +are deeply disapproved of.</p> + +<p>The military and diplomatic injustice of past +times has left unsettled many questions of territory +and boundary which will not rest until they +shall be set right. The populations which war +has plundered and subjugated, lay their cause +before the world's tribunal. In aid of this, the +friends of the true law and order are ever busy in +forming a nucleus of moral power, which governments +will be forced to respect. Thus, though +the war-demon dies hard, he is doomed, and we +shall yet see the battlements of his grim cathedrals +places for lovers to woo and for babes to +play in.</p> + +<p>In religion I have seen the dark ministrations +of terror give way before the radiant gospel of +hope. I remember when Doctrine sat beside the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> +bed of death, and offered its flimsy synonym to +the eyes upon which the awful, eternal truth was +about to dawn. I remember when a man with a +poor diploma and a human commission assumed +to hold the keys of heaven and hell in his hands, +and to dispense to those who would listen to him +such immortality as he thought fit. I remember +when it went hard with those who, in forming +their religious opinions, persisted in daring to use +the critical power of their own judgment. They +were lonely saints; they wandered in highways and +byways, unrecognized, excommunicated of men. +No one had power to burn their bodies, but it was +hoped that their souls would not escape the torment +of eternal flame. I have seen this time, and +I have lived to see a time in which these rejected +stones, hewn and polished by God's hand, have +come to be recognized as corner-stones in the practical +religious building of the age. What a discredit +was it once to hear Theodore Parker! How +happy are they now esteemed who have heard him! +Let not Mr. Emerson's urbanity lead him to forget +the days in which polite Boston laughed him to +scorn. Brook Farm was once looked upon as a +most amusing caricature. But when the world +learned something about Nathaniel Hawthorne, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> +George Ripley, William Henry Channing, John +Dwight, and George William Curtis, the public +heart bowed itself with remorseful homage before +the ruined threshold of what was, with all its shortcomings, +a blameless temple to ideal humanity.</p> + +<p>It is quite true that every change which I have +seen in the society of my time cannot be said to +be, in itself, for the better. The price of progress, +like that of liberty, is eternal vigilance.</p> + +<p>A time of religious enfranchisement may induce +a period of religious indifference. Cosmopolitan +enlargement may weaken the force of patriotism. +The charity of society may degenerate into an indifference +concerning private morals, which, if it +could prevail, would go far towards destroying +public ones. Humanity ever needs the watchman +on the tower. It needs the warning against +danger, the guidance out of it. I can imagine a +set of prophets less absolute than the Hebrew +seers, whose denunciation of evils, near or present, +should always couple itself with profound and +sober suggestions of help. And this will be the +work of faith in our day, to believe in the good +which can overcome the evil, and to seek it with +earnest and brave persistence.</p> + +<p>Let me return for a moment, very briefly, to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> +what I touched upon just now, the great changes in +religious thought which this century has witnessed. +What manifold contrasts have we observed in this +domain! What a wild and wide chase in the fields +of conjecture! What impatience with the idols of +the past, historical and metaphysical! There have +been moments in the last twenty years in which +one might have said to the religious ideals of past +ages that the time had come in which every one +who raised his hand against them thought that he +was doing God service. This iconoclasm had its +time, and, one supposes, its office.</p> + +<p>But the religious necessities of mankind are permanent, +and will outlast any and all systems of +pure criticism. The question arises, in all this +havoc of illusory impressions, Who is to provide +for the culture and direction of those instincts of +reverence which are so precious to, so ineradicable +in the race? We must ask this service of those +who believe that religion is, on the whole, wiser +than its critics. Those who have been able to hold +fast this persuasion will be the religious trainers of +our youth. Those who have relinquished it will +have no more skill to teach religion than a sculptor +will have to feed an army.</p> + +<p>The greatest trouble with human society is, that <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> +its natural tendency leads it, not to learn right +measure through one excess, but, on becoming +convinced of this, to rush into an opposite excess +with equal zeal and equal error. The mechanism +of society requires constant correction in +order to keep up the succession of order and +progress through and despite this proneness to +extravagance and loss of power. This rectification +of direction without interruption of movement +is the office of critical and constructive +thought. Precious are the men, and rare as precious, +who carry this balance in their minds, and, +while the ship lurches now on this side and now +on that, strain after the compass with masterful +courage and patience. We have all known such +men, but we have known, too, that their type is +not a common one.</p> + +<p>Among all who are out of work to-day, so far as +the market is concerned, those men of careful and +critical judgment are the least called for, and the +least wished for by the majority of men. Headlong +enthusiasm, headlong activity, headlong doubt +and cynicism, the prevalence of these shows the +force with which the present whirl of the spindle +was cast. Fair and softly, my quick-flying Century. +To find out whether you are going right or <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> +wrong, whether you are faithful or faithless, solvent +or bankrupt, you must have recourse to these +same slow, patient men and women, who try such +questions by a more accurate and difficult method +than that of the popular inclination.</p> + +<p>I find that the philosopher Kant, writing more +than a hundred years ago, remarks that in so +sociable an age as his own Culture must naturally +be expected to assume an encyclopedic character. +It will, he says, necessarily desire to present a +manifold number of agreeable and instructive +acquisitions, easy of apprehension, for entertainment +in friendly intercourse.</p> + +<p>These words seem prophetic of the efforts after +general information, with a view to conversation +as an accomplishment, which have constituted a +marked feature of American and English society +within forty years. In the dissolving view of the +public predilection, this object has lost much of its +prominence. The ornate and well-rounded periods +of the conversationist are not more in request, nowadays, +than were the high-sounding sentiments of +Joseph Surface to Sir Peter Teazle, when experience +had shown him their emptiness.</p> + +<p>Blunt speech and curt expression rather are in +favor. The heroines of novels are supposed to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> +fall in love with men of a somewhat brutal type. +Adonis is out of fashion. Hercules pleases, and +even Vulcan is preferred. One thinks that the +influence of the mercantile spirit may be recognized +in this change. Long speeches and roundabout +statements are found not to pay. The man +who listens to them with one ear, hearkens with +the other for the ocean telegrams, news of the +stock market, considers the maturing of a note, +the success or failure of a scheme. When there +is no one to listen, loquacity itself will grow economical +of breath.</p> + +<p>The world is quite right in its tacit protest +against over talk. A great deal of empty, irrelevant +speech is liable to be imposed upon the good-nature +of society in the garb of instructive conversation. +It is weary to listen by the hour to men or +women who principally teach you their own opinion +of their own erudition. But woe to the world +if its haste and greed should ever be such that the +true teacher should want an audience, the long +lessons of philosophy find interpreters, but no +pupils.</p> + +<p>The present is, on the whole, an encyclopedic, +cosmopolitan era. I suppose that it succeeds as +a reaction to one of more special and isolated <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> +endeavor. The example and influence of Goethe +have had much to do with the formation of the ideas +of culture which have been prevalent in our time. +This wonderful man went, with such a happy tact, +from one thing to another. In poetry he did so +much, in high criticism so much, in science so +much, and in world-wisdom so much! How +naturally were the lovers of study, who made him +their model, led to undertake, as he did, to render +the most eminent service, to attain the highest +honors in a dozen different departments!</p> + +<p>But the man Goethe was more wonderful even +than his writings. His individuality was too +powerful to suffer loss through the variety of his +pursuits. He could be at once a courtier and a +philosopher, a poet and a scientist, a critic of +morals and a man of the world, and in all things +remain himself.</p> + +<p>I sometimes wonder why we Americans are so +apt to show, in our conduct and remarks, an undue +preponderance of what the phrenologists term +love of approbation. This is an amiable and useful +trait in human nature, which may degenerate into +a weak and cowardly vanity, or even into a +malignant selfishness. To desire the approbation +which can enlighten us as to the merits of what <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> +we have done or attempted, is wise as well as +graceful. To make constant laudation a prominent +object in any life is a capital mistake in its +ordering. To prefer the praise of men to the +justification of conscience, is at once cowardly and +criminal. I observe these three phases in American +life. I value the first, compassionate the +second, and reprobate the third. Surely, if there +is any virtue which a republican people is bound +to show, it is that self-respect which is the only +true majesty, and which can afford to be as generous +and gracious as majesty should be.</p> + +<p>It is, perhaps, natural that many of us should, +through a want of experience, mistake the standpoint +of people conspicuous in the older European +society as greatly superior to our own. We can +learn much, indeed, from the observation of such +a standpoint; but, in order to do so, we must +hold fast our own plain, honest judgment, as we +derive it from education, inheritance, and natural +ability.</p> + +<p>It must, I should think, be very tedious and +very surprising to Europeans to hear Americans +complain of being so young, so crude, so immature. +This is not according to nature. Imagine +a nursery full of babies who should bewail the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> +fact of their infancy. Any one who should hear +such a complaint would cry out, "Why, that's +the best thing about you. You have the newness, +the promise, the unwasted vigor of childhood,—gifts +so great that Christ enjoined it upon +holy men to recover, if they had lost them."</p> + +<p>If our society is young, its motto should be the +saying of Saint Paul to Timothy, "Let no man +despise thy youth." The great men of our early +history deserve to rank with the ripest products +of civilization. Was Washington crude? Was +Franklin raw? Were Jay, Jefferson, and Hamilton +immature? The authorities of the older +world bowed down to them, and did them homage. +The Republicans of France laid the key of +the Bastille at the feet of Washington. Franklin +was honored and admired in the court circle +of Louis XVI. There was a twofold reason for +this. These men represented the power and vigor +of our youth; but our youth itself represented +the eternal principles of truth and justice, for +whose application the world had waited long. +And thinking people saw in us the dignity of +that right upon which we had founded our hope +and belief as a nation.</p> + +<p>I will instance a single event of which I heard <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> +much during my last visit in Rome. A German, +naturalized in America, and who had made a large +fortune by a railroad contract in South America, +had purchased from some European government +the title of "Count." He was betrothed to the sister-in-law +of a well-known California millionnaire, +whose wife has been for some years a resident of +Paris, where her silver, her diamonds, and her +costly entertainments are matters of general +remark. All of these parties are Roman Catholics. +The wedding took place in Rome, and +was signalized by a festival, at which twelve +horses, belong to the bridegroom, were ridden +in a race, whose prizes were bestowed by the +hand of the bride. The invitations for this occasion +were largely distributed by a monsignor of +the Romish Church, and the king of Italy honored +the newly married pair by his presence.</p> + +<p>Not long after this, I read in the Italian papers +that this very count had become a candidate for a +seat in the Italian Parliament. I suppose that +money will assist an election as much in Italy as +elsewhere. The monsignor who interested himself +so efficiently about the invitations for the +wedding party, was none other than the master +of ceremonies of Pope Leo XIII. He would, no <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> +doubt, have taken even greater interest in the +return of his friend to the Parliament. I do not +know whether this gentleman has ever succeeded +in usurping the place of a representative of the +Italian people; but the chance of his being able +to do so lay in the American gold of which he +had become possessed. Here is one instance of +the direct relations between Rome and America +which Americans so placidly overlook.</p> + +<p>In this day of the world hope is so strong, and +the desire for an improved condition so prevalent, +that much may be looked for in Europe as the +result of the legitimate action and influence of +America. But if American capital busies itself +with upholding the shams of the old world, if +American taste and talent are led and pledged to +work with the reactionary agents everywhere +against the enfranchisement of the human race, +where shall the hope of the world find refuge?</p> + +<p>Goldsmith has a touching picture of the emigrants +who, in his time, were compelled to leave +the country which would not feed them, for a distant +bourne, which could, by no means, be to them +a home. But let us assist at the embarkation of +another group of exiles. These people have been +living abroad, and are about to return home. The <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> +rich, beautiful land whose discovery has changed +the fortunes of the human race, invites them on +the other side of the Atlantic. The flag which +represents the noblest chapter of modern history +waves over them.</p> + +<p>From dynastic, aristocratic Europe they go to +inherit the work of an ancestry heroic in thought +and action. They go to the land which still boasts +a Longfellow, a Whittier, an Emerson, a Harriet +Beecher Stowe. Are they glad? Are they happy? +No. They have learned the follies of the old world, +not its wisdom. They are not going home,—they +are going into exile.</p> + +<p>Let us look a little at their record in the Europe +which they regret so passionately. They went +abroad with money, and the education which it +commands, with leisure and health. What good +deeds may they not have done! What gratifying +remembrance may they have left behind them! +Shall we not find them recorded as donors to +many a noble charity, as students in many a lofty +school? We shalt indeed, sometimes. But in +many cases we shall hear only of their fine clothes +and expensive entertainments, with possible mortifying +anecdotes of their fast behavior.</p> + +<p>If the mother leaves a daughter behind her, it <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> +is likely to be as the wife of some needy European +nobleman, who despises all that she is bound to +hold dear, and is proud not to know that which +it should be her glory to understand.</p> + +<p>I said at Concord, and I say it to-day, that the +press is much affected by the money debauch of +the period. Let us examine the way in which this +result is likely to be brought about.</p> + +<p>A newspaper or periodical is almost always an +investment in which the idea of gain is very prominent. +This expectation may either regard what +the proposed paper shall earn as a medium of information, +or the profit of certain enterprises which +its statements may actively promote.</p> + +<p>Special organs are founded for special emergencies, +as is a campaign sheet, or for the advocate of +special reforms, like the antislavery "Standard" +of old, and the "Woman's Journal" of to-day. +These papers rarely repay either the money advanced +for them, or the literary labor bestowed +upon them.</p> + +<p>Under the head of its earnings the newspaper +depends upon two classes of persons, viz., its advertisers +and its subscribers. Either or both of +these may be displeased by the emphatic mention +of some certain fact, the expression of some certain <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> +opinion. "If we tell this unwelcome truth," +say the managers, "we shall lose such and such +subscribers. If we take this stand, some of our +wealthiest advertising firms will choose another +medium of communicating with the public." The +other set of considerations just spoken of, the enterprises +which are to be favored and promoted, may +still more seriously affect the tone and action of +the paper, which will thus be drawn in a twofold +way to lend itself to the publication only of what +it will pay to say.</p> + +<p>The annals of journalism in this country will, +no doubt, show a fair average of courageous and +conscientious men among its chiefs. I am willing +to believe all things and to hope all things in this +direction. But I must confess that I fear all things, +too, in view of a great power, whose position makes +it almost an irresponsible one. And I should regard +with great favor the formation of an unofficial +censorship of public organs, in view not so +much of what may be published, as of what is unfairly +left out of the statements and counterstatements +of conflicting interests.</p> + +<p>Of all the changes which I can chronicle as of +my own time, the change in the position of women +is perhaps the most marked and the least anticipated <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> +by the world at large. Whatever opinions +heroic men and women may have held concerning +this from Plato's time to our own, the most enlightened +periods of history have hardly given room to +hope that the sex in general would ever reach the +enfranchisement which it enjoys to-day. I date +the assurance of its freedom from the hour in which +the first university received women graduates +upon the terms accorded to pupils of the opposite +sex. For education keeps the key of life, and a +liberal education insures the first conditions of +freedom, viz., adequate knowledge and accustomed +thought. This first and greatest step gained, the +gate of professional knowledge and experience +quickly opened, and that of political enfranchisement +stands already ajar. The battle can have +but one result, and it has been fought, with chivalrous +temper and determination, not by one sex +against the other, but by the very gospel of fairness +and justice against the intrenched might of +selfish passion, inertia, and prejudice. Equal conditions +of life will lift the whole level of society, +which is so entirely one body that the lifting or +lowering of one half lifts or lowers the other half. +This change, which in the end appeared to come +suddenly, has been prepared by such gradual tentatives, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> +by such long and sound labor, that we need +not fear to lose sight of it in any sudden collapse. +There are women of my age, and women of earlier +generations, who have borne it in their hearts all +their lives through, who have prayed and worked +for it, without rest and without discouragement. +Horace Mann was its apostle, Theodore Parker was +its prophet, Margaret Fuller, Lucy Stone, and a +host of wise and true-hearted women, whom the +time would fail me to name, have been its female +saints. It was in nature; they have brought it +into life; even as Christ said, "My Father worketh +hitherto, and I work." The slender thread +which crossed the dark abyss of difficulty was not +the silken spinning of vanity, nor the cobweb fibre +of madness. From the faith of pure hearts the +steadfast links were wrought, and the great chasm +is spanned, and is ready to become the strong and +sure highway of hope, for this nation and for the +nations of the earth.</p> + +<p>The customs of society prescribe the mental +garb and gait proper to those who desire the favorable +notice of their peers in their own time. As +these are partly matters of tradition and inheritance, +we can learn something of the merits and +demerits of a generation by studying the habits of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> +familiar judgment which it hands down to its successor. +A narrow, ill-educated generation leaves +behind it corresponding garments of rule and prescription, +to which the next generation must for a +time accommodate itself, because a custom or a +fashion is not made in a day. The rulers of society +seem often more occupied in dwarfing the mind to +suit the custom than in enlarging the custom so as +to fit it to the growth of mind. The most dangerous +rebellions, individual and social, are natural +revolts against the small tyranny which perpetuates +the insufficiency of the past.</p> + +<p>The copper shoes which so cramp the foot of a +female infant in China as to destroy its power of +growth, are not more cruel or deleterious than are +the habits of unreflecting prejudice which compress +the growth of human minds until they, too, +lose their native power of expansion, and the +idol Prejudice is enthroned and worshipped by +those on whom it has imposed its own deformity +as the standard of truth and beauty.</p> + +<p>The heavy tasks which nature imposes upon +women leave them less at leisure than men to reform +and readjust these inherited garments. The +necessity for prompt and early action obliges them +to follow the intuitive faculties, as all must do who <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> +have not time to work out the problems of the +reasoning ones. The instinct of possession is a +ruling one in human nature, and a woman inheriting +a superstition or a prejudice holds fast to it +because it is something, and she has got it. It +seems to her a possession. It may be a mischievous +and unfortunate one, but it will take a +good deal of time and thought to find that out. +Those who have the training of women's minds +often train them away from such a use of time +and from such a labor of thought. Hence the +fatal persistence of large classes of women in +superstitions which the thinking world has outgrown, +and the equally fatal zeal with which they +impose the same insufficient modes of judgment +upon their children.</p> + +<p>I pray this generation of women, which has seen +such enlargements of the old narrow order regarding +the sex, I pray it to deserve its high post as +guardian of the future. Let it bequeath to its +posterity a noble standard of womanhood, free, +pure, and, above all, laborious.</p> + +<p>The standard of manhood really derives from +that of womanhood, and not <i>vice versa</i>, as many +imagine. However we may receive from tradition +the order of their material creation, in that of training <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> +and education, the woman's influence comes +before that of the man, and outlasts it.</p> + +<p>The figure of the infant Christ dwells always in +our mind, accompanied by that of the gracious +mother who gave Him to the world. Let the fact +of this great gift prefigure to us the august office +of Woman. Hers be it also to preserve and transmit +from age to age the Christian doctrine and +the Christlike faith. And, in order that she may +fully realize the glory and blessedness of giving, +let her remember that what is worthily given to +one time is given to all time.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<p class="center"><br /><b>UNIFORM WITH ARNOLD'S POEMS.</b></p> + +<p class="venti">THE LIGHT OF ASIA;</p> +<p class="center"><b>OR,</b></p> +<p class="grande">The Great Renunciation.</p> + +<p class="center">Being the Life and Teaching of Gautama, Prince of India +and Founder of Buddhism (as told in verse by an +Indian Buddhist).<br /></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By</span> EDWIN ARNOLD, M.A.<br /> +<br /></p> +<p>"It is a work of great beauty. It tells a story of intense interest, which +never flags for a moment; its descriptions are drawn by the hand of a +master with the eye of a poet and the familiarity of an expert with the +objects described; its tone is so lofty that there is nothing with which to +compare it but the New Testament; it is full of variety, now picturesque, +now pathetic, now rising into the noblest realms of thought and aspiration; +it finds language penetrating, fluent, elevated, impassioned, musical always, +to clothe its varied thoughts and sentiments."—<span class="smcap">Oliver Wendell +Holmes</span>, <i>International Review</i>, October, 1879.<br /></p> + +<p>"In Mr. Edwin Arnold, Indian poetry and Indian thought have at length +found a worthy English exponent. He brings to his work the facility of a +ready pen, a thorough knowledge of his subject, a great sympathy for the +people of this country, and a command of public attention at home."—<i>Calcutta +Englishman.</i><br /></p> + +<p>"'The Light of Asia' is a remarkable poem, and worthy of a place +amongst the great poems of our time. Mr. Arnold is far more than 'a +coiner of sweet words'—he is the exponent of noble impressions. He is +a scholar and a philosopher; but he is also a true singer."—<i>London Daily +Telegraph.</i><br /></p> + + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Library Edition.</span> 16mo. Cloth. Price</td><td align="right">$1.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Cheap Edition.</span> 16mo. Paper. Price</td><td align="right">.25</td></tr> +</table></div> + + + +<p style="text-align: right">ROBERTS BROTHERS, <span class="smcap">Publishers, <br /> +Boston</span>. +</p> + + +<p class="center"><br /><i>Messrs. Roberts Brothers' Publications.</i></p> + +<p class="grande">ON THE RIGHT USE OF BOOKS.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">A Lecture.</span> By <span class="smcap">William P. Atkinson</span>, Professor of English +and History in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. +16mo. Cloth. Price 50 cents.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Full of good sense, sound taste, and quiet humor.... It is the easiest thing +in the world to waste time over books, which are merely tools of knowledge like +any other tools.... It is the function of a good book not only to fructify, but +to inspire, not only to fill the memory with evanescent treasures, but to enrich +the imagination with forms of beauty and goodness which leave a lasting impression +on the character."—<i>N. Y. Tribune.</i></p> + +<p>"Contains so many wise suggestions concerning methods in study and so +excellent a summary of the nature and principles of a really liberal education that +it well deserves publication for the benefit of the reading public. Though it +makes only a slight volume, its quality in thought and style is so admirable that +all who are interested in the subject of good education will give to it a prominent +and honorable position among the many books upon education which have +recently been published. For it takes only a brief reading to perceive that in +this single lecture the results of wide experience in teaching and of long study of +the true principles of education are generalized and presented in a few pages, +each one of which contains so much that it might be easily expanded into an +excellent chapter."—<i>The Library Table.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p> </p> +<p class="grande">READING AS A FINE ART.</p> + +<p>By <span class="smcap">Ernest Legouvé</span>, of the Académie Française. Translated +from the Ninth Edition by <span class="smcap">Abby Langdon Alger</span>. 16mo. +Cloth. 50 cents.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p class="center">(<i>Dedication.</i>)<br /> +<br /> +TO THE SCHOLARS OF THE HIGH AND NORMAL SCHOOL.<br /> +</p> + +<p>For you this sketch was written: permit me to dedicate it to you, in fact, +to intrust it to your care. Pupils to-day, to-morrow you will be teachers; to-morrow, +generation after generation of youth will pass through your guardian +hands. An idea received by you must of necessity reach thousands of minds. +Help me, then, to spread abroad the work in which you have some share, and +allow me to add to the great pleasure of having numbered you among my hearers +the still greater happiness of calling you my assistants. <span class="smcap">E. Legouvé.</span></p> + +<p>We commend this valuable little book to the attention of teachers and others +interested in the instruction of the pupils of our public schools. It treats of the +"First Steps in Reading," "Learning-to Read," "Should we read as we talk," +"The Use and Management of the Voice," "The Art of Breathing," "Pronunciation," +"Stuttering," "Punctuation," "Readers and Speakers," "Reading as +a Means of Criticism," "On Reading Poetry," &c., and makes a strong claim as +to the value of reading aloud, as being the most wholesome of gymnastics, for to +strengthen the voice is to strengthen the whole system and develop vocal power.</p></blockquote> + +<p class="center"><i>Sold by all Booksellers. Mailed, post-paid, by the Publishers</i>,</p> + +<p style="text-align: right"> +ROBERTS BROTHERS, <span class="smcap">Boston</span>.<br /> +</p> + +<p> </p> + + + +<p class="grande">THE NO NAME (SECOND) SERIES.</p> + +<p class="venti"><span class="smcap">Signor Monaldini's Niece.</span></p> + +<p class="center"><i>Extracts from some Opinions by well-known Authors.</i></p> + +<p>"We have read 'Signor Monaldini's Niece' with intensest +interest and delight. The style is finished and elegant, the atmosphere +of the book is enchanting. We seem to have lived in +Italy while we were reading it. The author has delineated with a +hand as steady as it is powerful and skilful some phases of human +life and experience that authors rarely dare attempt, and with +marvellous success. We think this volume by far the finest of +the No Name Series."</p> + +<p>"It is a delicious story. I feel as if I had been to Italy and +knew all the people.... Miss Conroy is a strong character, and +her tragedy is a fine background for the brightness of the other +and higher natures. It is all so dramatic and full of color it goes +on like a lovely play and leaves one out of breath when the curtain +falls."</p> + +<p>"I have re-read it with great interest, and think as highly of it +as ever.... The characterization in it is capital, and the talk +wonderfully well done from first to last."</p> + +<p>"The new No Name is enchanting. It transcends the ordinary +novel just as much as a true poem by a true poet transcends the +thousand and one imitations.... It is the episode, however, of +Miss Conroy and Mrs. Brandon that is really of most importance +in this book.... I hope every woman who reads this will be +tempted to read the book, and that she will in her turn bring it to +the reading of other women, especially if she can find any Mrs. +Brandon in her circle."</p> + +<p class="center">In one volume, 16mo, bound in green cloth, black and gilt lettered. +Price $1.00.<br /></p> + +<p class="center"><i>Our publications are to be had of all Booksellers. When +not to be found, send directly to</i></p> + +<p style="text-align: right">ROBERTS BROTHERS, <span class="smcap">Boston</span>.</p> + +<p> </p> + + +<p class="center"><b>The No Name (Second) Series.</b></p> + +<p class="venti">THE COLONEL'S OPERA CLOAK.</p> + + +<blockquote><p>"A jollier, brighter, breezier, more entertaining book than 'The Colonel's +Opera Cloak' has not been published for many a day. We defy the coldest-blooded +reader to lay it down before it is finished, or to read it through without +feeling his time well spent. There is plenty of satire in its pages, but it is good-natured +satire. The characters are sharply drawn—some of them from nature, +we fancy—and there is spice enough in the way of incident to satisfy the most +exacting palate. Of course, everybody will read it, and, in that presumption, we +promise everybody two hours of thorough enjoyment."—<i>Boston Transcript.</i></p> + +<p>"The No Name Series abounds in contrasts, and that between 'Signor Monaldini's +Niece' and the present story is among the most decided it has offered. +This we do not mention by way of disparagement. On the contrary, we can see +a distinctive merit in a series which includes so much variety of aim and interest +as this does, without any regard for the conventional demand that a succession of +stories in the same binding should all be of one school and in something the same +tone. We can see why an admirer of the last novel may at first be taken aback +by the light tone of this, and in so far disappointed; but we shall expend no +sympathy on that person. 'The Colonel's Opera Cloak' is a bright and +thoroughly alluring little book, with which it would be foolish to find fault on any +score. And, more than that, it is well written and brimming over with wit. +The notion of a story in which there is avowedly no hero or heroine excepting an +old opera cloak, is clever, and, so far as we know, quite new.... We can +assure every one who wishes the double pleasure of laughter and literary enjoyment, +that this is one of the books to carry to the country."—<i>Boston Courier.</i></p> + +<p>"The author's touch is always that of the artist; it always has the magic power +of portraying individual men and women, never giving us shadowy outlines, however +few or hurried the strokes of the pencil may be, and saying this we say that +the author of 'The Colonel's Opera Cloak' has in large measure the best and +most necessary qualification for doing really fine work in fiction. If he is still +young, as certain things in his story indicate that he is, his future efforts may well +be looked for hopefully."—<i>N.Y. Evening Post.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p class="center"> +In one volume. 16mo. Green cloth. Price $1.00.<br /> +</p> + +<p class="center"><i>Our publications are to be had of all Booksellers. When +not to be found, send directly to</i></p> + +<p style="text-align: right"> +ROBERTS BROTHERS, <span class="smcap">Publishers</span>, <br /> +<b>BOSTON</b>.<br /> +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p class="grande"><br />SARAH TYTLER'S ART BOOKS.</p> + + +<p><big><span class="smcap">The Old Masters and their Pictures.</span></big></p> + +<p><big><span class="smcap">Modern Painters and their Paintings.</span></big></p> + +<p> By <span class="smcap">Sarah Tytler</span>, author of "Papers for Thoughtful Girls." +16mo. Cloth, neat. Price of each, $1.50.</p> + +<blockquote><p>Designed for the use of Schools and Learners in Art, and extensively used in +Academies, Seminaries, &c., throughout the country.</p> + +<p>"An excellent introduction to the history of art."—<i>Daily News.</i></p> + +<p>"These two books give in a simple and concise manner the prominent facts +that every one who desires to be well informed should know about the great +artists of the world. For beginners in art and for school use they are valuable."—<i>Courier-Journal.</i></p> + +<p>"Really supplies what has long been a want."—<i>British Quarterly Review.</i></p> + +<p>"We are not aware of any work of the kind written with so much intelligence +which yet is so untechnical."—<i>Nonconformist.</i></p> + +<p>"Too much praise cannot be given the conscientious manner in which the +author has worked. There is no obtrusion of useless details or of unwelcome +criticism; but in very pleasant style, with clear and well-defined purpose, the +story of the growth and progress of art is told through the lives and works of +artists. The volumes are most agreeable reading and profitable study."—<i>Boston +Post.</i></p></blockquote> + + +<p><big><span class="smcap">Musical Composers and their Works.</span></big></p> + +<p>For the Use of Schools and Students in America. By +<span class="smcap">Sarah Tytler</span>. 1 vol. 16mo. $1.50.</p> + +<blockquote><p>In this unostentatious but carefully written volume, the author of "Old +Masters" and "Modern Painters" has given a simple account of the great +musicians of the world and of their works. The book is designed more especially +for the use of young people in the course of their musical education, but the +author trusts—and with very good reason—that it will commend itself also to +older people, who are interested in the subject, but who have not time or opportunity +to refer to original sources of information. Not the least attractive portion +of the work is the sketch of Wagner with which it closes.</p></blockquote> + + + +<p> </p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 125px;"> +<img src="images/deco1.png" width="125" height="180" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p class="venti">"NO NAME SERIES."</p> + +<p class="center"><i>The First Series, completed</i>,</p> + +<p class="center">COMPRISES TWELVE NOVELS, VIZ.,</p> + + + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align="left">MERCY PHILBRICK'S CHOICE.</td><td align="left">HETTY'S STRANGE HISTORY.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">IS THAT ALL?</td><td align="left">WILL DENBIGH, <span class="smcap">Nobleman</span>.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">KISMET.</td><td align="left">THE WOLF AT THE DOOR.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">THE GREAT MATCH.</td><td align="left">MARMORNE.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">A MODERN MEPHISTOPHELES. </td><td align="left">MIRAGE.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">AFTERGLOW.</td><td align="left">GEMINI.</td></tr> +</table></div> + + + +<p class="center"><b> +AND TWO POETICAL VOLUMES:</b><br /> +</p> + +<p><b>DEIRDRÉ.</b> A Novel in Verse.</p> + +<p><b>A MASQUE OF POETS.</b> Original Poems, by Fifty Poets, written specially +for this book; including "<span class="smcap">Guy Vernon</span>," an entire Novelette in +verse.</p> + +<p>Fourteen volumes in all, uniformly bound in black cloth, red +and gilt lettered. Price $1.00 each.</p> + + +<p class="center"><br /><b>NO NAME [SECOND] SERIES.</b></p> + +<p>The new series will retain all the peculiar features which +made the first so popular, differing from it only in the style +of binding. Now ready,</p> + +<p> +SIGNOR MONALDINI'S NIECE,<br /> + THE COLONEL'S OPERA CLOAK,<br /> + HIS MAJESTY, MYSELF,<br /> + MRS. BEAUCHAMP BROWN,<br /> + SALVAGE.<br /> +</p> + +<p class="center">Price $1.00 each.</p> + +<p><i>Our publications are to be had of all booksellers. When +not to be found send directly to</i></p> + +<p style="text-align: right"> +ROBERTS BROTHERS, Publishers, <br /> +<span class="smcap">Boston</span>.<br /> +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p class="venti">THE "NO NAME SERIES."</p> + + +<p class="grande">KISMET. A Nile Novel.</p> + +<p class="center">Opinions, generous tributes to genius, by well-known authors +whose names are withheld.</p> + + +<blockquote><p>"Well, I have read 'Kismet,' and it is certainly very remarkable. The +story is interesting,—any well-told love story is, you know,—but the book itself is +a great deal more so. Descriptively and sentimentally,—I use the word with +entire respect,—it is, in spots, fairly exquisite. It seems to me all glowing and +overflowing with what the French call <i>beauté du diable</i>.... The conversations +are very clever, and the wit is often astonishingly like the wit of an accomplished +man of the world. One thing which seems to me to show promise—great +promise, if you will—for the future is that the author can not only reproduce +the conversation of one brilliant man, but can make two men talk together as +if they <i>were</i> men,—not women in manly clothes."</p> + +<p>"It is a charming book. I have read it twice, and looked it over again, and +I wish I had it all new to sit up with to-night. It is so fresh and sweet and innocent +and joyous, the dialogue is so natural and bright, the characters so keenly +edged, and the descriptions so poetic. I don't know when I have enjoyed +any thing more,—never since I went sailing up the Nile with Harriet Martineau.... +You must give the author love and greeting from one of the fraternity. +The hand that gives us <i>this</i> pleasure will give us plenty more of an improving +quality every year, I think."</p> + +<p>"'Kismet' is indeed a delightful story, the best of the series undoubtedly."</p> + +<p>"If 'Kismet' is the first work of a young lady, as reported, it shows a great +gift of language, and powers of description and of insight into character and life +quite uncommon.... Of the whole series so far, I think 'Mercy Philbrick's +Choice' is the best, because it has, beside literary merit, some moral tone and +vigor. Still there are capabilities in the writer of 'Kismet' even higher than in +that of the writer of 'Mercy Philbrick's Choice.'"</p> + +<p>"I liked it extremely. It is the best in the series so far, except in construction, +in which 'Is That All?' slight as it is, seems to me superior. +'Kismet' is winning golden opinions everywhere. I have nothing but praises +for it, and have nothing but praise to give it."</p> + +<p>"I have read 'Kismet' once, and mean to read it again. It is thoroughly +charming, and will be a success."</p></blockquote> + +<p class="center">One volume, bound in cardinal red and black. Price $1.00.</p> + + +<p>Our publications are to be had of all booksellers. When not +to be found, send directly to</p> + +<p style="text-align: right"> +ROBERTS BROTHERS, Publishers, Boston.<br /> +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<h3>PUBLISHERS' ADVERTISEMENT.</h3> + + + +<p class="center"><i>From the Boston Daily Advertiser.</i></p> + +<p class="center">THE "NO NAME SERIES."</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Leigh Hunt</span>, <i>in his 'Indicator,' has a pleasant chapter +on the difficulty he encountered in seeking a suitable and fresh +title for a collection of his miscellaneous writings. Messrs. +Roberts Brothers have just overcome a similar difficulty in +the simplest manner. In selecting</i> "<span class="smcap">No Name</span>," <i>they have +selected the very best title possible for a series of Original +American Novels and Tales, to be published Anonymously. +These novels are to be written by eminent authors, and in +each case the authorship of the work is to remain an inviolable +secret. "No Name" describes the Series perfectly. No name +will help the novel, or the story, to success. Its success will +depend solely on the writer's ability to catch and retain the +reader's interest. Several of the most distinguished writers +of American fiction have agreed to contribute to the Series, +the initial volume of which is now in press. Its appearance +will certainly be awaited with curiosity</i>."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;"> +<img src="images/deco2.png" width="100" height="165" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>The plan thus happily foreshadowed will be immediately +inaugurated by the publication of "<span class="smcap">Mercy Philbrick's +Choice</span>," from the pen of a well-known and successful writer +of fiction.</p> + +<p>It is intended to include in the Series a volume of anonymous +poems from famous hands, to be written especially for it.</p> + +<p>The "No Name Series" will be issued at convenient intervals, +in handsome library form, 16mo, cloth, price $1.00 each.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right"> +ROBERTS BROTHERS, <span class="smcap"> Publishers</span>.<br /> +</p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Boston</span>, Midsummer, 1876.<br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><b>Transcriber's Notes:</b></p> +<ul> +<li>Punctuation normalized.<br /><br /></li> +<li>On page 52 "immediatly" changed to "immediately".<br /> + "... the generation immediately preceding my own."<br /><br /></li> + +<li>On page 54 "self-dicipline" changed to "self-discipline".<br /> + "Without self-discipline and self-sacrifice...."<br /><br /></li> + +<li>On page 61 "superflous" changed to "superfluous."<br /> + "... with superfluous irrelevancies...."<br /><br /></li> + +<li>On page 72 "religous" changed to "religious."<br /> + "... will be the religious trainers...."<br /><br /></li> + +<li>On page 72 capitalization in "Who" retained as printed.<br /><br /></li> + +<li>On page 86 "aginst" changed to "against."<br /> + "... revolts against the small tyranny...."<br /><br /></li> +</ul> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Modern Society, by Julia Ward Howe + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MODERN SOCIETY *** + +***** This file should be named 36489-h.htm or 36489-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/4/8/36489/ + +Produced by Sharon Joiner, paksenarrion, Bryan Ness and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Modern Society + +Author: Julia Ward Howe + +Release Date: June 21, 2011 [EBook #36489] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MODERN SOCIETY *** + + + + +Produced by Sharon Joiner, paksenarrion, Bryan Ness and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + + MODERN SOCIETY. + BY + JULIA WARD HOWE. + + BOSTON: + ROBERTS BROTHERS. + 1881. + + COPYRIGHT, 1880, + BY ROBERTS BROTHERS. + + PRINTED BY + ALFRED MUDGE AND SON. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + MODERN SOCIETY 5 + + CHANGES IN AMERICAN SOCIETY 49 + + + + +MODERN SOCIETY. + + +What means this summons, oh friends! to the groves of Academe? I heard, +in the distance, the measured tread of Philosophy. I mused: "How grave +and deliberate is she! How she matches thought with thought! How +patiently she questions inference and conclusion! No irrelevance, no +empty ballooning, is allowed in that Concord school. Nothing frivolous +need apply there for admission." And lo! in the midst of this severe +entertainment an interlude is called for in the great theatre. The stage +manager says, "Ring up Puck. Wanted, an Ariel." And no Shakespeare being +at hand, I, of the sex much reproved for never having produced one, am +invited to fly hither as well as my age and infirmities will allow, and +to represent to you that airy presence whose folly, seen from the +clouds, is wisdom; that presence which, changing with the changes of the +year and of the day, may yet sing, equally with the steadfast stars and +systematic planets,-- + + "The hand that made me is divine." + +Modern society, concerning which you have bid me discourse to you, is +this tricksy spirit, many-featured and many-gestured, coming in a +questionable shape, and bringing with it airs from heaven and blasts +from hell. I have spoken to it, and it has shown me my father's ghost. +How shall I speak of it, and tell you what it has taught me? You must +think my alembic a nice one indeed, since you bid me to the analysis of +those subtle and finely mingled forces. You have sent for me, perhaps, +to receive a lesson instead of giving one. You may intend that, having +tried and failed in this task, I shall learn, for the future, the +difficult lesson of holding my peace. For so benevolent, so +disinterested an intention, I may have more occasion to thank you +beforehand, than you shall find to thank me, having heard me. + +But, since a text is supposed to make it sure that the sermon shall have +in it one good sentence, let me take for my text a saying of the +philosopher Kant, who, in one of his treatises, rests much upon the +distinction to be made between logical and real or substantial +opposition. According to him, a logical opposition is brought in view +when one attribute of a certain thing is at once affirmed and denied. +The statement of a body which should be at once stationary and in motion +would imply such a contradiction, of which the result will be _nihil +negativum irrepraesentabile_. + +A real or substantial opposition is found where two contradictory +predicates are recognized as coexistent in the same subject. A body +impelled in one direction by a given force, and in another by its +opposite, is easily cogitable. One force neutralizes the other, but the +result is something, viz., rest. Let us keep in mind this distinction +between opposites which exclude each other, and opposites which can +coexist, while we glance at the contradictions of all society, ancient +as well as modern. + +How self-contradictory, in the first place, is the nature of man! How +sociable he is! also how unsociable! We have among animals the +gregarious and the solitary. But man is of all animals at once the most +gregarious and the most solitary. This is the first and most universal +contradiction, that of which you find at least the indication in every +individual. But let us look for a moment at the contrasts which make one +individual so unlike to another. We sometimes find it hard to believe +the saying that God hath made of one blood all the nations of the earth. +This in view of the contrast between savage and civilized nations, or +between nations whose habits and beliefs differ one from the other. In +the same race, in the same family also, we shall find the unlikeness +which seems to set the bond of nature at defiance. + +See this sly priest, bland and benevolent in proportion to the narrow +limits of the minds which he controls. He hears the shrift of the +brigand and assassin, of the girl mastered by passion, of the unfaithful +wife and avenging husband. He gives an admonition, perhaps a grave one. +He inflicts a penance, light or severe. He does not trust his penitents +with the secret which can heal the plague-sores of humanity,--the secret +of its moral power. But see the meek flock who come to him. See the +whole range of consciences which cannot rest without his dismissing +_fiat_. The rugged peasant drops on his knees beside the confessional. +His horny palm relinquishes, without hesitation, the coin upon which it +has scarcely closed. Or here alights from her carriage some woman of the +world, bright in silks and jewels. With a hush and a rustle, reaching +the lowly bench, she, too, drops down, rehearses her wrong-doing, +promises such reparation as is enjoined, and asks for the word of peace. +Now this confessor, and one or more of his penitents, may be the +children of the same father and mother, and yet they shall be as unlike +in attitude and in character as two human beings can be. In the closest +alliance of blood you may thus find the opposite poles of one humanity. + +Humanity is, then, a thing of oppositions, and of oppositions which are +polar and substantial. Its contradictions do not exclude, but, on the +contrary, complement each other, and the action and reaction of these +contradictions result in the mighty agreements of the State and of the +Church, the intense sympathies and antipathies which bind or sunder +individuals, the affections and disaffections of the family. + +The opposite extremes of human nature embrace, between them, a wonderful +breadth and scope. The correlation and coaction of this multitude of +opposing forces on the wide arena of the world naturally give rise to a +series of manifestations, voluntary and involuntary, changeful in form +and color as a phantasmagoria, fitful as a fever-dream, but steadfast +and substantial in the infinite science, out of which all things come. +The unity in this web of contradictions is its great wonder. How if this +unity prove to be the law of which the oppositions are but one clause? +How if the perfect unity were only attainable through the freedom of the +natural diversity? And what is the substance and sum of this fundamental +agreement? The desire of good, the progressive conception of which +marks, more than anything else, the progress of the race. We cannot tell +out of what dynamics comes the initial of this fruitful and productive +opposition. It is, perhaps, the very unity of the object which develops +the diversity of action. In the progress of human society the diversity +becomes constantly multiplied. Is the sense of the unity lost in +consequence? No, it grows constantly with the growth of this opposing +fact. As education is enlarged, as freedom becomes more general and +entire, the agreement of mankind becomes greater in the objects to be +attained for the promotion of their best interests. + +We can suppose a family cast upon a barren shore, or forced to sit down +in the midst of an uninhabited region. All of its members will wish to +secure the necessary conditions of life, such as food, fuel, shelter, +safety from destructive agencies. If left to themselves, one will +naturally bestir himself to find fish, game, or fruits; another will +bring in firewood; a third will plan a tent or hut; a fourth will stand +sentry against any possible alarm. So a camp is a world in miniature; +and if food and drink be plenty, and there be time to think of +recreation, some one will carve a pipe from reed or willow, and, in +answer to the piping, will come the dance. Or, if our pilgrims are too +mystic and solemn for this, hymns will be sung, and the voice of prayer +will lift the soul out of the poverty of its surroundings into that +realm of imagination whose wealth far exceeds that of Ormus or of Ind. + +I seem to hear at this point the _non placet_ of those who ask for one +thing and receive another. I was not sent for to philosophize, but to +represent; and, with regard to the former process, "how not to do it" +should have been my study. Modern society is my theme. Where shall I +find society for you? Henry Thoreau found it here, in the passionless +face of Nature. Here, the shy Hawthorne could dwell unmolested, not even +overshadowed by the revered sage who makes reserve and distance such +important elements of good manners. Mr. Alcott has transplanted here +those olives whose sacred chrism rests upon his honored brow. The +society which my words shall introduce here must be neither vulgar nor +dull. + +Now, if I had a flying-machine! Well, I have one, and its name is +Memory. Sit with me, upon its movable platform, and I will give you some +peeps at the thing itself, leaving you to discuss after me its _raison +d'etre_, its right to be. In experimental analysis, specimens are always +exhibited. Let us look at modern society in Cairo, Shepherd's hotel, and +the omnibus that bears one thither. The _table d'hote_ unites a +catalogue as various as that of Don Giovanni. Here sit Sir Samuel and +Lady Baker, famous as African explorers. You may all know something of +the entertaining volumes which chronicle their discoveries and +adventures. Lady Baker wears, at times, a necklace made of tiger's +claws. Her husband shot the tiger in the great wilds of Africa, she +loading the gun with which he did it. + +She is Roumanian by birth, English by adoption, fair and comely. Sir +Samuel is a burly Briton. They have with them a young African servant, +dark and under-sized, with wild, crimped hair. Sir Samuel tells me that +this is altogether the best human creature he ever knew. Lady Baker does +not resent the extreme statement. I sit at table between a Russian count +and an English baronet. The Russian and his two daughters are amiable +and simple people. The baronet is a stanch Tory, as you will think +natural when you hear his story. He was once a poor boy, hard at work in +a coal mine. He used to walk six or seven miles daily, after working +hours, in order to acquaint himself with those three Fates who are +familiarly called the three R's. Becoming an expert in the coal +business, he went through the upward grades of his profession, became a +large owner of mines, and has now a heavy contract for supplying the +Egyptian government with coal. He is a member of Parliament, and, when I +saw him, was ready to start homeward on the first news of a division in +the House. It was lately stated in a London paper that Lord Beaconsfield +would probably raise him to the peerage before his own retirement from +office. So, it may have been done by this time. + +My Russian neighbors are much troubled about the fate of a poor Italian +family whose chief has lost his occupation, and which is thus reduced +to the extreme of want. "Why not get up a subscription at this hotel?" +say I. They are very willing that I should. I draw up a paper, we sign +our names and contributions. Sir George snubs us dreadfully, but gives +us a sovereign. Sir Samuel snubs, and gives nothing. The necessary sum +of money is raised, and the family is sent to its own country. Here, you +see, are Russia, England, and America, combining, on Egyptian soil, to +save Italy. This strange mixture is characteristic of the medley of the +time. + +We will not move yet, for the panorama of the table will save us that +trouble. Here is one of the recognized beauties of London society. A +very pretty woman, with dewy eyes, pearly teeth, dark, glossy hair, and +a soft, fresh complexion. A French wardrobe sets off those natural +advantages, with its happy disguises and apposite revelations. But it is +not good for beauty that it should become a profession. This lady's fine +eyes and teeth are made to do duty with such evident persistence of +intention, that one absolutely dreads to see the glitter of the one and +the flash of the other in the gymnastic of an advertised flirtation. + +I cannot yet release you. Here are two gentlemen who wear the +_tarbouche_ with their European costume. They were rebels in our war of +secession, and at its close took service with the Khedive. Ignoring +ancient sectional differences, they are very cordial with us, their +countrywomen. They would be glad to see their country again, but cannot +get their salaries paid, the French and English commissioners having +taken the direction of Egyptian finances, and making no allowance for +the past services of these American officers, who were dismissed at +their instance. + +We are still at Shepherd's _table d'hote_, and before us sit an English +nobleman and his wife, who have obtained permission to give a _fete_ at +the Pyramids. A gay party of English residents and visitors are +gathering to accompany them, and presently the carriages and cavalcade +start, with a band of music, and a small army of servants. They +illuminate the Great Pyramid with colored fires, race their horses and +donkeys through the desert, sup and sleep in the Khedive's _kiosk_, not +without much boisterous mirth and disturbance. + +Or, behold me on Bairam day, paying a New-Year's visit to the harem of +the Khedive. A row of grinning eunuchs, black as night, guard the +entrance. After various turns of ceremonial, we greet the three +princesses, all wives of the Khedive, who has many others not of this +rank. In order not to give offence, we are obliged to smoke the +_chibouque_, a pipe about five feet in length. We smile and courtesy at +the proper moment, but find conversation difficult. They are curious to +hear where we came from, and whither we are going. I ask whether they, +also, enjoy travelling, and am reminded that their institutions do not +allow it. These poor princesses little knew that in two months from that +time an involuntary journey awaited them, on the occasion of the +Khedive's abdication, and departure from the country. + +We please ourselves, in these days, with the praise of Islamism, and +think, quite rightly, that Mahomet and his Koran had their _raison +d'etre_, and have done their part for mankind. But here is Islamism in +modern society. The howling dervishes sit on the ground groaning _Allah, +Allah_. By and by they rise, and bend their heads backward and forward +until the most eminent among them fall in fits, and are taken up in an +unhappy condition. Within a short distance from our hotel, we hear of a +company of men met for a religious exercise. One of them chews a glass +goblet and swallows it. Another endeavors to swallow a small snake. A +third gashes himself wildly with a sword. These are religious +enthusiasts. If their faith be genuine, these dangerous experiments, +they say, can do them no harm. + +These things remind us of the temptation of Christ: "If thou be the Son +of God, cast thyself down from hence." + +But let us leave the city and hotel, and betake ourselves to the +historic river, dumb with all its mouths, and poor with all its wealth. +Modern society is well represented on board our steamer. Here are two +Californian gentlemen, two sons of a Sandwich Island missionary, two or +three Italians. Here is a sister-in-law of John Bright. She has visited +Alaska, and considers this Nile trip a small parenthesis in her voyage +round the world. Here are an English couple, belonging to fashionable +life. Here is a clergyman of the same nation, who glories in the fact +that Dr. Johnson hated, or said he hated, a Whig. Here is an American +who cannot visit the ruins because his whole day is divided into so many +glasses of milk, to be taken at such and such times. + +We land one day at Assiout, and visit its bazaars. The trade in ostrich +feathers is brisk, the natives steadily raising their prices as the +demand increases, until we find that the feathers might be more cheaply +bought in London or Paris. Amid the general confusion of tongues I am +accosted by a handsome youth, cleanly and civil, who speaks fair +English, and asks if he can serve me. + +Who are you? A pupil of the American Mission School in this place. He +brings two of his fellow-pupils to speak with me. One of these is a +girl, whose innocent, uncovered face seems to rebuke the hidden faces of +the Arab women, veiled and disfigured to evince their modesty, but +making more evident the immodesty of the men. + +We return to our steamer, followed by a crowd of boys and girls, +shrieking and naked, who plunge into the water to get the _backshish_, +which some of our party throw them. On the bank stand two beautiful +youths, nearly black, with eyes like sloes, and with crisped hair +standing erect like a flame above their foreheads. They are clad in +kilts of white cotton cloth. Struck with their beauty, we inquire of +what tribe they are. "Of the Bischouri," says our dragoman, "a tribe of +the desert, who feed only upon uncooked grain." To the last their bright +smile pursues us with its pathos. Would that they, too, were pupils of +the American Mission School. Would not our vegetarian chief send for +them?[1] + + [1] Mr. Alcott, Dean of the Concord School of Philosophy, has + always been known as a vegetarian. + +We gallop across the sands to a point opposite Philae, and reach the +sacred spot by boat. We picnic among its tombs, climb its _pylon_, and +remark upon the beauty of the view. At the first cataract, which is very +near this place, an Arab woman shows me her baby with the pride of Eve +or Queen Victoria. It has a nose-ring of brass wire, and similar +adornments in the top of each ear. On my way back to the boat, my pocket +is picked by a cunning youth. The Arabs of the desert will compare in +this respect with the Arabs of European streets. A little Arab girl +offers to sell me her rag doll, whose veil is bedizened with spangles. A +little water-carrier, proud of her English, says, "Lady, give me +backshish." + +This shall end my peep at modern society in Egypt. + +But one more personal remembrance you must accord me. The scene is a +dirty, muddy street in a Cyprus seaport. The time is not far from noon. +I am exploring, with some curiosity, the new jewel which Lord +Beaconsfield has added to the crown of Great Britain. + +What a mean, poor bazaar is this; what dull streets, what a barren place +to live in, especially since _methymenic_ Albion has drunk up all the +best of the wine! I pass a shop, and a bright presence beams out upon +me. It is Lady Baker, with her fair, luminous face, full of energy and +resource. Sir Samuel, she tells me, is in the back shop buying hardware +for a hard journey. For they intend to travel through the island in a +huge covered wagon, drawn by oxen, which will be to them at once vehicle +and hotel. Where they went, and how they fared, I know not, nor would it +here import us, if I did. I only mention the appearance of these friends +in this place, because this appearance was so characteristic of modern +society, and because so many of its elements appeared there in their +persons. The education and high society of England, the court, the +literary circles, the almighty publisher, for an intended volume was +surely looming in the foreground of their picture. And here I have +clearly got hold of one feature of modern society; this is, that +everything is everywhere. The Zulus are in London, the Londoners in +Zululand. Empress Eugenie, the exploded star of French fashion in its +highest supremacy, visits Cape Town. The stars and stripes protect +American professors on the shores of the Bosphorus, within view of Mount +Lebanon. It would not surprise us to learn that a party of our +countrymen had read the Declaration of Independence beside the Pools of +Solomon, or within the desolate heart of Moab. + +In Jaffa of the Crusaders, Joppa of Peter and Paul, I find an American +Mission School, kept by a worthy lady from Rhode Island. Prominent among +its points of discipline is the clean-washed face which is so enthroned +in the prejudices of Western civilization. One of her scholars, a youth +of unusual intelligence, finding himself clean, observes himself to be +in strong contrast with his mother's hovel, in which filth is just kept +clear of fever point. "Why this dirt?" quoth he; "that which has made me +clean, will cleanse this also." So without more ado, the process of +scrubbing is applied to the floor, without regard to the danger of so +great a novelty. This simple fact has its own significance, for if the +innovation of soap and water can find its way to a Jaffa hut, where can +the ancient, respectable, conservative dirt-devil feel himself secure? + +The maxim also becomes vain nowadays, that there should be a place for +everything, and that everything should be in its place. Cleopatra's +Needles point their moral in London and in New York. The Prince of Wales +hunts tigers in the Punjaub. Hyde Park is in the desert or on the Nile. +America is all over the world. Against this universal game of "Puss in +the Corner," reaction must come, some day, in some shape, or anywhere +will mean nowhere, for those who, starting in the geographical pursuit +of pleasure, fail to find it and never return home. + +The oppositions of humanity have undergone many changes. Paul +characterized them in his day as "Greek and Barbarian, bond and free, +male and female." Christianity effaced old oppositions and created new +ones. The old oppositions were national, personal, selfish. The new +opposition was moral. It struck at evils, not at men, and tended to +unite the latter in a patient and reasonable overcoming of the former. I +know that the white heat at which its first blow was dealt left much for +philosophy to elaborate, for science to adjust and apply. A Jesus, +arrived at the plenitude of his intellectual vigor, could only have +three years in which to formulate his weighty doctrine, and could not +have had these without much care and hindrance. His work lay in the +normal direction of human nature. In spite of lapses and relapses, +mankind slowly creep towards the great unification which will make the +savage animals and the selfish passions the only enemies of the human +race. Modern society rests upon this unification as its basis of action. +A positive philosophy which Auguste Comte did not elaborate absorbs its +highest thought, and dictates its largest measures. + +And so prophetic souls bid farewell to the old negations. In their view, +the lion is already reconciled to the lamb. The taming of the elements +prefigures the general reconciliation. The deadly lightning runs on +errands and carries messages. The Titan steam is the servant of commerce +and industry, meek as Hercules when armed with the distaff of Omphale. +Emulation, the desire to excel, exquisite, dangerous stimulant to +exertion, is not in our day educated to the intensification of self, but +to the enlargement of public spirit and of general interest. The +constant discoveries of new treasures in our material world, of gold, +silver, iron, and copper, of states to be built up and of harvests to be +sown and reaped, are accompanied by corresponding discoveries +concerning the variety of human gifts and their application to useful +ends. What men and women can be good for may be more voluminously stated +to-day than in any preceding age of the world's history. + +Comparison should be a strong point in modern society. When travelling +was laborious and difficult, the masses of one country knew little +concerning those of another. When learning was rare, and instruction +costly and insufficient, the few knew the secrets of thought and +science, the many not even knowing that such things were to be known. +When wealth was uncommon, luxury was monopolized by a small class, the +greater part of mankind earning only for themselves the right to live +poorly. When distinctions were absolute, low life knew nothing of high +life but what the novelist could invent, or the servant reveal. How +changed is all this to-day! Competence, travel, tuition, and intelligent +company are within the reach of all who will give themselves the trouble +to attain them. The first consequence of this is that we become able to +make the largest and most general comparison of human conditions which +has ever been possible to humanity, nor does this ability regard the +present alone. The unveiling of the treasures of the past, the +interpretation of its experience and doctrine which we owe to the +scholar and archaeologist, enable us to compare remote antiquity with the +things of the last minute. The work of antiquarian science culminates in +the discovery of the prehistoric man. Theology had long before invented +the post-historic angel. Now, indeed, we ought to be able to choose the +best out of the best, since the whole is laid in order before us. But +the chronic trouble hangs upon us still. Had we but such wisdom to +choose as we have chance to see! The gifts of our future are still shown +us in sealed caskets. Which of these conceals the condition of our true +happiness? The leaden one, surely, of which we distrust the dull +exterior, trusting in the inner brightness which it covers. + +What is the problem of modern society? + +How to use its vast resources. Here is where the office of true ethic +comes in. No gift can make rich those who are poor in wisdom. The wealth +which should build up society will pull it down if its possession lead +to fatal luxury and indulgence. The freedom of intercourse which makes +one nation known to another, and puts the culture of the most advanced +at the service of the most barbarous, is like a flood which carries +everywhere the seeds of good and of evil. The ripening of these depends +much upon the accident of the human soil they may happen to find. But +careful husbandry will have even more to do with the result. + +To America it was said at the outset, "Prepare to receive the World, and +to make it free." Oh, World, so full of corruption and of slavery, wilt +thou not rather bind us with thy gangrenous fetters? Wilt not the wail +of thy old injustice and suffering prolong itself until the new strophe +of hope shall be lost and forgotten? + +Where is God's image in this human brute who lands on our shores, full +only of the insolence of beggary? Far, far be from us ever the methods +and procedures which have made or left him what he is. Honor and glory +to those patient, good men and women who will redeem his children from +the degradation which seems almost proper to him. Theirs be a crown +above that of the poet or orator! + +Modern society, then, is chiefly occupied with a vast assimilation of +novelties. This task is by no means imposed upon us alone. While the +New World has to digest races and traditions, the Old World has to +digest ideas. Thanks to the good Puritan stomach which we inherit, the +process goes on here, with little interruption. But across the seas, in +Rome, in Germany, in Russia, what nausea, what quarrelling with the +fatal morsel upon which Providence compels the lips to close! + +"_Non possumus!_" say the priests of the old order. "_Possum_," replies +the eternal power. The French republic and the English monarchy succeed +best in this altering of old habits to suit new emergencies. But where +extremes are greatest, the contest is naturally fiercest. A Pope fears +the cup of poisoned chocolate, and dares not drink the wine of the +eucharist without a taster; the throne of the Russian autocrat is over +the deadly mine of the Nihilist. German vanity and diplomacy bring back +the shadow of the mediaeval muddle. The living heart's blood of humanity +comes to us out of these struggles, an immeasurable gift, for good or +for evil. Can we be quick enough with our schools, just enough in our +government, sincere and devout enough in our churches? What will Europe +do with the ideas? What will America do with the people? These are the +questions of the present time. + +One of the serious social questions of the day is the omnipotence of +money. People often use this expression in a _quasi_ sarcastic sense, +not seriously intending what they say. But the power of money nowadays +is such that it becomes us seriously to ask whether there is anything +that it cannot do. What ancient strongholds of taste, sentiment, and +prejudice has it not stormed and carried? + +A servant, who sought a place during the first years of the shoddy +inflation, asked a lady who was willing to engage her, "Are you shoddy, +ma'am, or old family? I want to live with shoddy, because it pays the +highest wages." The watchwords of society as often come from its humbler +as from its higher level, and this woman unconsciously uttered the word +which was to rule society from that time to this. Money, during the last +twenty years, has swept over most of the old landmarks, and obliterated +them. + +Religion itself stands aghast at this baptism of gold, which can convert +the alien and the heathen, ay, the brigand and the robber, into saints +of social prestige. For money bribes the court and pulpit, and buys the +press; the highest rank, the highest genius, pay homage to it. If the +duke has not money, he will seek in wedlock the most undesirable of +women, if she be also the richest. Royalty bows to the splendid cloak of +vulgarity, and invites it to dine and drive. Happy day, you will say, +for labor, which money symbolizes. Monarchs may well show it respect. +But money does not always symbolize honest and intelligent industry. A +great fortune often represents transactions akin to theft; sometimes the +thing itself, which the world is Spartan enough to approve of, if the +criminal can only escape positive detection. Those, too, who have earned +their money honestly, leave it to children who turn their back upon the +class of which their parents came, and desire to know nothing of the +bread-winning arts which they were constrained to practise. + +We have had, within the last ten years, a severe lesson concerning the +instability of wealth in some of its most trusted forms. Yet are we not +compelled by sympathy and antipathy, at the bottom of our hearts, to pay +it an homage which our lips would not avow? Do we not desire wealth for +our children as the condition which shall set our minds at rest +concerning them? When we see mediocrity and vulgarity riding in the +swift carriage, and wearing the jewels and the robes, bright in +everybody's eyes and praised in everybody's mouth, do we not harbor +somewhere a regret that we have not, in some way possible to us, set our +best abilities to work to secure a similar distinction for ourselves? + +It should not frighten one to see the court and its underlings venal. +Court and courtiers are a show, and money is the condition by which a +show lives. But I look into the domain of letters, and ask whether that +is still uncorrupted. I do not think that it is. The refined tastes of +literary people lead them to value entertainment at the hands of the +rich. The luxurious rooms, the abundant table, the easy _persiflage_ in +which worldly tact knows enough to flatter recognized talent. Do not +these _illicebrae_ seduce, to-day, even the stern heart of philosophy? + +How unkind was society to Margaret Fuller! It was reluctant to show her +the courtesy due to a gentlewoman. Its mean gossip treated her as if she +had been beyond the pale of elegance and good taste, verging away even +from good behavior. What was her offence against society? A humanity too +large and absorbing, a mind too brave and independent for its +commonplace. Add to these the fact that she had neither fashion nor +fortune. The things she asked for are granted to-day by every thinking +mind, and she is remembered as illustrious. But if she could come back +to-morrow as she was, poor in purse and plain in person, and assume her +old leadership, would Boston treat her any better than it did in days of +yore? Would she not find, even among Brook farmers, a looking toward +Beacon Street which might surprise her? The literary man, who went so +bravely from abstract philosophy to its concrete expression, whose +learned hands took up the spade and hoe, and whose early peas were +praised by those who contemned his principles, would he, at a later +day,--grown urbane and fashionable,--would he have bowed without a pang +to his former self, if he had met him, dusty and on foot, in Central +Park, he himself being well mounted? + +I said just now that money could buy the press. This is shameful, +because the press, more than any other power, can afford to be frank and +sincere. Freedom is the very breath of life in its nostrils, yet is it +to-day largely salaried by the enemies of freedom. While speaking of the +press, I will mention the regret with which I lately read, in the +"Boston Daily Advertiser," an editorial treating of the expulsion of the +Jesuits from France. The writer, who denounced this measure with some +severity, described the religious body with which it deals as a band of +mild and inoffensive men, chiefly occupied with the tuition of youth. He +might as well have characterized a tiger as a harmless creature, +incapable of the use of firearms. + +To me the worship of wealth means, in the present, the crowning of low +merit with undeserved honor,--the setting of successful villany above +unsuccessful virtue. It means absolute neglect and isolation for the few +who follow a high heart's love through want and pain, through evil and +good report. It means the bringing of all human resources, material and +intellectual, to one dead level of brilliant exhibition--a second Field +of the Cloth of Gold--to show that the barbaric love of splendor still +lives in man, with the thirst for blood, and other _quasi_ animal +passions. It means, in the future, some such sad downfall as Spain had +when the gold and silver of America had gorged her soldiers and nobles; +something like what France experienced after Louis XIV. and XV. I am no +prophet, and, least of all, a prophet of evil; but where, oh where, +shall we find the antidote to this metallic poison? Perhaps in the +homoeopathic principle of cure. When the money miracle shall be +complete, when the gold Midas shall have turned everything to gold, then +the human heart will cry for flesh and blood, for brain and muscles. +Then shall manhood be at a premium, and money at a discount. + +The French have found, among many others, one fortunate expression. They +speak of a life of representation, by which they mean the life of a +person conspicuous in the great world. This society of representation +has some recognition in every stage of civilization, since even nations +which we consider barbarous have their festivals and processions. The +ministerial balls in Paris, and perhaps many other entertainments in +that city, are of this character. + +The guests are admitted in virtue of a card, which is really a ticket, +though money cannot command it. Many of the persons entertained are not +personally acquainted with either host or hostess, and do not +necessarily make their acquaintance by going to their house. Everything +is arranged with a view to large effects: music, decorations, supper, +etc. A party of friends may go there for their own amusement, or a +single individual for his own. But there are no general introductions +given, there is no social fusion. + +Now this I call society of representation. It bears about the same +relation to genuine society that scene-painting bears to a carefully +finished picture. People of culture and education enjoy a peep at this +spectacular drama of the social stage, but their idea of society would +be something very different from this. Where this show-society +monopolizes the resources of a community, it implies either a dearth of +intellectual resources, or a great misapprehension of what is really +delightful and profitable in social intercourse. + +Where the stage form of society predominates too largely, its intimate +form languishes and declines. The communings of a chosen few around a +table simply spread, with no view to the recognition of the great +Babylon, but rather with a pleasure in its avoidance; refined sympathy +and support given and received in a round of daily duties, by those +whose hands are busy and whose minds are full; the inner sweetness of a +beautiful song or poem, the kindling of mind from mind, till all become +surprised at what each can do,--this sort of society maintains itself by +keeping the noisy rush of the crowd at arm's length. Horace says,-- + + "Odo profanum vulgus et arceo," + +and I, a democrat of the democrats, will say so too. I reverence the +masses of mankind, rich or poor. My heart beats high when I think of the +good which human society has already evolved, and of the greater good +which is in store for those who are to come after us. But I hate the +profane vulgarity which courts public notice and mention as the chief +end of existence, and which, in so doing, puts out of sight those +various ends and interests which each generation is bound to pursue for +itself, and to promote for its successors. + +The time of poor Marie Antoinette was the culmination of such a period +of show. Its glare and glitter, and its lavish waste, had put out of +sight the true and intimate relations of man to man. And so, as the +gilded portion of the age made its musters of beautiful empty heads, of +vanities throned upon vanities, the ungilded part made its deadly muster +of discontent, displeasure, and despair. The empty heads fell, and much +that was precious and noble fell with them. The great stage produced its +bloody drama, and the curtain of horror closed upon it. + +Critics of society usually direct their invective against the +extravagance and shallowness of this exhibitory department, and would +almost make these an excuse for the opposite extreme of misanthropic +spleen and avoidance. They should remember that while society, from an +inward necessity, provides for these musterings and displays, it is +unable to provide for that intimate and personal intercourse which +individuals must found and cultivate for themselves. So much is left for +each one of us to do, to find our peers, and open with them an honest +exchange of our best for their best. The family most easily begins this, +with its intense and ever-enlarging interests. Out of true family life +comes a neighborhood; out of a neighborhood the body politic, and the +body sympathetic. + +If, in the matter of social intercourse, show is allowed to usurp the +place of substance, the indolence of mankind must bear its part of the +blame. It is far easier to order a suit for the great occasion, than to +brighten one's mental jewels for the small one. Many a soldier is brave +on parade, who would not shine on a field of battle. Many a woman will +pass for elegant in a ball-room, or even at a court drawing-room, whose +want of true breeding would become evident in a chosen company. + +The reason why education is usually so poor among women of fashion is, +that it is not needed for the life which they elect to lead. With a good +figure, good clothes, and a handsome equipage, with a little reading of +the daily papers, and of the fashionable reviews, and above all, with +the happy tact which often enables women to make a large display of very +small acquirements, the woman of fashion may never feel the need of true +education. We pity her none the less, since she will never know its +peace and delight. + +In our own country, at this moment, and in Europe as well, ambitions +seem to be unduly directed to this department of social action, the +training and discipline for which differ widely from that proper to +intimate and domestic life. Hence comes an observable regard, not to +appearances only, but to appearance. As actors often paint their faces +too highly for near effects, in order to look well at the farthest point +of view, so the dress and manners of the day fit themselves for the +stage of the great world, and their wearers seem to meditate not only +what will not appear amiss, but what will attract attention by some +singularity of becoming effect. Hence the supremacy for the time of +those whose calling it is to minister to appearance. The tailor has +long been a man of destiny, but the modern plainness of male attire has +somewhat sobered his pretensions. But look at the sublime arrogance of +the ladies' dressmaker, and the almost equally sublime meekness of the +victim, who not only submits, but desires to be as wax in her hands. +This supreme functionary has, of course, _carte blanche_ for her +ordinances. The subject says to her, "Do what you will with me. Make me +modest or immodest. Tie up my feet or straighten my arms till use of +them becomes impossible. Deprive my figure of all drapery, or upholster +it like a window-frame. Nay, set me in the centre of a movable tent, but +array me so that people shall look at me, and shall say I look well." + +I cannot but hate, to-day, the slavish fashion which seems to have been +invented in order to intensify that self-consciousness which is the +worst enemy of beauty. It is administered by means of a system of lacets +and whalebones, which everywhere impinge upon nature. A young lady who +is in her dress like a sword in its scabbard (the French name for the +fashion is _fourreau_), is made to think of this point, and of that, +until her whole gait and movement become an interrogation of her silks +and elastics. Can I sit? Can I walk? Can I put this foot forward, or +lift this hand to my head? Ask the satin strait-jacket in which your +artist has imprisoned you, receiving high compensation for the service. +Much as I resent this constraint and restraint of the body, my saddest +thought is, that where it is endured the mind has first been enslaved. + +Foreign travel is so established a feature in American life, that it may +well become us to take account of what it costs and comes to. + +Our own importation of men and women is various and enormous. They who +come to us poor and ignorant in one generation, are seen comfortable and +well educated in the next. The disfranchised and landless man comes to +us, and receives political rights, and the title of a farm in fee +simple. No inordinate tribute robs him of the product of his industry, +be it large or small. He pays to the State what it pays him well to +afford, for protection and education. But how is it with the tribute +which Europe levies upon us in the shape of our sons and daughters? + +Many polite tastes have, no doubt, been fostered in our young men by +studies pursued in a German university, or art learned in a French +studio. Some of the best scholars of the elder generation have profited, +in their youth, by such advantages. But if we go beyond the limits of +literary or professional life, we may not consider the results so +fortunate. Our society-men sometimes become so depolarized in their +tastes and feelings, as to be at ease nowhere but in Europe, and not +much at ease there. Those who return bring back a love of betting and of +horse-racing, and ape the display of European grandees as far as their +fortunes will allow. + +And our young women? Some of them study soberly abroad, and return to +give their countenance and support to all that is improving and refining +in their own country. Some float hither and thither, between England and +Italy, like a feather on the wave, disappearing at last. The Daisy +Millerish chit is seen, offending in pure ignorance of what common-sense +should easily teach mothers and daughters. + +Family groups of Americans are often met with in Europe, in which one +figure is wanting. This is the father, absent, in America, working at +his business or speculation. These ladies are often companionable +people, who enjoy good hotels, galleries, music on the public square, +and, above all, the sensation of being far from home. + +One feels about them a dreary atmosphere of homelessness. As the writer +of the Potiphar papers, while watching a gay young mother's performance +in the "German," was constrained to think of a complaining babe in her +nursery, so, in hearing those ladies boast of their enjoyments, one +cannot help remembering with commiseration the wifeless husband and +daughterless father at home, who works like a steam-fan to keep these +butterflies in motion. + +More sad still are my reflections, when I hear that numbers of American +girls, with large or even moderate fortunes, go abroad and allow it to +be known that they seek a husband with a title. These are to be had, of +various grades, if the pecuniary consideration be only sufficient. And +so many of our laborious men of business work hard in order to earn for +themselves the luxury of a titled son-in-law, who has not the ability to +earn his own support, and would scorn to do it if he had. + +American women with money are at a premium in fashionable Europe. Even +without this supreme merit, they are favorites. A London journal calls +attention to the fact that some of the leading ladies in the fashionable +London of to-day are Americans. The versatility of mind and ease of +manner which a free and social life develops, appear in strong contrast +with the results of the more formal education, which are often seen in +the opposite extremes of timidity and assurance. + +As our young men are often entrapped, while abroad, into marriages which +prove to be very unwise and unsuitable, I wish very much that we might +bring and keep our young people in a better understanding with each +other, so that even the most ambitious among them should be content to +marry with their peers, and abide in the home of their fathers. + +I have been surprised, at some periods of my late visit to Europe, to +perceive the growing interest of thinking people in all that is most +characteristic of American progress. Again and again, in private and in +public, I have found myself invited to discourse concerning the happy +country in which popular education has been so long established, that +its results are no longer putative, but ascertained and verified. The +country in which the fairest woman, provided she be a modest one, can +walk abroad by day or night, unmolested and unsuspected, the country in +which women have acquired the courage to think for themselves, and to +stand by each other. + +These invitations, though not given in derision, yet seemed akin to the +Hebrew refrain, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!" And when I related +the facts familiar to all of us, to those who listened with +half-incredulous wonder, it was, indeed, like singing the Lord's song of +freedom in a strange land. + +The reasons why Europe should come to America are obvious and pressing. +The reasons why America should visit Europe are equally binding and +cogent. The material and the moral life of to-day are kept at their +height by this flux and reflux of human personality, which carries with +it every variety of opinion and experience. Could we only send our best +abroad, and for the best reasons! Could Europe only send her best, also, +for their best help and study! But the human average profits first of +all by its material enlargement, and will be received just as it is. So, +our fools go abroad, to show that folly is a thing of all times and +climes; and, along with the tidal wave of ignorance and bigotry, the +dark, designing Jesuit seeks our shore, and spins his fatal web among +our rose-trees. Sun of divine truth, storms of divine justice, sweep +away the evil and ripen the good! + +When I see an American of either sex caught in the vortex of European +attraction, depolarized from natural relations, and charmed into +alliance with feudal barbarism and ignorance, my heart rings the bell of +alarm which is hung at the gates of Paradise. + +From all these Western splendors can this shallow soul turn away? From +these golden fields whose overflow gives Europe food, while her human +overflow gives them labor? From this large construction of human right, +which lifts the cruel yoke from the neck of labor, and gives him who +earns the livelihood of many his own life to enjoy and perfect? From +this holy record of pious endeavor, from these splendid achievements of +souls inspired by freedom, thou canst go, joyous and triumphant, to pay +homage to the lies which are no longer believed by those who profess +them; lies whose fallacy America exposes every day and hour to the +detection of the world. + +Thou wilt accept a title, empty as an egg-shell, for a thing truly +noble! Thou wilt call a courtier's grimace polite, a courtesan's fashion +elegant! Thou wilt curry favor in a vulgar court, courtesying low to a +prince of harlequins and harlots! Thou, child of the Puritans, wilt +kneel and kiss the hand which, still and sole, disputes with Christ the +mastery of the world! Then art thou simply an anachronism! Some are born +into the world centuries before their time, some centuries after it. + +Other attractions, innocent in themselves, and conceivable to all, +detain some of our valued fellow-citizens in perpetual exile. The quiet +and beauty of English country-life, the literary and artistic resources +of a foreign capital, the romances of ancient chateaux and cathedrals, +some delicious touch of climate, some throbbing beauty of a southern +sky. How delightful we have found these, it is as much a pain as a +pleasure to remember! But let us also call to mind the lesson of a +well-known fairy tale. While Beauty prolongs her absence, the faithful +Beast languishes and comes nigh unto death. While we enjoy these choice +delights, the society to which we belong is sowing its wheat and its +tares. We are far from the field in which the life of our own generation +is planted and tended. Every honest heart, every thinking mind, has its +value in the community to which it belongs. Our value, such as it is, +remains wanting to our community, and, when its crises of trial shall +come, we shall not have been trained by watchful experience to +understand either their cause or their remedy. + +How delightful was Italy to Milton! His Allegro and Pensieroso show that +he could fully appreciate both its mirth and its majesty. He returns not +the less to live out a life of illustrious service in his own country, +where his brave heart and philosophic mind were of more avail to his +time than even his sacred song to ours. + +No one has any reason to be surprised at any new manifestation of human +folly. Yet I am sometimes surprised, to-day, by the disrespect which is +often shown to the word "Protestant." This name dates, at farthest, from +the time of Luther, but the fact for which it stands is as old as human +history. Moses made a protest when he led his people out of the luxury +and slavery of Egypt to find the free hills of Judaea, and to build on +one of them a temple to the God of freedom. Christ made His protest +against the hypocrisy and injustice of the old social and ecclesiastical +order. England and France have made their protests against monarchical +supremacy. Both went back from their daring determination, but the +lesson was not forgotten. The Puritans made their protest when they +faced the frowning sea and the savage wilderness, in order that they +might train their children, and live themselves in the freedom which +conscience asks. Mr. Garrison and his associates made their protest +against American slavery. Mrs. Butler, of England, makes her protest +to-day against the personal degradation of women. Lucy Stone makes hers +against their political enslavement. + +Does society inherit? Is man the heir of man? Whence come those +creatures of the present day who smile, and shrug their shoulders, and +feebly say, "We don't protest. Our fathers did something of the kind, +upon what ground we cannot possibly imagine. But we are quite of another +sort. We don't protest." + +To those courageous souls which, alone and unaided, have been able to +face the world's passion and inertia,--to those leaders of forlorn hopes +who have seen glory in the depths of death and have sought it there,--to +those voices proclaiming in the wilderness the triumphant progress of +truth,--to those brave spirits whose strength the fires of hell have +annealed, not consumed,--my soul shall ever render its glad and duteous +homage. And if, in my later age, I might seek the crowning honor of my +life, I should seek it with that small, faithful band who have no choice +but to utter their deepest conviction, and abide its issues. Fruitful +shall be their pains and privations. They who have sown in tears the +seeds of unpopular virtue, shall reap its happy harvest in the good and +gratitude of mankind. + + + + +CHANGES IN AMERICAN SOCIETY. + + +I have been invited to speak to you to-day concerning changes in +American society. In preparing to consider this subject, I cannot but +remember that the very question of social change is to some people an +open one. The supposition of any real onward movement in society is as +unwelcome and as untrue to these persons as was Galileo's theory +concerning the revolution of the earth around the sun. They will assert, +as indeed they may, that the same crimes are committed in all ages, with +the same good deeds to counterbalance them and that the capital +tendencies of human nature are always substantially the same. This also +must be allowed. The error of these friends consists in overlooking the +most characteristic and human of these tendencies, which is that of +progressive desire. This trait, deeper and stronger than the mere love +of change, pushes the whole heterogeneous mass of humanity onward in a +way from which there is no return. + +The laws of human motive and action, meanwhile, remain as steadfast and +immovable as the laws by whose application Galileo made his discovery. +To discern at once the steadfast truth and its metamorphic developments +will be the task of the greatest wisdom. + +When Theodore Parker invited the religious world to consider the +transient and the permanent elements of Christianity, he made a popular +application of a truth long known to philosophy. This truth is that life +in all of its aspects exhibits these two opposite qualities or +conditions. Much is transient in the individual, more is permanent in +the race. + +The study of anthropology, so greatly enriched to-day by discovery and +investigation, would give us much to say under both of these heads, but +most, I think, under the last. + +I remember that in reading Livy's history of the second Punic war, in +our own war time, I was struck by certain resemblances between the time +in which he wrote and that in which I read him. When I learned from his +pages that the merchants and ship-owners of ancient Rome managed to +impose the most worthless of their vessels upon the government for the +transport of troops and provisions, I exclaimed, "What Yankees these +Romans were!" + +In reading some well-known satires of Horace I have been struck with the +resemblance of the ancient to the modern bore. Boileau's famous take-off +of the dinner given by a _parvenu_ is scarcely more than a French +adaptation of the feast of Nasidienus, as described by the Roman bard +who was Boileau's model. + +In Virgil's account of the good housewife, who rises early in order to +measure out the work of the household, and in Solomon's description of +the thrifty woman of his time, one sees the value set upon feminine +industry and economy in times far removed from our own, yet resembling +it in this appreciation. + +On the other hand, the dissimilarity of ancient and modern society is +equally seen in the same mirror of literature. The mention of matters +which, by common consent, are banished from decent speech to-day, the +position of Woman, from the vestal virgin buried alive for breach of +trust to the _devium scortum_, whom Horace frankly invites to his feast, +the gross superstition which saw in religion little save portents and +propitiation,--these mark on the dial of history an hour as distant from +our own in sympathy as in time. + +You will wish to hear from me some account of changes which have come +within the sphere of my own observation, both as I have been able to see +for myself, and to compare what I have seen with what I have received +from the generation immediately preceding my own. Let me remind you +that, with all the advantages of personal observation, it may be more +difficult for us to give a true account of the age to which we belong +than of more distant times, upon which thought and reflection have +already done their critical and explanatory work. Familiarity so dulls +the edge of perception, as to make us least acquainted with things and +persons making part of our daily life. Mindful of these difficulties, I +will do my best to characterize the threescore years which have carried +me into and out of the heart of the nineteenth century. + +I have seen in this time a great growth in the direction of liberal +thought, of popular government, of just laws and useful institutions. I +have seen human powers so multiplied by mechanical appliances as to +destroy the old measures of time and distance, and almost to justify +the veto once laid by the great Napoleon upon the use of the word +"impossible": "_Ne me dites jamais ce bete de mot_," said he; and it has +now become more _bete_ than ever. + +What feature of society has not changed in the phantasmagoria of these +wonderful lustres? Each decade has made a fool of the one which went +before it. Whether in the region of extended observation and experiment, +or in that of subtle and profound investigation, human effort has seemed +in this time to put itself at compound interest, working at once with +matters infinitely little and with matters infinitely great, and surely +introducing mankind to a higher plane of comfort and co-operation than +has been reached in anterior ages. + +While the mechanism of life has thus been brought much nearer to +perfection by the labor of our age, the principles of life remain such +as they have always been. + +Pile luxury as high as you will, health is better, and the body of a +well-fed and not over-worked ploughman is, nine times out of ten, a +better possession than the body of a man of fortune, especially if he be +at the same time a man of pleasure. Marshal and gild the pomp of +circumstance, and do it homage with bated breath, character remains the +true majesty, honor and intelligence its prime ministers. Money can help +people to education, by paying for the support of those who can give it. +But money cannot excuse its possessor from the smallest of the mental +operations through which, if at all, a man comes to know what, as a man, +he should know. + +The great _desiderata_ of humanity still remain these: to preserve the +integrity of nature, the purity of sentiment, and the coherence of +thought. The great extension of educational opportunities which we see +to-day should make the attainment of these objects easier than in ages +of less instruction. But while the pursuit of them is ever normal to the +human race, the inherent difficulties of their attainment remain +undiminished. Without self-discipline and self-sacrifice, no man to-day +attains true education, or the dignity of true manhood. For here comes +in the terrible fact of man's freedom as a moral agent. + +Could our age possess and administer the powers of the universe to its +heart's content, in that heart would yet rest the issues of its life and +of its death. + +The period of which I have to speak has certainly witnessed great +improvements in the theory of hygiene. The old heroic treatment of +diseases has nearly disappeared. The nauseous draughts, the +blood-letting and blisters, have given place to moderate medication, the +choice of climate and the regulation of diet. Women have been admitted +as copartners with men in the guardianship of the public health. +Athletic sports help the student to fresh blood and efficient muscle, +without which the brain sickens and perishes. + +But even in this department how much is left to desire and to do! Our +greatest and richest city is still festering with the corruption that +breeds disease. No board of health seems to have power to sweep its side +streets and dark alleys. Fashion keeps her avenues clean, and neglects +the rest of the vast domain, for which she has her reward in many a +ghastly epidemic. The late Edward Clarke, of Boston,--heaven rest his +soul!--could alarm the whole continent with his threats of the physical +evils which the more perfect education of one sex would entail on both. +But he has left no public protest against the monstrosities of toilet +which deform and mutilate the bodies of women to-day, nor against the +selfish frivolity of life in both sexes, which is equally inimical to +true motherhood and to true fatherhood. + +I have seen in fashions of dress and furniture the curious cycle which +my elders foretold, and which it takes, I should think, half a century +to fulfil. My earliest childish remembrance is of the slim dresses which +display as much as is possible of the outlines of the figure. I remember +the _elegantes_ of Gotham walking the one fashionable street of +fifty-five years ago, attired in pelisses of pink or blue satin. A white +satin cloak trimmed with dark fur seemed, even to my childish +observation, a chill costume for a pedestrian in the heart of winter. My +mother's last Paris bonnet, bought probably in 1825, appeared to her +children, twenty years later, such a caricature, that pious hands +destroyed it, in order that we might have no ludicrous association with +the sweet young creature whose death had left us babes in the nursery. + +After many fluctuations and oscillations, I have seen modern head-gear +near of kin to the subject of this holocaust. I have seen the old forms +and colors return to popular favor. I have even heard that the very +white satin cloak, which seemed _outre_ to the critic of six years, has +been worn and greatly admired in the recent gay world of Paris. The +return in these cases, it must be said, is not to the identical point of +departure. Progress, according to some thinkers, follows a spiral, and +is neither shut in a circle nor extended in a straight line. The hoops +of our great-grandmothers are not the hoops which we remember to have +seen or worn. Their eelskin dresses are not the model of ours. Still, +the recurrence of the same vein of fancy marks a periodical +approximation to the region or belt of influence in which certain +forgotten possibilities suggest themselves to the seeker of novelty, and +in which the capricious, antithetical fancy delights to crown with honor +all that it found most devoid of beauty a few lustres ago. + +Does this encyclical tendency in the familiar aesthetics of life imply a +corresponding tendency in the moral and intellectual movement of +mankind? I fear that it does. I fear that seriousness and frivolity, +greed and disinterest, extravagance and economy, in so far as these are +social and sympathetic phenomena, do succeed each other in the movement +of the ages. But here the device of the spiral can save us. We must make +the round, but we may make it with an upward inclination. "Let there be +light!" is sometimes said in accents so emphatic, that the universe +remembers and cannot forget it. We carry our problem slowly forward. +With all the ups and downs of every age, humanity constantly rises. +Individuals may preserve all its early delusions, commit all its +primitive crimes; but to the body of civilized mankind, the return to +barbarism is impossible. + +The aesthetic elaboration of ethical ideas, always a feature of +civilization, becomes in our day a task of such prominence as to engage +the zeal and labor of those even who have little natural facility for +any of its processes. + +The ignoring of this department of culture by our Puritan ancestors, had +much to do with the bareness of surrounding and poverty of amusement +which almost affright us in the record of their society. With all their +insufficiency, these periods of severe simplicity are of great +importance in the history of a people. The temporary withdrawal from the +sensible and pleasurable to the severe verities of ethical study +accumulates a reserve force which is sure to be very precious in the +emergencies to which all nations are exposed. The reaction against the +extreme of this is as likely to be excessive as was the action itself. + +If we tend to any extreme, nowadays, it is to that of making art take +the place of thought, as may somewhat appear in the general rage for +illustration and decoration. + +The ministrations of art to ethics are indeed unspeakably grand and +helpful. The cathedrals of the Old World, and its rich and varied +galleries, preserve for us the fresh and naive spirit of mediaeval piety. +Religious art, indeed, becomes almost secularized by its repetitions; +yet each of its great works has the isolation of its own atmosphere, and +speaks its own language, which we reverently learn while we look upon +it. + +Of all arts, music is the one most intimately interwoven with the +ethical consciousness of our own time. The oratorios of Handel and of +Mendelssohn so blend the sacred text and the divine music, that we think +of the two together, and almost as of things so wedded by God, that man +must not seek to put them asunder. When I have sat to sing in the chorus +of the Messiah, and have heard the tenor take up the sweet burden of +"Comfort ye my people!" I have felt the whole chain of divine +consolation which those historic words express, and which link the +prophet of pre-Christian times to the saints and sinners of to-day. In +far-off Palestine I have been shown the plain on which it is supposed +that the shepherds were tending their flocks when the birth of the +Messiah was announced to them. But as I turned my eyes to view it, my +memory was full of that pastoral symphony of Handel's, in which the +divine glory seems just muffled enough to be intelligible to our abrupt +and hasty sense. Nay, I lately heard a beloved voice which read the +chapter of Elijah's wonderful experiences in the wilderness. While I +listened, bar after bar of Mendelssohn's music struck itself off in the +resonant chamber of memory, and I thanked the Hebrew of our own time for +giving the intensity of life to that mystical drama of insight and +heroism. + +The transcendentalists of our own country made great account of the +relation of art to ethics, and perhaps avenged the Puritan partiality by +giving art the leading, and ethics the subordinate place in their +statements and endeavors. But the masters of the transcendental +philosophy in Europe did not so. Spinoza, Kant, and Fichte were +idealists of the severest type. Standing for the moment between the two, +I will only say that the danger of forgetting the high labors and +rewards of thought in the pleasure of beautiful sights and sounds is +one to which the highest civilization stands most exposed. To think +aright, to resolve and pray aright, we must retire from those delights +to the contemplation of that whose sublimity they can but faintly image, +as we pass with joy from the likeness of our friend into his presence. + +Love of ornament is by no means synonymous with love of the beautiful. +The taste which overloads dress and architecture with superfluous +irrelevancies, is often quite in opposition to that true sense of beauty +which is indispensable to the artist and precious to the philosopher. +"[Greek: To kalon]," the Greeks said. Was it a naive utterance on their +part? Was it through their poverty of expression, or their want of +experience, that the same word with them signified the good and the +beautiful? No. It was through the depth of their insight, and the power +of their mental appreciation, that they so stamped this golden word as +that it should show the supreme of form on one of its faces, and the +supreme of spirit on the other. + +The social domain of religion has also undergone a change. In my early +life I remember that all earnest and religious people were supposed to +live out of the great world, and to keep company only with one another +and with the subjects of their charitable beneficence. The +disadvantages of this course are easily seen. Free intercourse with the +average of mankind is one of the most important agencies in enlarging +and correcting the action of the human mind. The exigencies of ordinary +intercourse develop a sense of the dependence of human beings upon each +other, and a power corresponding to the needs involved in this +interdependence. The religious susceptibilities of individuals, which +are at once very strong in their character and very uncertain in their +action, are liable to become either exaggerated or exhausted by a course +of life which should rely wholly upon them for guidance and for +interest. + +Let us, therefore, by all means have saints in the world, keeping to +their pure standard, and recommending it more by their actions than by +their professions. But these saints must be brave as well as pure. +Unworthy doctrine must not escape their reprobation. When a just cause +is contemned, they must stand by it. If the world shall cast them out in +consequence, it will not be their fault. The social leagues which group +themselves around the various churches of to-day, seem to me a feature +of happy augury. It is the office of the church to inspire and direct +the tone of social intercourse, and these associations should greatly +help it to that end. I lately heard Wendell Phillips complain that +church exercises nowadays largely consist of picnics and other +merry-makings. Only a little before, Mr. Phillips, in his reply to Mr. +Parkman's article against Woman Suffrage, had spoken of the growth of +social influence as a good. + +It does, to be sure, look a little whimsical to read on the bulletin of +a Methodist church such announcements as this,--"Private theatricals for +the benefit of the Sunday school." But Wesley introduced the use of +secular tunes in his church on the ground that the devil should not have +all the good music. Neither should he monopolize the innocent amusements +with which, if they are left to him, he does indeed play the devil. + +Although the great ocean will always hold Europe at arm's length from +us, yet the currents of belief and sympathy bring its various peoples +near to us in various ways. I remember to have taken note of this long +before the ocean steamships brought the eastern hemisphere within a few +days' journey from our own seaboard, and very long before the +time-annihilating cables were dreamed of. The French have always had +with us the prestige of their social tact and sumptuary elegance. The +English manners are affected by those among us who mistake the +aristocracy of position for the aristocracy of character. The Italians +rule us by their great artists in the past, and by their subtle policy +in the present. The Germans have, as they deserve, the pre-eminence in +music, in metaphysics, and in many departments of high culture. + +I have not long since been taken to task by a writer in a prominent New +York paper for some strictures regarding the quasi-omnipotence of money +in the society of to-day. The writer in question enlarged somewhat upon +the greatly increased expenditure of money in our own country, as if +this must be considered as a good in itself. He concludes his statement +by remarking that Mrs. Howe has never studied the proper significance of +the money question. I desire to say here only that I have not neglected +the study of this question, which so regards the very life of society. +One of its problems I have ventured to decide for myself, viz., whether +the luxury of the rich really supports the industry of the poor. + +The aesthetic of luxury is a mean and superficial one. The critique of +luxury is compliant and cowardly; and, despite its glittering promise to +pay any price for what it desires, luxury orders poorly, pays poorly, +and in the end undermines the credit of the State, the very citadel of +its solvency. I regret and deplore its prevalence to-day, and consider +it not as the safeguard, but as the most dangerous enemy of republican +institutions. + +In our America, ay, even in our Puritan New England, the day has come in +which economy is a discredit and poverty a disgrace. With the common +school ever at work to lift the social level, unfolding to the child of +the day-laborer the page which instructs the son of the peer, the cry is +still that money is God, and that there is none other. One may ask, in +the business streets, whether rich people have any faults, or poor +people any virtues. A woman who sells her beauty for a rich dower is +honored in church and in State. Both alike bow to the money in her hand. +One proverb says that Time is money, as if it were + + "Only that, and nothing more." + +Another proverb says that Money is power. And in this form, no doubt, it +receives the most fervent worship, for luxury palls sooner or later, +while ambition is never satisfied. But we constantly meet, on the other +hand, with instances in which money is not power. Money does not give +talent or intelligence. You cannot buy good government, good manners, or +good taste: You cannot buy health or life. Do some of you remember the +shipwreck, some twenty years ago, of a steamer homeward-bound from +California? The few survivors told how the desperate passengers brought +their belts and bags of gold to the cabin, and threw them about with a +bitter contempt of their worthlessness. States have such shipwrecks, in +which avenging Fate seems to say to those who have sacrificed all for +wealth, "Thy money perish with thee." + +The heroics of history are full of the story of great ends, accomplished +by very small means. Now a handful of resolute men hold the forces of a +great empire in check, and beat back the ocean surge of barbarism from +the marble of their strong will. Now a single martyr turns the scale of +the world's affection by throwing into the balance the weight of one +small life. Now a State with every disadvantage of territory, cursed +with sterility, or exposed to the murderous overflow of the salt sea, +takes its stand upon the simple determination to conquer for itself a +free and worthy existence. Frederick of Prussia and his small army, +Washington, with his handful of men, in these and so many other +instances, we admire the attainment of mighty ends through means which +seem infinitesimal in proportion to them. How shall it be in our +country, to which Nature has given the widest variety of climate, soil, +and production? Shall we become a lesson to the world in the opposite +direction? Shall we show how little a people may accomplish with every +circumstance in its favor, and with nothing wanting to its success but +the careful mind and resolute spirit? God forbid! + +The belief in pacific methods of settling international differences has +made a noticeable progress in my time. + +In my school-days I remember a grave Presbyterian household at whose +fireside I one day saw an elderly man seat himself, with little notice +from the members of the family. I inquired who he might be, and was +told, with some good-natured laughter, that this old gentleman was the +American Peace Society, _i.e._, the last surviving member of that +association. This was a humorous exaggeration of the truth. Judge Jay, +of New York, was living at that time, and all the enthusiasm of the +peace cause lived in him, and no doubt in many others. I have remembered +the incident, nevertheless; and when I have seen the stately Peace +Congresses held in Europe and elsewhere, when I have seen rapacious +England submitting to arbitration, when I have seen the flag of military +prestige go down before the white banner of Peace, as in the late change +of the ministry in that country, I have remembered that day of small +things, and have learned that the faith of individuals is the small seed +from which spring the mighty growths of popular conviction and sympathy. + +The extensive wars which have taken place within the last forty years, +as extensive and as deadly as any the world ever saw, are sometimes +quoted in derision of those who believe, as I do, in the sober, steady +growth of the pacific spirit among people of intelligence. The reasons +for this advance lie deeper than the vision of the careless observer may +reach. Within the period of our own century the value of human life to +the individual has been greatly increased by the wide diffusion of the +advantages of civilization. The value of the individual to the State has +become greatly increased by the multiplication of industrial resources, +and by the immense emigration which at times threatens to drain the +older society of its working population. The spread of education has at +once undermined the blind belief of the multitude in military leaders, +and toned down the blind ferocity of instinct to which those leaders are +forced to appeal. Wars of mere spoliation are scarcely permitted to-day. +Wars of pure offence are deeply disapproved of. + +The military and diplomatic injustice of past times has left unsettled +many questions of territory and boundary which will not rest until they +shall be set right. The populations which war has plundered and +subjugated, lay their cause before the world's tribunal. In aid of this, +the friends of the true law and order are ever busy in forming a nucleus +of moral power, which governments will be forced to respect. Thus, +though the war-demon dies hard, he is doomed, and we shall yet see the +battlements of his grim cathedrals places for lovers to woo and for +babes to play in. + +In religion I have seen the dark ministrations of terror give way before +the radiant gospel of hope. I remember when Doctrine sat beside the bed +of death, and offered its flimsy synonym to the eyes upon which the +awful, eternal truth was about to dawn. I remember when a man with a +poor diploma and a human commission assumed to hold the keys of heaven +and hell in his hands, and to dispense to those who would listen to him +such immortality as he thought fit. I remember when it went hard with +those who, in forming their religious opinions, persisted in daring to +use the critical power of their own judgment. They were lonely saints; +they wandered in highways and byways, unrecognized, excommunicated of +men. No one had power to burn their bodies, but it was hoped that their +souls would not escape the torment of eternal flame. I have seen this +time, and I have lived to see a time in which these rejected stones, +hewn and polished by God's hand, have come to be recognized as +corner-stones in the practical religious building of the age. What a +discredit was it once to hear Theodore Parker! How happy are they now +esteemed who have heard him! Let not Mr. Emerson's urbanity lead him to +forget the days in which polite Boston laughed him to scorn. Brook Farm +was once looked upon as a most amusing caricature. But when the world +learned something about Nathaniel Hawthorne, George Ripley, William +Henry Channing, John Dwight, and George William Curtis, the public heart +bowed itself with remorseful homage before the ruined threshold of what +was, with all its shortcomings, a blameless temple to ideal humanity. + +It is quite true that every change which I have seen in the society of +my time cannot be said to be, in itself, for the better. The price of +progress, like that of liberty, is eternal vigilance. + +A time of religious enfranchisement may induce a period of religious +indifference. Cosmopolitan enlargement may weaken the force of +patriotism. The charity of society may degenerate into an indifference +concerning private morals, which, if it could prevail, would go far +towards destroying public ones. Humanity ever needs the watchman on the +tower. It needs the warning against danger, the guidance out of it. I +can imagine a set of prophets less absolute than the Hebrew seers, whose +denunciation of evils, near or present, should always couple itself with +profound and sober suggestions of help. And this will be the work of +faith in our day, to believe in the good which can overcome the evil, +and to seek it with earnest and brave persistence. + +Let me return for a moment, very briefly, to what I touched upon just +now, the great changes in religious thought which this century has +witnessed. What manifold contrasts have we observed in this domain! What +a wild and wide chase in the fields of conjecture! What impatience with +the idols of the past, historical and metaphysical! There have been +moments in the last twenty years in which one might have said to the +religious ideals of past ages that the time had come in which every one +who raised his hand against them thought that he was doing God service. +This iconoclasm had its time, and, one supposes, its office. + +But the religious necessities of mankind are permanent, and will outlast +any and all systems of pure criticism. The question arises, in all this +havoc of illusory impressions, Who is to provide for the culture and +direction of those instincts of reverence which are so precious to, so +ineradicable in the race? We must ask this service of those who believe +that religion is, on the whole, wiser than its critics. Those who have +been able to hold fast this persuasion will be the religious trainers of +our youth. Those who have relinquished it will have no more skill to +teach religion than a sculptor will have to feed an army. + +The greatest trouble with human society is, that its natural tendency +leads it, not to learn right measure through one excess, but, on +becoming convinced of this, to rush into an opposite excess with equal +zeal and equal error. The mechanism of society requires constant +correction in order to keep up the succession of order and progress +through and despite this proneness to extravagance and loss of power. +This rectification of direction without interruption of movement is the +office of critical and constructive thought. Precious are the men, and +rare as precious, who carry this balance in their minds, and, while the +ship lurches now on this side and now on that, strain after the compass +with masterful courage and patience. We have all known such men, but we +have known, too, that their type is not a common one. + +Among all who are out of work to-day, so far as the market is concerned, +those men of careful and critical judgment are the least called for, and +the least wished for by the majority of men. Headlong enthusiasm, +headlong activity, headlong doubt and cynicism, the prevalence of these +shows the force with which the present whirl of the spindle was cast. +Fair and softly, my quick-flying Century. To find out whether you are +going right or wrong, whether you are faithful or faithless, solvent or +bankrupt, you must have recourse to these same slow, patient men and +women, who try such questions by a more accurate and difficult method +than that of the popular inclination. + +I find that the philosopher Kant, writing more than a hundred years ago, +remarks that in so sociable an age as his own Culture must naturally be +expected to assume an encyclopedic character. It will, he says, +necessarily desire to present a manifold number of agreeable and +instructive acquisitions, easy of apprehension, for entertainment in +friendly intercourse. + +These words seem prophetic of the efforts after general information, +with a view to conversation as an accomplishment, which have constituted +a marked feature of American and English society within forty years. In +the dissolving view of the public predilection, this object has lost +much of its prominence. The ornate and well-rounded periods of the +conversationist are not more in request, nowadays, than were the +high-sounding sentiments of Joseph Surface to Sir Peter Teazle, when +experience had shown him their emptiness. + +Blunt speech and curt expression rather are in favor. The heroines of +novels are supposed to fall in love with men of a somewhat brutal type. +Adonis is out of fashion. Hercules pleases, and even Vulcan is +preferred. One thinks that the influence of the mercantile spirit may be +recognized in this change. Long speeches and roundabout statements are +found not to pay. The man who listens to them with one ear, hearkens +with the other for the ocean telegrams, news of the stock market, +considers the maturing of a note, the success or failure of a scheme. +When there is no one to listen, loquacity itself will grow economical of +breath. + +The world is quite right in its tacit protest against over talk. A great +deal of empty, irrelevant speech is liable to be imposed upon the +good-nature of society in the garb of instructive conversation. It is +weary to listen by the hour to men or women who principally teach you +their own opinion of their own erudition. But woe to the world if its +haste and greed should ever be such that the true teacher should want an +audience, the long lessons of philosophy find interpreters, but no +pupils. + +The present is, on the whole, an encyclopedic, cosmopolitan era. I +suppose that it succeeds as a reaction to one of more special and +isolated endeavor. The example and influence of Goethe have had much to +do with the formation of the ideas of culture which have been prevalent +in our time. This wonderful man went, with such a happy tact, from one +thing to another. In poetry he did so much, in high criticism so much, +in science so much, and in world-wisdom so much! How naturally were the +lovers of study, who made him their model, led to undertake, as he did, +to render the most eminent service, to attain the highest honors in a +dozen different departments! + +But the man Goethe was more wonderful even than his writings. His +individuality was too powerful to suffer loss through the variety of his +pursuits. He could be at once a courtier and a philosopher, a poet and a +scientist, a critic of morals and a man of the world, and in all things +remain himself. + +I sometimes wonder why we Americans are so apt to show, in our conduct +and remarks, an undue preponderance of what the phrenologists term love +of approbation. This is an amiable and useful trait in human nature, +which may degenerate into a weak and cowardly vanity, or even into a +malignant selfishness. To desire the approbation which can enlighten us +as to the merits of what we have done or attempted, is wise as well as +graceful. To make constant laudation a prominent object in any life is a +capital mistake in its ordering. To prefer the praise of men to the +justification of conscience, is at once cowardly and criminal. I observe +these three phases in American life. I value the first, compassionate +the second, and reprobate the third. Surely, if there is any virtue +which a republican people is bound to show, it is that self-respect +which is the only true majesty, and which can afford to be as generous +and gracious as majesty should be. + +It is, perhaps, natural that many of us should, through a want of +experience, mistake the standpoint of people conspicuous in the older +European society as greatly superior to our own. We can learn much, +indeed, from the observation of such a standpoint; but, in order to do +so, we must hold fast our own plain, honest judgment, as we derive it +from education, inheritance, and natural ability. + +It must, I should think, be very tedious and very surprising to +Europeans to hear Americans complain of being so young, so crude, so +immature. This is not according to nature. Imagine a nursery full of +babies who should bewail the fact of their infancy. Any one who should +hear such a complaint would cry out, "Why, that's the best thing about +you. You have the newness, the promise, the unwasted vigor of +childhood,--gifts so great that Christ enjoined it upon holy men to +recover, if they had lost them." + +If our society is young, its motto should be the saying of Saint Paul to +Timothy, "Let no man despise thy youth." The great men of our early +history deserve to rank with the ripest products of civilization. Was +Washington crude? Was Franklin raw? Were Jay, Jefferson, and Hamilton +immature? The authorities of the older world bowed down to them, and did +them homage. The Republicans of France laid the key of the Bastille at +the feet of Washington. Franklin was honored and admired in the court +circle of Louis XVI. There was a twofold reason for this. These men +represented the power and vigor of our youth; but our youth itself +represented the eternal principles of truth and justice, for whose +application the world had waited long. And thinking people saw in us the +dignity of that right upon which we had founded our hope and belief as a +nation. + +I will instance a single event of which I heard much during my last +visit in Rome. A German, naturalized in America, and who had made a +large fortune by a railroad contract in South America, had purchased +from some European government the title of "Count." He was betrothed to +the sister-in-law of a well-known California millionnaire, whose wife +has been for some years a resident of Paris, where her silver, her +diamonds, and her costly entertainments are matters of general remark. +All of these parties are Roman Catholics. The wedding took place in +Rome, and was signalized by a festival, at which twelve horses, belong +to the bridegroom, were ridden in a race, whose prizes were bestowed by +the hand of the bride. The invitations for this occasion were largely +distributed by a monsignor of the Romish Church, and the king of Italy +honored the newly married pair by his presence. + +Not long after this, I read in the Italian papers that this very count +had become a candidate for a seat in the Italian Parliament. I suppose +that money will assist an election as much in Italy as elsewhere. The +monsignor who interested himself so efficiently about the invitations +for the wedding party, was none other than the master of ceremonies of +Pope Leo XIII. He would, no doubt, have taken even greater interest in +the return of his friend to the Parliament. I do not know whether this +gentleman has ever succeeded in usurping the place of a representative +of the Italian people; but the chance of his being able to do so lay in +the American gold of which he had become possessed. Here is one instance +of the direct relations between Rome and America which Americans so +placidly overlook. + +In this day of the world hope is so strong, and the desire for an +improved condition so prevalent, that much may be looked for in Europe +as the result of the legitimate action and influence of America. But if +American capital busies itself with upholding the shams of the old +world, if American taste and talent are led and pledged to work with the +reactionary agents everywhere against the enfranchisement of the human +race, where shall the hope of the world find refuge? + +Goldsmith has a touching picture of the emigrants who, in his time, were +compelled to leave the country which would not feed them, for a distant +bourne, which could, by no means, be to them a home. But let us assist +at the embarkation of another group of exiles. These people have been +living abroad, and are about to return home. The rich, beautiful land +whose discovery has changed the fortunes of the human race, invites them +on the other side of the Atlantic. The flag which represents the noblest +chapter of modern history waves over them. + +From dynastic, aristocratic Europe they go to inherit the work of an +ancestry heroic in thought and action. They go to the land which still +boasts a Longfellow, a Whittier, an Emerson, a Harriet Beecher Stowe. +Are they glad? Are they happy? No. They have learned the follies of the +old world, not its wisdom. They are not going home,--they are going into +exile. + +Let us look a little at their record in the Europe which they regret so +passionately. They went abroad with money, and the education which it +commands, with leisure and health. What good deeds may they not have +done! What gratifying remembrance may they have left behind them! Shall +we not find them recorded as donors to many a noble charity, as students +in many a lofty school? We shalt indeed, sometimes. But in many cases we +shall hear only of their fine clothes and expensive entertainments, with +possible mortifying anecdotes of their fast behavior. + +If the mother leaves a daughter behind her, it is likely to be as the +wife of some needy European nobleman, who despises all that she is bound +to hold dear, and is proud not to know that which it should be her glory +to understand. + +I said at Concord, and I say it to-day, that the press is much affected +by the money debauch of the period. Let us examine the way in which this +result is likely to be brought about. + +A newspaper or periodical is almost always an investment in which the +idea of gain is very prominent. This expectation may either regard what +the proposed paper shall earn as a medium of information, or the profit +of certain enterprises which its statements may actively promote. + +Special organs are founded for special emergencies, as is a campaign +sheet, or for the advocate of special reforms, like the antislavery +"Standard" of old, and the "Woman's Journal" of to-day. These papers +rarely repay either the money advanced for them, or the literary labor +bestowed upon them. + +Under the head of its earnings the newspaper depends upon two classes of +persons, viz., its advertisers and its subscribers. Either or both of +these may be displeased by the emphatic mention of some certain fact, +the expression of some certain opinion. "If we tell this unwelcome +truth," say the managers, "we shall lose such and such subscribers. If +we take this stand, some of our wealthiest advertising firms will choose +another medium of communicating with the public." The other set of +considerations just spoken of, the enterprises which are to be favored +and promoted, may still more seriously affect the tone and action of the +paper, which will thus be drawn in a twofold way to lend itself to the +publication only of what it will pay to say. + +The annals of journalism in this country will, no doubt, show a fair +average of courageous and conscientious men among its chiefs. I am +willing to believe all things and to hope all things in this direction. +But I must confess that I fear all things, too, in view of a great +power, whose position makes it almost an irresponsible one. And I should +regard with great favor the formation of an unofficial censorship of +public organs, in view not so much of what may be published, as of what +is unfairly left out of the statements and counterstatements of +conflicting interests. + +Of all the changes which I can chronicle as of my own time, the change +in the position of women is perhaps the most marked and the least +anticipated by the world at large. Whatever opinions heroic men and +women may have held concerning this from Plato's time to our own, the +most enlightened periods of history have hardly given room to hope that +the sex in general would ever reach the enfranchisement which it enjoys +to-day. I date the assurance of its freedom from the hour in which the +first university received women graduates upon the terms accorded to +pupils of the opposite sex. For education keeps the key of life, and a +liberal education insures the first conditions of freedom, viz., +adequate knowledge and accustomed thought. This first and greatest step +gained, the gate of professional knowledge and experience quickly +opened, and that of political enfranchisement stands already ajar. The +battle can have but one result, and it has been fought, with chivalrous +temper and determination, not by one sex against the other, but by the +very gospel of fairness and justice against the intrenched might of +selfish passion, inertia, and prejudice. Equal conditions of life will +lift the whole level of society, which is so entirely one body that the +lifting or lowering of one half lifts or lowers the other half. This +change, which in the end appeared to come suddenly, has been prepared by +such gradual tentatives, by such long and sound labor, that we need not +fear to lose sight of it in any sudden collapse. There are women of my +age, and women of earlier generations, who have borne it in their hearts +all their lives through, who have prayed and worked for it, without rest +and without discouragement. Horace Mann was its apostle, Theodore Parker +was its prophet, Margaret Fuller, Lucy Stone, and a host of wise and +true-hearted women, whom the time would fail me to name, have been its +female saints. It was in nature; they have brought it into life; even as +Christ said, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." The slender +thread which crossed the dark abyss of difficulty was not the silken +spinning of vanity, nor the cobweb fibre of madness. From the faith of +pure hearts the steadfast links were wrought, and the great chasm is +spanned, and is ready to become the strong and sure highway of hope, for +this nation and for the nations of the earth. + +The customs of society prescribe the mental garb and gait proper to +those who desire the favorable notice of their peers in their own time. +As these are partly matters of tradition and inheritance, we can learn +something of the merits and demerits of a generation by studying the +habits of familiar judgment which it hands down to its successor. A +narrow, ill-educated generation leaves behind it corresponding garments +of rule and prescription, to which the next generation must for a time +accommodate itself, because a custom or a fashion is not made in a day. +The rulers of society seem often more occupied in dwarfing the mind to +suit the custom than in enlarging the custom so as to fit it to the +growth of mind. The most dangerous rebellions, individual and social, +are natural revolts against the small tyranny which perpetuates the +insufficiency of the past. + +The copper shoes which so cramp the foot of a female infant in China as +to destroy its power of growth, are not more cruel or deleterious than +are the habits of unreflecting prejudice which compress the growth of +human minds until they, too, lose their native power of expansion, and +the idol Prejudice is enthroned and worshipped by those on whom it has +imposed its own deformity as the standard of truth and beauty. + +The heavy tasks which nature imposes upon women leave them less at +leisure than men to reform and readjust these inherited garments. The +necessity for prompt and early action obliges them to follow the +intuitive faculties, as all must do who have not time to work out the +problems of the reasoning ones. The instinct of possession is a ruling +one in human nature, and a woman inheriting a superstition or a +prejudice holds fast to it because it is something, and she has got it. +It seems to her a possession. It may be a mischievous and unfortunate +one, but it will take a good deal of time and thought to find that out. +Those who have the training of women's minds often train them away from +such a use of time and from such a labor of thought. Hence the fatal +persistence of large classes of women in superstitions which the +thinking world has outgrown, and the equally fatal zeal with which they +impose the same insufficient modes of judgment upon their children. + +I pray this generation of women, which has seen such enlargements of the +old narrow order regarding the sex, I pray it to deserve its high post +as guardian of the future. Let it bequeath to its posterity a noble +standard of womanhood, free, pure, and, above all, laborious. + +The standard of manhood really derives from that of womanhood, and not +_vice versa_, as many imagine. However we may receive from tradition the +order of their material creation, in that of training and education, +the woman's influence comes before that of the man, and outlasts it. + +The figure of the infant Christ dwells always in our mind, accompanied +by that of the gracious mother who gave Him to the world. Let the fact +of this great gift prefigure to us the august office of Woman. Hers be +it also to preserve and transmit from age to age the Christian doctrine +and the Christlike faith. And, in order that she may fully realize the +glory and blessedness of giving, let her remember that what is worthily +given to one time is given to all time. + + + * * * * * + + + + + UNIFORM WITH ARNOLD'S POEMS. + + + THE LIGHT OF ASIA; OR, The Great Renunciation. + + Being the Life and Teaching of Gautama, Prince of India and Founder + of Buddhism (as told in verse by an Indian Buddhist). + + BY EDWIN ARNOLD, M.A. + + "It is a work of great beauty. It tells a story of + intense interest, which never flags for a moment; its + descriptions are drawn by the hand of a master with the + eye of a poet and the familiarity of an expert with the + objects described; its tone is so lofty that there is + nothing with which to compare it but the New Testament; + it is full of variety, now picturesque, now pathetic, + now rising into the noblest realms of thought and + aspiration; it finds language penetrating, fluent, + elevated, impassioned, musical always, to clothe its + varied thoughts and sentiments."--OLIVER WENDELL + HOLMES, _International Review_, October, 1879. + + "In Mr. Edwin Arnold, Indian poetry and Indian thought + have at length found a worthy English exponent. He + brings to his work the facility of a ready pen, a + thorough knowledge of his subject, a great sympathy for + the people of this country, and a command of public + attention at home."--_Calcutta Englishman._ + + "'The Light of Asia' is a remarkable poem, and worthy of + a place amongst the great poems of our time. Mr. Arnold + is far more than 'a coiner of sweet words'--he is the + exponent of noble impressions. He is a scholar and a + philosopher; but he is also a true singer."--_London + Daily Telegraph._ + + + LIBRARY EDITION. 16mo. Cloth. Price $1.00 + CHEAP EDITION. 16mo. Paper. Price .25 + + ROBERTS BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, BOSTON. + + + + + _Messrs. Roberts Brothers' Publications._ + + ON THE RIGHT USE OF BOOKS. + + A LECTURE. By WILLIAM P. ATKINSON, Professor of English + and History in the Massachusetts Institute of + Technology. 16mo. Cloth. Price 50 cents. + + "Full of good sense, sound taste, and quiet + humor.... It is the easiest thing in the world to + waste time over books, which are merely tools of + knowledge like any other tools.... It is the + function of a good book not only to fructify, but + to inspire, not only to fill the memory with + evanescent treasures, but to enrich the imagination + with forms of beauty and goodness which leave a + lasting impression on the character."--_N. Y. + Tribune._ + + "Contains so many wise suggestions concerning + methods in study and so excellent a summary of the + nature and principles of a really liberal education + that it well deserves publication for the benefit of + the reading public. Though it makes only a slight + volume, its quality in thought and style is so + admirable that all who are interested in the subject + of good education will give to it a prominent and + honorable position among the many books upon + education which have recently been published. For it + takes only a brief reading to perceive that in this + single lecture the results of wide experience in + teaching and of long study of the true principles of + education are generalized and presented in a few + pages, each one of which contains so much that it + might be easily expanded into an excellent + chapter."--_The Library Table._ + + + READING AS A FINE ART. + + By ERNEST LEGOUVE, of the Academie Francaise. + Translated from the Ninth Edition by ABBY LANGDON + ALGER. 16mo. Cloth. 50 cents. + + + (_Dedication._) + TO THE SCHOLARS OF THE HIGH AND NORMAL SCHOOL. + + For you this sketch was written: permit me to + dedicate it to you, in fact, to intrust it to your + care. Pupils to-day, to-morrow you will be + teachers; to-morrow, generation after generation of + youth will pass through your guardian hands. An + idea received by you must of necessity reach + thousands of minds. Help me, then, to spread abroad + the work in which you have some share, and allow me + to add to the great pleasure of having numbered you + among my hearers the still greater happiness of + calling you my assistants. E. LEGOUVE. + + We commend this valuable little book to the + attention of teachers and others interested in the + instruction of the pupils of our public schools. It + treats of the "First Steps in Reading," "Learning-to + Read," "Should we read as we talk," "The Use and + Management of the Voice," "The Art of Breathing," + "Pronunciation," "Stuttering," "Punctuation," + "Readers and Speakers," "Reading as a Means of + Criticism," "On Reading Poetry," &c., and makes a + strong claim as to the value of reading aloud, as + being the most wholesome of gymnastics, for to + strengthen the voice is to strengthen the whole + system and develop vocal power. + + _Sold by all Booksellers. Mailed, post-paid, by the + Publishers_, + + ROBERTS BROTHERS, BOSTON. + + + + + THE NO NAME (SECOND) SERIES. + SIGNOR MONALDINI'S NIECE. + + _Extracts from some Opinions by well-known Authors._ + + "We have read 'Signor Monaldini's Niece' with intensest + interest and delight. The style is finished and + elegant, the atmosphere of the book is enchanting. We + seem to have lived in Italy while we were reading it. + The author has delineated with a hand as steady as it + is powerful and skilful some phases of human life and + experience that authors rarely dare attempt, and with + marvellous success. We think this volume by far the + finest of the No Name Series." + + "It is a delicious story. I feel as if I had been to + Italy and knew all the people.... Miss Conroy is a + strong character, and her tragedy is a fine background + for the brightness of the other and higher natures. It + is all so dramatic and full of color it goes on like a + lovely play and leaves one out of breath when the + curtain falls." + + "I have re-read it with great interest, and think as + highly of it as ever.... The characterization in it is + capital, and the talk wonderfully well done from first + to last." + + "The new No Name is enchanting. It transcends the + ordinary novel just as much as a true poem by a true + poet transcends the thousand and one imitations.... It + is the episode, however, of Miss Conroy and Mrs. Brandon + that is really of most importance in this book.... I + hope every woman who reads this will be tempted to read + the book, and that she will in her turn bring it to the + reading of other women, especially if she can find any + Mrs. Brandon in her circle." + + In one volume, 16mo, bound in green cloth, black and + gilt lettered. Price $1.00. + + _Our publications are to be had of all Booksellers. When + not to be found, send directly to_ + + ROBERTS BROTHERS, BOSTON. + + + + + The No Name (Second) Series. + + + THE COLONEL'S OPERA CLOAK. + + "A jollier, brighter, breezier, more entertaining book + than 'The Colonel's Opera Cloak' has not been published + for many a day. We defy the coldest-blooded reader to + lay it down before it is finished, or to read it + through without feeling his time well spent. There is + plenty of satire in its pages, but it is good-natured + satire. The characters are sharply drawn--some of them + from nature, we fancy--and there is spice enough in the + way of incident to satisfy the most exacting palate. Of + course, everybody will read it, and, in that + presumption, we promise everybody two hours of thorough + enjoyment."--_Boston Transcript._ + + "The No Name Series abounds in contrasts, and that + between 'Signor Monaldini's Niece' and the present story + is among the most decided it has offered. This we do not + mention by way of disparagement. On the contrary, we can + see a distinctive merit in a series which includes so + much variety of aim and interest as this does, without + any regard for the conventional demand that a succession + of stories in the same binding should all be of one + school and in something the same tone. We can see why an + admirer of the last novel may at first be taken aback by + the light tone of this, and in so far disappointed; but + we shall expend no sympathy on that person. 'The + Colonel's Opera Cloak' is a bright and thoroughly + alluring little book, with which it would be foolish to + find fault on any score. And, more than that, it is well + written and brimming over with wit. The notion of a + story in which there is avowedly no hero or heroine + excepting an old opera cloak, is clever, and, so far as + we know, quite new.... We can assure every one who + wishes the double pleasure of laughter and literary + enjoyment, that this is one of the books to carry to the + country."--_Boston Courier._ + + "The author's touch is always that of the artist; it + always has the magic power of portraying individual men + and women, never giving us shadowy outlines, however few + or hurried the strokes of the pencil may be, and saying + this we say that the author of 'The Colonel's Opera + Cloak' has in large measure the best and most necessary + qualification for doing really fine work in fiction. If + he is still young, as certain things in his story + indicate that he is, his future efforts may well be + looked for hopefully."--_N.Y. Evening Post._ + + + In one volume. 16mo. Green cloth. Price $1.00. + + _Our publications are to be had of all Booksellers. + When not to be found, send directly to_ + ROBERTS BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, =BOSTON=. + + + + + SARAH TYTLER'S ART BOOKS. + + + THE OLD MASTERS AND THEIR PICTURES. + + + MODERN PAINTERS AND THEIR PAINTINGS. + + By SARAH TYTLER, author of "Papers for Thoughtful Girls." + 16mo. Cloth, neat. Price of each, $1.50. + + Designed for the use of Schools and Learners in Art, + and extensively used in Academies, Seminaries, &c., + throughout the country. + + "An excellent introduction to the history of + art."--_Daily News._ + + "These two books give in a simple and concise manner + the prominent facts that every one who desires to be + well informed should know about the great artists of + the world. For beginners in art and for school use + they are valuable."--_Courier-Journal._ + + "Really supplies what has long been a want."--_British + Quarterly Review._ + + "We are not aware of any work of the kind written with + so much intelligence which yet is so + untechnical."--_Nonconformist._ + + "Too much praise cannot be given the conscientious + manner in which the author has worked. There is no + obtrusion of useless details or of unwelcome + criticism; but in very pleasant style, with clear and + well-defined purpose, the story of the growth and + progress of art is told through the lives and works of + artists. The volumes are most agreeable reading and + profitable study."--_Boston Post._ + + + MUSICAL COMPOSERS AND THEIR WORKS. + + For the Use of Schools and Students in America. By + SARAH TYTLER. 1 vol. 16mo. $1.50. + + In this unostentatious but carefully written volume, + the author of "Old Masters" and "Modern Painters" has + given a simple account of the great musicians of the + world and of their works. The book is designed more + especially for the use of young people in the course + of their musical education, but the author + trusts--and with very good reason--that it will + commend itself also to older people, who are + interested in the subject, but who have not time or + opportunity to refer to original sources of + information. Not the least attractive portion of the + work is the sketch of Wagner with which it closes. + + + + + [Illustration] + + "NO NAME SERIES." + + _The First Series, completed_, + COMPRISES TWELVE NOVELS, VIZ., + + MERCY PHILBRICK'S CHOICE. HETTY'S STRANGE HISTORY. + IS THAT ALL? WILL DENBIGH, EMAN. + KISMET. THE WOLF AT THE DOOR. + THE GREAT MATCH. MARMORNE. + A MODERN MEPHISTOPHELES. MIRAGE. + AFTERGLOW. GEMINI. + + AND TWO POETICAL VOLUMES: + + DEIRDRE. A Novel in Verse. + + A MASQUE OF POETS. Original Poems, by Fifty Poets, + written specially for this book; including "GUY VERNON," + an entire Novelette in verse. + + Fourteen volumes in all, uniformly bound in black cloth, + red and gilt lettered. Price $1.00 each. + + + NO NAME [SECOND] SERIES. + + The new series will retain all the peculiar features + which made the first so popular, differing from it only + in the style of binding. Now ready, + + SIGNOR MONALDINI'S NIECE, + THE COLONEL'S OPERA CLOAK, + HIS MAJESTY, MYSELF, + MRS. BEAUCHAMP BROWN, + Price $1.00 each. SALVAGE. + + _Our publications are to be had of all booksellers. + When not to be found send directly to_ + + ROBERTS BROTHERS, Publishers, BOSTON. + + + + + + THE "NO NAME SERIES." + + KISMET. A Nile Novel. + + + Opinions, generous tributes to genius, by well-known authors + whose names are withheld. + + "Well, I have read 'Kismet,' and it is certainly + very remarkable. The story is interesting,--any + well-told love story is, you know,--but the book + itself is a great deal more so. Descriptively and + sentimentally,--I use the word with entire + respect,--it is, in spots, fairly exquisite. It + seems to me all glowing and overflowing with what + the French call _beaute du diable_.... The + conversations are very clever, and the wit is often + astonishingly like the wit of an accomplished man + of the world. One thing which seems to me to show + promise--great promise, if you will--for the future + is that the author can not only reproduce the + conversation of one brilliant man, but can make two + men talk together as if they _were_ men,--not women + in manly clothes." + + "It is a charming book. I have read it twice, and + looked it over again, and I wish I had it all new to + sit up with to-night. It is so fresh and sweet and + innocent and joyous, the dialogue is so natural and + bright, the characters so keenly edged, and the + descriptions so poetic. I don't know when I have + enjoyed any thing more,--never since I went sailing + up the Nile with Harriet Martineau.... You must give + the author love and greeting from one of the + fraternity. The hand that gives us _this_ pleasure + will give us plenty more of an improving quality + every year, I think." + + "'Kismet' is indeed a delightful story, the best of + the series undoubtedly." + + "If 'Kismet' is the first work of a young lady, as + reported, it shows a great gift of language, and + powers of description and of insight into character + and life quite uncommon.... Of the whole series so + far, I think 'Mercy Philbrick's Choice' is the best, + because it has, beside literary merit, some moral + tone and vigor. Still there are capabilities in the + writer of 'Kismet' even higher than in that of the + writer of 'Mercy Philbrick's Choice.'" + + "I liked it extremely. It is the best in the series + so far, except in construction, in which 'Is That + All?' slight as it is, seems to me superior. + 'Kismet' is winning golden opinions everywhere. I + have nothing but praises for it, and have nothing + but praise to give it." + + "I have read 'Kismet' once, and mean to read it + again. It is thoroughly charming, and will be a + success." + + One volume, bound in cardinal red and black. Price + $1.00. + + Our publications are to be had of all booksellers. When + not to be found, send directly to + + ROBERTS BROTHERS, + Publishers, Boston. + + + + + PUBLISHERS' ADVERTISEMENT. + _From the Boston Daily Advertiser._ + + + THE "NO NAME SERIES." + + "LEIGH HUNT, _in his 'Indicator,' has a pleasant + chapter on the difficulty he encountered in seeking a + suitable and fresh title for a collection of his + miscellaneous writings. Messrs. Roberts Brothers have + just overcome a similar difficulty in the simplest + manner. In selecting_ "NO NAME," _they have selected + the very best title possible for a series of Original + American Novels and Tales, to be published Anonymously. + These novels are to be written by eminent authors, and + in each case the authorship of the work is to remain an + inviolable secret. "No Name" describes the Series + perfectly. No name will help the novel, or the story, + to success. Its success will depend solely on the + writer's ability to catch and retain the reader's + interest. Several of the most distinguished writers of + American fiction have agreed to contribute to the + Series, the initial volume of which is now in press. + Its appearance will certainly be awaited with + curiosity_." + + [Illustration] + + The plan thus happily foreshadowed will be immediately + inaugurated by the publication of "MERCY PHILBRICK'S + CHOICE," from the pen of a well-known and successful + writer of fiction. + + It is intended to include in the Series a volume of + anonymous poems from famous hands, to be written + especially for it. + + The "No Name Series" will be issued at convenient + intervals, in handsome library form, 16mo, cloth, price + $1.00 each. + + + ROBERTS BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS. + BOSTON, Midsummer, 1876. + + + * * * * * + + + + + TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES + + + Punctuation has been normalized. + + On page 52 "immediatly" changed to "immediately". + "... the generation immediately preceding my own." + + On page 54 "self-dicipline" changed to "self-discipline". + "Without self-discipline and self-sacrifice...." + + On page 61 "superflous" changed to "superfluous." + "... with superfluous irrelevancies...." + + On page 72 "religous" changed to "religious." + "... will be the religious trainers...." + + On page 72 capitalization in "Who" retained as printed. + + On page 86 "aginst" changed to "against." + "... revolts against the small tyranny...." + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Modern Society, by Julia Ward Howe + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MODERN SOCIETY *** + +***** This file should be named 36489.txt or 36489.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/4/8/36489/ + +Produced by Sharon Joiner, paksenarrion, Bryan Ness and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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