, 1869-01-17

4 h.h sh41e OF Ii oraA . II ne t.xes II IL sun.
.ssenp asa to .he .loR fa' hIm fiat hi. soe
cial ethics IRE noa Of auch psr-cmtneut In
porta1ce, he 1tes At yon with feeling that
! you &c tobbIoe b!ra. "M5 1uses OF ti{e nA.
cs:cntials fou nc trying TO dcprcciato my
sIirf'ua' Investments; you E making ont
thar have not sa,t enongh to save me; y3u'
/ ate stndlng me to perdillon. GET out OF nv
house. sir; won't take your periodicals. !
won't read yonr book =
Alypocsite! Te think you err IN trying
To make that nora cover hlI who1e ground.
The main trouble With him Is that his cduca
tfon. both ethical aud intellectual, Is incom.
pIcte. He ia but complex representative or
protorRauon OF na1y mornl curiosity OF
thu ideA Of right md wronE il the mind OF
The hun an race has hecn gradual Hud very
slow. It il interesting to luok back along
the ages, aud study the differing morall:ie, OF
plon:; nsayersul, considerations army than
that little one Of seYcuty Conneeticut' Pur1-
fans III ich burnt seren hundred Pequots
alive. Earnest Christians Of the Middle Ages
p1undcred and murdered Jews. David, the
holy man Of bis time, saved Gentle prisoners
asnndes, a1d cut of the hoofs Of Gentle
horses.
i. would be cdlfying to inquire into the con-
sciences ondIl1on OF those ca7o'dHellitg an-
cestors Of ours. who. As Charles Lamb de-
other ir The dark-n Did 1helr sense Of what
was right allow thtm to snatch halEplcked
boxes from rheumatic bother or blind
father: Did it permit them, or perhaps
stimulate thcn,. to drive Stone hatchet
th.oneh the oceiput Of m old friend, who
was returning carefn-ward BY night With
tempti~ string Of fah: Did it ob11se them
to stand uantuIly By the sam- comrade when
be was chaz9ed by the British hyeoa OF the
prehistoric tlephautf One ofthese supposi-
f.r Ete,1- I'm
euro that the morality Of the Troglodytes ras
| at least aK mi1ed and controdlctorF Is our
| Own, although It covered narrower range OF
beliefs and influenced smaller number OF
act1ons.
| By The way, how few Sins had been iuyent-
| ed ct that period! The most ascetlc lake
dwel1er Of fSwitzer1sId had not word tosay
ngulpst Sabbath breaking or card playing or
the drinking lager. And with scarcity
ol sins thcrc vas also dearth Of virtues. No
sabbath.keeplng. no moral reforming, 20
against tobacco. 1suagine Mr. Parton in that
era asking whether "the coming man will
drink nine" The Albio1lc Tso.lodyte
squattlue among the bones Of bis cavern, and
the Helret1an lake-dwell+E starting cut Of his
fst-sceuted hoTe1, would haFe been even lezs
atle to attach . moral .cquence to the In
qui1y than the l}riton or Swiss Of the present
day. With Them the "main question" may
been whcthtr the coming mau would eat
Il his grandfather,
; The fortunate truth IL, that our stock OF
ethlcs has grown In proportion to our ward
robe, household furniture, asd other results
OF material civilization. A society furnishes
the body with new comforts and diseases so
1t provides the eonl With rev virtues aud
) | new sins. Our present hero, ecesph Rlasiot1,
ESD. cr New York city. Is dovs-.d wash al
these things In abundance The ,vsE With
! the TtoGlody.e seems to have been, ,-L.kkel
he had sius enough to take him to he'll. Fhe
polpt with ouF coicmporary IS. whether "
has virtues enough to take him to heayeh
To our mind the future Of both IL equally
dubious
On thu whole, Mr., Joseph is relic Of .
barbarous antiquity. Despite his shayer
+ Iace, his modern sharpness OF teature. h1
) he Is s.ec1men OF the moral arrbitectur
| Of. time which mortified persecution
{ and. pIe:y, massacsfng of prisoners an,
founding Of charities, p1undering OF Jews ant
Il reverence for Jesus. Into the same edlace
I The Erg1ishman Of King John's. time coul'
not draw an Inference from tAu fact tbs
I Christ hpd prarcd that bis executtouers Nigh
I be furgiy. n. Sir. Kigdon Il equally lucaps
BE Of reasoning with regard to Ills Hebrews
y Hts prc1ua1cns date from beyond stonehengt
t | they are at least as old as the TroyloJyte.
/ Who but a ca.efn-dweller would consider hl
( own doublc-fncca morality adorable, aud Q
c | the same time deuouucc his ncfghbor
! doub}c.,accd morality as henish? The Ri.
j. ! dnus precisely answer Charles Lambs d'
.ssapeaop i teey "fru%ele at 9ne p an1thsr
. We are ul.uost prepared to declare that u
d Rtgdous arc olccr than the TToglodytes.
j. late essayiss has attempted to show that tt
tc cLphant has notions which approach tie III
Is .tuse OF superst.tlon. 1t appears ;hat tls
er kagacious beast Is unfeasonanly aisaia ol lou
c white wands aud absurdly consclcnti J!
r. about breaking Into enclosures. He won
0 charge platoon Of hay0ntts, when he wou
run away from peeled branch. lie won
Id respect . bamboo fence aFoucd tenPtlt
rlce-tleId. When ne Hould tramp
e. !ts coo!ie proprietor 70 1feless Jelly. y
friend Rtsdon Is ar elephant l1 comp''
10 Atn.c If mural Development: He, too,
" bis terrible wands they are the opinions
an society. Lie, 100. mas nls respec!ea ens!osnr'
" they are established !aws aud ius:itut1or
c. F,e5eud the thrust OF these wcapana and 4
nc shadow Of thest barriers, DC 1cels tree
tso!se and llanaee a. Ats eacasHEc' teS - la
L. ceftaIn scLses ne Is olocI anau Inc 4rog
vs. ay1s;, y,.,,
WIN .n.s nloae.u a"eneI IN caves o. ,H a1E
Of The miserable d!liiculty y that wc havc
1r. There ore tlrefliss oi 81 main questions" =
"moral lssues," bq. scarcely marc wc Gal
~ Saru ., u. r,st ss1cr ~ a,nsher NV n,nn,h,
rev 1osl1ca, fe-t centuries, prove that 9
dr. greatest dlscoycl--as ere not tho''puro trutl
but ou,y fIat.SEE Of II. VIC c.
not too const. 4ly remember II
morality Is not hnts ~ that 1t 10 Only IL
~ 1nccssent chsnoe HE - trsvsir,I nhernT
". ia o. ha!afe' uboef theA>' cafcaas!anees.
y" path OF progress being e&s. ellnd. NC n
{ not nope 10 get htSA 5pe6ss ouS OK Af. Il
hen don.
aht lfwc nrcc him, h: Will not t1ccrstand
he lua4lnca HAT Is pretty neAr the cud
his route ready; ::e nas 20 comfl1tely
ianctl bts crantf1ll ri Let us ElSnce d
somewhat similar CT i +; 1st US turn aside
the ethical prai.ses 0 ,t.e Wackfect 8c
tell uoralist OF lha: cam,AuuitY that
Mo. wrong to roast pfIsun,r. 'But l. Is SAM
'|'' mon dceorous und du u .po,'' he will MI.
tcv '';han the old custom I eating thenl
al | must remember, my ps -taced friend, I
nro. this Ii au aRe OF phllantl's&pf and pEcgre:
ions He does l ot imagine lhlt yop require
I'M, | further advance OF him; hfs first though
|. ~ ~ that yun wish him TO takc step bzc .Vi
,,a Surrounded BY mere wiN-o' -the-wisp:
~ truth. Me.Joseph r,edon Is mea.urahly
Ia dopah!e tor making huge blundcss aua
'pca thru, setting oyermuch vaIlf On some
uni!st}y disrcrnrdipE others. There
WV WY nttlc ch.pr1. n lsrre improvement
@sta We h,1u: but VIC have high hopes Of
AVA @ dcsccnuants-say IN the thirteenth e
ua anu ra,ton, We trust thst the Risdoa
,ua1 m,s. that day will sec that le must not IL
~. / same tiins ipyokt the blessing Of his Gre
. to sho spccniatc IN tac rum u us aelo" c
lneo eu,ue; lhe thil iieiL generation seems al
l,,ch fngly ntar we had better seet oWE Saltb
who Lag . A|@seu'