Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, 18 and 20 Astor Place, New York. Discontinuances.-The publishers must positively receive notice by letter or postal-card, whenever a subscriber wishes his paper discontinued. able and willing to toil, are homeless tramps begging for bread, and innocent women are forced to prostitution or suicide to prevent begging";-a system of taxation that impoverishes the laborer and creates a plutocracy almost kingly in its power. Thus the Republican party, once great in the eyes of all honest men, but rapidly becoming a selfish, unscrupulous, seminational corporation, goes down under a crushing defeat. How far Mr. Cleveland will go in the direction of free trade is doubtful. The result is more a blow aimed at the party that has built up vast monopolies at the cost of the people than an endorsement of the policy of the Democratic party, which seems to be more negative than constructive. The party has, however, given some hopeful signs. The policy of the President-elect, is presumably no sentimental policy, such as elected President Harrison four years ago, largely by aid of the various religious denominations and the Prohibitionists in a body. 267 264 265 D'sarmament 260 Conventionality Use of Wine on New Year's Day 260 EDUCATION, Literature, Art: MISCELLANEOUS : WITH CECIL LOGSDAEL, LINCOLN, ENGLAND. ITH the considerable advantages of being in power, with the G. A. R. voting almost as one man, and with a perfect party machinery, the voice of the United States has pronounced unmistakably against the McKinley Bill and the Republican party. It is a vote of the people, of the masses against the classes; we hope, also, of the intelligence of the country, sounding the note of doom over a tariff system which has signally failed in what it was intended to accomplish, and which has made more millionaires and more paupers than any tariff measure ever framed by any other government. It is an unmistakable protest against a system by which "thirty thousand men have been enabled to absorb more than half of all the wealth of the people, while a million American citizens, AN EX-SENATOR'S VIEW. THE HON. JOHN J. INGALLS. In the States west of the Mississippi the result was brought about by the coalition of the Democracy with the agrarian and communistic elements, whose panacea for existing evils is the repudiation of all debts, public and private, the abolition of taxation, the forcible redistribution of property, and the reorganization of society by degrading the prosperous and educated to the level of the unsuccessful and the ignorant. The argument against the tariff was addressed to the passions and not to the reason of the people. In the agricultural States of the Northwest there was no discontent at the burden of taxation under the McKinley Bill. Evidence that wages were higher, prices of necessaries lower, and the market for farm products widened, was wasted. The verdict against the tariff was not because it had unjustly increased the burdens of the poor, but because it had made some men rich. Universal education and increased opportunity for travel have multiplied ambitions and desires, without furnishing the means for their gratification. From this largely comes the discontent with our social conditions. The vulgar and insolent ostentation of the millionaires has also contributed much to the communistic spirit of this campaign. Mr. Cleveland is not an ideal statesman. He will be like that Governor of Indiana who went into office with little opposition and went out with none. But he is an Anglo-Saxon in fibre and instinct, and neither a time-server, a trimmer, nor a poltroon. The vagaries of fiat money, State ownership of railroads, and Government loans to those who can borrow from nobody else, will be treated with the contempt they deserve. A WOMAN'S VIEW. BELVA A. LOCKWOOD. Had Mr. Harrison been an astute politician, he would have seen that his success in 1888 was the result of a ruse which had deceived the laboring men in the matter of protection, and which sooner or later would be exposed. But emboldened by this success he made high protection, as embodied in the McKinley Bill, one of his pet measures. In vain Mr. Blaine sought to convert the President to some rational ideas of tariff reduction, or at least to an equalization of tariff rates. As a last resort Mr. Blaine secured the "reciprocity" clause, which was the only saving feature of the McKinley Bill; and under it, with masterly tact, secured several advantageous commercial treaties. This aroused jealousy between the President and his Secretary, followed by coolness, and terminating in Mr. Blaine's abrupt resignation. The manipulation of the Minneapolis convention was not pleasing to the rank and file of the Republican party, and the support given to the ticket by the friends of Mr. Blaine was but lukewarm. But the crowning climax which precipitated the defeat was the resurrection of the sleeping, if not defunct, Force Bill, by ordering United States marshals to the polls throughout the country. Great projects are often lost by the overzeal of those who advocate them. A PEACEMAKER'S VIEW. ALFRED H. LOVE. The Universal Peace Union is not partisan, but patriotic and cosmopolitan. It loves the whole country and it loves all mankind. We can see causes why the Republican party was defeated. The Republican party had forced Protection beyond the limits of necessity or prudence. It became, in its operation, unequal and oppressive. The same is true of the granting of pensions. The cry was, "Harrison never vetoed a pension bill, while Cleveland vetoed hundreds." It was a bid to secure the military vote. For the most trivial reasons pensions have been granted to soldiers and their relatives, and increased every year, becoming larger as the time since the war lengthened, until the drain upon the Treasury has reached nearly $200,000,000, or three dollars for each inhabitant of the Union. The Democratic party should amend the pension laws so that there shall be pensioned only soldiers disabled by wounds or service and who cannot earn their own living. Lavish expenditures during former administrations and pandering to excesses, have received a protest from the people. It is this, more than any special or superior virtue of the victorious party, that has brought the present result; and we trust that the peace principle, which has been well upheld by President Harrison, will receive no setback. GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS AND CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. TH THE HON. SHERMAN S. ROGERS. Condensed for THE LITERARY DIGEST from a Paper (11 pp.) in THE Civil Service Reform movement had for its object the elimination from American political life the very idea of patronage, as undemocratic and un-American. Mr. Curtis believed in it with all the force of an exceptionally wellbalanced mind, and his services in its behalf, I think, will constitute his highest claim to the gratitude of his countrymen. He was, indeed, a great power in American political life, influencing it at many points, and always for good. Least among men was he a penacea-vender, but he was a friend and advocate of every good cause, and the Civil Service Reform found in him a leader of such earnestness and force, that in the minds of his fellow-citizens the cause and its leader were identified. It was more true of Curtis than of Goldsmith that he "touched nothing that he did not adorn." Certainly, he adorned this cause, year after year presenting its claims with admirable grace and skill, and with a strength of argument that was irresistible. But there was something transcending all this. Among public men there was perhaps none who so won the confidence of sincere and earnest men and women by his own personality. When, by the process of years, a noble and trustworthy character has become clearly established and defined, men, by the law of their being, render it homage. The power of such a character, with all his gifts and accomplishments, was what Mr. Curtis brought to Civil Service Reform. The spoils system, from the time of its inauguration by Jackson, had held full sway. It had from time to time been challenged and condemned, but always from the outside. But after the close of the Civil War, and the reconstruction which followed, no absorbing question prevented the examination of administrative details. The Republican party had full control, and seemed likely to retain it indefinitely. It was then that Mr. Thomas A. Jenckes, a Representative from Rhode Island, submitted a report from the Joint Committee of Congress on Retrenchment, accompanied by a Bill "to regulate the civil service of the United States and promote its efficiency." This was a movement within the party in power, looking to the eradication of a system that threatened the public safety, and the establishment in its place of one in harmony with democratic institutions and adequate to the demands of the future. But the country knew little about the subject. The evils of the spoils system were well understood, but few had thought seriously about the remedy. In the American way, we had concluded that the trouble inhered in our political system, or, if not inherent, that it had become so firmly implanted that it could not be removed, and we must "go ahead and make the best of it." Just here the services of Mr. Jenckes were invaluable. He furnished a mass of information upon every part of the subject. He had obtained the views of many officials in different branches of the service upon the practical nature of the reform proposed, and these were supplemented by copious extracts from the press, earnestly favoring the Bill introduced. The subject slowly engaged public attention, but it was not until March, 1871, that any Act was passed. This Act was a brief section in the Appropriation Bill, authorizing the President to prescribe rules for admission to the civil service, to appoint suitable persons to institute inquiries, and to establish regulations for the conduct of appointees of the civil service. Mr. Jenckes's Bill had outlined a competitive system of appointments and promotions, and made it imperative; but it could not be passed, and the whole matter was entrusted to the discretion of the President. President Grant was heartily in favor of the movement. He promptly approved the measure, and on March 4, 1871, appointed George William Curtis and six other gentlemen an advisory board to conduct the inquiries under the Act, and report regulations for his approval; in other words, to prepare a working plan for the experiment of administrative reform. Mr. Curtis entered most heartily and at once upon the work. Probably his name imparted a strength to the movement that no other would have given. As the political editor of Harper's Weekly (which had reached in 1871 a circulation of 300,000), his editorials were read by men desiring to be enlightened as to their duties and strengthened in their patriotism, and by women to make sure that their husbands and sons were "keeping step to the music of the Union." There was perfect confidence in his intelligence, sincerity, and courage. The calm clearness of those weekly utterances was equaled only by their conclusive force. The comprehensive report of the Board was submitted to the President, December 18, 1871, and by him promptly. transmitted to Congress. In his accompanying message, the President said, "I ask for all the strength Congress can give me to enable me to carry out the reform in the civil service recommended by the commissioners." In April following, the Advisory Board having prepared the rules, they were promulgated; and thereafter, until their suspension in March, 1875, they were enforced in the Federal offices in New York and in the departments at Washington with most satisfactory results. It had become evident during these three years that the reform was not acceptable to the party leaders. In the short session of 1874-75, Congress refused an appropriation, and upon this the President abandoned the effort to enforce the civil service rules, and suspended their operation. The blow was momentarily overwhelming. There was noth ing left but to appeal to the people; and the files of Harper's Weekly show how little Mr. Curtis was daunted and how unexhausted was his energy. The event speedily realized his anticipations. In the National Conventions which followed, the two parties vied with each other in strong platform declarations favoring Civil Service Reform. President Hayes revived the civil service rules in February, 1879, and they were applied in the Federal offices in New York City with such excellent results' that public sentiment was stimulated, and many local civil service reform associations were formed throughout the country. The National League, with Mr. Curtis as president, was also organized. It was not, however, until January 18, 1883, that Congress gave to the country what is known as "The Pendleton Law," which beneficent measure became operative in July following. Probably no law ever had fewer real friends in the Congress that enacted it. But, as Mr. Curtis said at Newport, the Congress which had 'adjourned in August, laughing at reform, heard the thunder of the elections in November, and reassembled in December,” and it made haste to pass the Pendleton Bill, which had been a year before Congress. Since that time no Congress has dared either to withhold the appropriation or repeal the law. The recent extension of its operation to the Indian Department and to the navy-yards has been hailed by the country with applause. More than 30,000 subordinate places of the Government are under its control, many of them highly responsible. It has received the approval of three Presidents and many Cabinet Officers and other high officials, and, so far as is publicly known, the disapproval of none. When Mr. Curtis gave himself to this reform, he understood that it was an enlistment for life. It was no work for the pessimist or unbeliever. It would demand patience, courage, and the highest faith in the people, and he was glad to give it, as he did give it, the devotion of his life. THE FRANCO-RUSSIAN ALLIANCE AND THE Translated and Condensed for THE LITERARY DIGEST from a Paper (48 pp.) in H VI. CONCLUSION. APPILY, war is not yet in sight. It depends on Russia to give the signal, for France would not enter on it singlehanded, and the internal weakness of Russia is à guarantee of peace. The famine of 1891-92 was no mere failure of the crops due to an exceptionally unfavorable season, but a breakdown of the whole agricultural system, and the dénouement of a long approaching industrial disintegration, attended with a disorganization of the Government that mocks all description. The same Government which believed itself in a position to transport half a million soldiers from one end of the Empire to the other in the event of war, was compelled to let the food-supplies in the ports of the Baltic and Black Sea rot, for want of facilities to transport it to the famine-districts. The condition of affairs was such as to draw from Colonel Wendrich, who had been commissioned to purge out these Augean stables, the exclamation, "Such railway conditions, in the event of war, would involve ruin." Then comes the precarious financial condition, which Wyschnegradski attempted to tide, first, by reckless collection of taxes, inclusive of arrears; secondly, by an amortization of the public debt, which, while it temporarily lightens the burden, increases the obligation by extending the annual payments from 25 to 811⁄2 years. The report of the Controller (Oct. 25) admits that the ordinary income of 1891 fell short of that of 1890 by 52,000,000 rubles, while the extraordinary expenditure, instead of 63,500,000, amounted to 240,000,ooo. The deficit of 1892 will certainly reach 200,000,000, and when the Minister was relieved of his post by the disgusted Czar, the Moscow Wjedemosti remarked that his successor, Herr von Witte, had entered office under "very difficult conditions"; and since the expected loan could not be floated in Paris, the French being of opinion that the five millions of Russian funds they now carry is burden enough, there remains no other course than to keep the bank-note press in continuous operation, and increase taxation in the face of increasing poverty. It is even designed to reintroduce the salt-tax. That, under such conditions, Nihilism has raised its head afresh is sufficiently attested by the provisions which apply only to political offenders. This condition of affairs is well known in the States of the Triple Alliance and also in Sofia and Constantinople. Hence it is that the latest advances of Mr. Schischkin at the Golden Horn are not interpreted tragically. But as regards the military strength of the Triple Alliance, in comparison with that of France and Russia, we are incompetent to give an opinion. So much at least may, however, be stated confidently, that the prevalent estimates of the military strength of Russia are perfectly worthless, and that neither France nor Russia can make nearly as good a show in the field as she does on paper. Each of them will require at least half a million soldiers for her extended line of fortresses, for watching other boundaries, and for internal requirements; while Germany, in the first line, has only to provide for Königsberg, Thorn and Posen, Strassburg and Metz; and Austria and Italy are equally favorably situated. If, in case of war, the Triple Allies take the offensive on both fronts, Russia, in spite of her 240,000 men on the frontier, will be driven to act on the defensive, in consequence of the inferiority of her transportation facilities in comparison with those of Germany and Austria. This will give Germany an opportunity of taking the offensive against France in concert with an Italian army, marching via Austria. France's forces in the field will be materially weakened by the necessity of garrisoning her long line of fortresses, the very length of which lightens the difficulty of breaking through. Of course, Russia has profited much by past mistakes, and it is quite possible that some of the most crying evils of 187778 will be remedied. Enormous sums are expended on the army, the military outlay not being dependent on those economic and social conditions which influence other civilized States. But what the Czar has for the outlay beyond the military glory and the idea that he is supported by an invincible army is not so clear. The Russian soldier is stupidly obedient and blindly fatalistic, but he is wanting in intelligence. There are numerous instances of men incapable of using the arms of precision placed in their hands; they are poorly fed and clothed by the army-contractors, sheltered by a lot of gambling officials, the officers are badly paid, and the discipline very imperfect. The impoverishment of the farmers is undeniably attended by a marked degeneration of the masses. With a population of 120,000,000, and military service universal, the paucity of recruits is making itself ever more appreciable. In 1891, 874,IOI men of twenty years were called out for duty and presented themselves; and, according to the Moscow Gazette of Oct. 10, 1892, only 258,763 came up to the standard of very moderate requirements, and were reported as fit for service. As regards the French troops, also, the Reserves and Landwehr formation are not equal to the corresponding arms of the service in the armies of the Triple Alliance. This superiority of the latter extends to the Field Artillery also, which has 882 batteries against 830 possessed by its opponents. To these advantages must be added the higher quality of the troops, the officercorps, and general staff, to say nothing of the fact that all three Powers, in their fewer but very strong fortresses, possess a very considerable reserve. Finally, as respects Russia, it is a great mistake to suppose that Poland is dead; for, although Gourko converted the country into a graveyard, its sons are ready at any moment to enter fearlessly on a great war with Russia. And if, as is the well-grounded conviction of English officers, the advantage is with the Three Allies in spite of a slight inferiority in point of numbers, how much more would this be the case if England were to join us. By protecting the Italian coast she would enable Italy to send a strong force to the seat of war, and at the same time render Germany no less important a service by defending her coasts. Further, under her military direction she could organize Turkey into a considerable military auxiliary against Russia. The price of England's adhesion, according to Maurice, would be the guarantee of the Allied Powers that they would regard any advance of Russia upon India as occasion for war. Such an understanding would suffice to keep Russia within due bounds in Asia, precisely as the Triple Alliance has served to restrain her action in the Balkan peninsula. Such a strengthening of the Triple Alliance is certainly deserving of the most careful consideration, against the time when, as may safely be predicted, the weak Gladstone Ministry will be shattered on the Home Rule Question and Lord Salisbury shall again take the helm of affairs. In any case, the alliance for the maintenance of peace and the status quo can look forward calmly to the future. THE PARLIAMENTARY COMEDY. Translated and Condensed for THE LITERARY DIGEST from a Paper (6 pp.) in E VERYONE has heard of Josephin Prudhomme, that ingenuous fellow, son of the celebrated Joseph. The remarks of Josephin invariably excite a smile, much to his surprise, for he always means to be serious, and feels hurt that the profundity of his observations is not appreciated. Josephin lately accompanied me to the Theatre of the Palais-Bourbon, where there was performed a piece entitled "The Mysteries of Panama; or, Finance and Corruption." This is a drama in five acts, with a prologue, an epilogue, and many tableaux. It was played by the regular comedians of the Palais-Bourbon, and is one of the most curious pieces which has been offered to the public for a long time. Not that it belongs to any of the kinds called "new." It is ground out in the old mill of the classic melodrama, with this special feature, that the action which takes place in our time puts on the stage events of the present time and real personages. Its actuality is boiling, palpitating; instantaneous. Therein consists its originality, and that is the secret of its success. The authors of the drama have, moreover, faithfully followed the Why did it appoint a Committee of Inquiry before knowing what part exactly the Committee would have to play, and what was the limit of its powers? Why did it put the cart before the horse? Why did it keep crying out light, light! and yet constantly add to the obscurity of the matter? Why is it sufficient for a Ministry to be turned out of office on Monday and resume power on the Thursday of the following week to be called a new Ministry? Why did they sacrifice the Minister of Commerce? Why did the same Government support M. Ricard in his opposition to the Committee of Inquiry on the 28th of November, and make no opposition to the appointment of the Committee on the 8th of December? Why? .. I stopped him. 'Wait," I said, "and I will try to explain matters. To make a Ministry new, all that is necessary is that it have a new baptism."-" But a coat which has been turned is not a new coat."- A comparison is not a reason.” -"What was the object of turning out the Minister of Commerce?" He made himself disagreeable by his project of a Franco-Swiss customs treaty, so they availed themselves of an opportunity to get rid of him."—" But the Franco-Swiss treaty had no connection with the Panama Affair. Can I help that? It is as I tell you."-" Were you not struck with the contradictions, the incoherence in the-?"-"Ah! you make me tired! You do not understand the piece, neither do lo; it is above our comprehension. It is what is called the Parliamentary régime in the year of grace one thousand eight hundred and ninety-two." Tell me, at Josephin Prudhomme would not keep quiet: least," he said, "what you think will be the sequel of the drama, for there will be a sequel, I am sure."-"You ask too much of me. Will the Committee of Inquiry produce light? Will truth come out of this well? I doubt it. It is the secret of the future, as serious people say; let us not anticipate events. There will be doubtless a new piece, of which the conclusion will not be reached until 1893. This conclusion, in which the electors will take part and will have the last word, has in store for us, I dare say, many surprises. I do not know exactly what title they will give the new piece. It might be called Six Months Afterward,' or, if that name be thought too vague, something more explicit and appropria can, without doubt, be found, such, for instance, as A Great Hullabaloo About Nothing.' THE IDEAL AND THE REAL IN POLITICS. Translated and Condensed for THE LITERARY DIGEST from a Paper (15 pp.) in OT long ago, in this periodical, I discussed "The Project NOT recipe in the "Perfect Dramatic Cook": To make a good of a United States of Europe," and came to the con melodrama, take a crime very plump and sufficiently gamey; souse it in a bath of vinegar, stuff it with complications, chopped up small and strongly seasoned with Cayenne pepper, lard it with a thick mystery, garnish with calumnious mushrooms, let it simmer over a slow fire, add a spice of virtue, dish it on a salmagundi of declamatory common-places, and serve hot. The mess cooked by the three composers and their assistants exactly accords with the formula, and contains all the prescribed ingredients. Besides (and this is not a minor point in the seasoning), the authors take part in the interpretation of their work, just as Molière did. The drama is dark, muddy, horrifying, and barbarous. By a singular coincidence the principal authors of the play are Boulangists, who seem to have set to work to blacken the Republic, in revenge for the decision of the High Court and their own political crash. In talking over the play with me, Josephin Prudhomme overwhelmed me with indiscreet questions:-Why did not the Chember wait for the result of the judicial investigation? clusion that such a thing was impossible and naught but a dream. Many courteous observations have been made in regard to my essay, for which I am grateful. It has been said, however, that "there was in my paper an excessive tendency to appreciate the visible and tangible only, and to ignore and depreciate the ideal." This observation seems to me unjust. Therefore, without returning to the subject previously and sufficiently discussed, I wish to present some general observations on the ideal and real in political questions. I am very far from being opposed to the ideal, and that not in scientific and practical politics alone, but in literature, in art, in all the affairs of life. The ideal has always been and will always be, not only the refuge and the comfort of elect souls amid the misfortunes of life, but the light which attracts and illuminates the highest intellects; the indispensable condition of the progress of the world in every kind of human activity; the flame that warms the heart, that keeps alive the nerves of the intellect, that *THE LITERARY DIGEST, Vol. V., No. 19, p. 505. animates and impels the choice spirits of every people, and which, by drawing to it the multitude, re-creates nations which appear to be dead. Without the ideal of an Italy to be made again, after so many centuries, independent, free, and one, in opposition to the Bourbons and the Duchies, to the Papacy and the Empire, to Austria and France herself, would we ever have been able to have the martyrs and heroes who, from 1794 on, sacrificed for their country, youth, wealth, liberty, life, everything most dear to men? The opponents of Negro slavery in the second half of the last century spoke of justice and humanity in a manner which appeared absurd to their contemporaries. Still these opponents of slavery had a high ideal, which kept alive the sacred fire in the breast of the lovers of justice and of the moral and civil progress of the human race; a fire which, by 1815, had touched the potentates at Vienna, and caused them to declare in the name of their sovereigns that while the people were scattered like sheep, they desired to put an end to the scourge, which had for a long time " 'desolated Africa, degraded Europe, and afflicted humanity." England, which a century before, in 1713, had induced the Congress of Utrecht to give her the monopoly of that infamous traffic, was won over by this ideal, and she freed the slaves in her colonies at a loss of hundreds of millions, and opposed the slave-trade everywhere in the world. It was this lofty ideal which caused the United States of America to bear the burden of the gigantic civil war for the abolishment of slavery. Political history is also full of false ideals. Thus the supporters of universal monarchy, to whichever side they belonged, Guelph or Ghibelline, papal or imperial, with their two illustrious chiefs, Gregory the Seventh and Dante, had an ideal. It cannot be said that this ideal was not very lofty, aiming to secure, at least for Europe and the Christian world, a common law, justice, and international peace, through the medium of one God, one Pope, one Emperor, universorum domini. This, however, was a false ideal, contemplating an end impossible to attain, after the formation in Europe, subsequent to the fall of the old Roman Western Empire, of new nationalities, like the French, the English, the Spanish, the German, the Italian, and others. The same remarks might be made in regard to Louis the Fourteenth's ideal of the superiority of France in Europe, Metternich's ideal of making Austria the protector of the absolute power of the monarchs, Napoleon the First's dream of reëstablishing the Empire of Charlemagne. The true ideal, as distinguished from the dream and the Utopia, is the privilege of those who are truly great thinkers, truly great politicians. All we can say, is this: it is necessary, in each case, to examine whether it really deserves to be considered an ideal or to be placed among dreams, trying it by the nature of things, by the real conditions of the political and economic world. This is what I did in regard to the ideal of the United States of Europe; and a dispassionate examination led me to see that the project is but a deceitful flash of light and to demonstrate its futility. SOCIOLOGICAL. THE SINS OF SOCIETY. Condensed for THE LITERARY DIGEST from a Paper (18 pp.) in T risk of rousing the censure of readers, I confess that I would leave to society a very large liberty in the matter of its morality or immorality, if it would only justify its existence by any originality, any grace, any true light and loveliIn the face of its foes lying grimly in wait for it with explosives in their pockets, society should justify its own existence by its own beauty, delicacy, and excellence of choice and It should, as Auberon Herbert has said, be a centre whence light should radiate upon the rest of the world. But ness. taste. " as it has no clear light or real joy within itself, it cannot diffuse them, and probably never will. The Souls" do, we know, strive, in their excellent intentions and their praiseworthy faith, to produce them, but they are too few in numbers and too tightly caught in the great existing machinery to be able to do much towards this end. After all, a society does but represent the temper of the age in which it exists, and the faults of the society of our time are the faults of that time itself. They are its snobbishness, its greed, its haste, its slavish adoration of a royalty which is wholly out of time and keeping with it, and of a wealth of which it asks neither the origin nor the solidity, and which it is content only to burrow and bask in as pigs in mud. It is not luxury which is enervating; it is over-eating, oversmoking, and the poisoned atmosphere of crowded rooms. Beauty is always inspiration. There is nothing in a soft seat, a fragrant atmosphere, a well-regulated temperature, a delicate dinner, to banish high thought; on the contrary, the more refined and lovely the place, the happier and more productive ought to be the mind. I do not think the rich enjoy beauty one whit more than the poor in this day. They are in too great a hurry. There is no artistic enjoyment without repose. Their beautiful rooms are scarcely seen by them except when filled with a throng. Their art-treasures give them no pleasure unless they believe them unequaled. Their days, which might be beautiful, are crammed with incessant engagements, and choked with almost incessant eating. In England, the heavy breakfasts, the ponderous luncheons, the long tedious dinners, not to speak of the afternoon teas and the Tiqueurs and spirits before bedtime, fill up more than half the waking hours; "stoking," as it is called, being the one joy that never palls on the human machine, until he pays for it with dyspepsia and gout. I do not think plain living and high thinking a necessary alliance. Good food, delicate and rich, is like luxury; it should not be shunned, but enjoyed. It is one of the best products of what is called civilization. But feeding should not occupy the exaggerated amount of time nor cost the immense amount of money now spent upon it by society. It is not for its luxury that I would rebuke the modern world; but for its ugly habits, ugly clothes, ugly hurryskurry, whereby it so grossly disfigures, and through which it scarcely perceives or enjoys, the agreeable things around it. There is in the social atmosphere, in the social life of what is called "the world," a subtle and intoxicating influence which is like a mixture of champagne and opium, and has this in common with the narcotic, that it is very difficult and depressing to the taker thereof to leave it off and do without it. As La Bruyère said of the court-life of his time, it does not make us happy, but it makes us unable to find happiness elsewhere. The great malady of the age is absolute inability to support solitude, or to endure silence. There is nothing more costly than this hatred of one's own company, this lack of resources and occupations independent of other persons. What ruins ninety-nine households out of a hundred is the expense of continual visiting and inviting. Entertaining is generally detested; but you cannot be invited unless also invite. you Marion Crawford observes, "that it is useless to deny the enormous influence of brandy and games of chance on the men of the present day"; and if we substitute morphia for brandy, we may say much the same of the women. Drinking and gambling, in some form, is the most general vice of the cultured world, which censures the island laborer for his beer and skittles, and condemns the continental workman for his absinthe and lotteries. We are great gamblers, and the gambler is always a strangely twisted mixture of extravagance and meanness. For the most part we live up to and far beyond our incomes, and the result is miserliness in small things and to those dependent on us. There is little, except music, which is beautiful in the pagean |