New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-04-02
I0EEII DI0CONTENI


less than now to boast of, we were all rather
boastful. We used to brag rather loudly Oh
our free schools, for instance, and OF the career
open to all young people whom they trained
Since the war, an epoch OF croaking mas SET ih'
Perhaps it will disappear with the income tax;
but meanwhile it is the fashion to say that
our whole system, schools and all, leads to
great deal of heart burning and social dlscon-
tent We have seen this more or less plainly
limited in half dozen speeches and essays, OF
late. mostly from persons fresh from foreign
travel For your travelled American is apt to
boast of his native land until he returns to its
shores. or rather he is like Horace Wapoe,
who said that he should love his country very
much, if it were not for his cOuntrymen. And
as yOur American, under such circumstances,
is apt to be suffering under double discon-
tent-that which took him abroad, and that
which attacks him on returning-hls eye for
that emotion must naturally be pretty sharp.
So we are discontinued, are wei The better
for us! 1t is the maxim of Oriental Govern
ments that man should be content with his
"caste" 1t is the result of modern Govern
ments that he should be discOntented with 1t.
1t applies not merely to America, but to all
Modern history is the history of discomfort,
and since the French Revolution the old social
order has satisfied nobody. Mrs. Trench, IN
her delightful letters, found great fixedness OF
caste in Germany in 1893. and contrasted 1t
with "the mixture of ranks" which was al
ready visible in London. Here, every one re-
"mans contentedly in their own class-there,
"all are struggling to associate with those above
"them, whence proceeds vast share of ex-
"pense and dissipation" Yet now Germany is
where England was then, and the England of
to-day seems a "fierce democrace" compared
with the England of George w.
Is all this good thing2 Certainly it is.
The first step toward improvement is discon-
tent Dissatisfaction with manual labor, for
instance, makes men work with their brains;
and this is what keeps the Patent Office busy.
"Set men working by the piece" said the head
of great mandatory, "and each man begins
"to contrve some way to save labor, and soon
they accomplish more. They double right up"
In this way. the great mechanical improvements
come. Take away the wholesome discomfort
as regards poverty and hard work, and the
man invents no more machines, but becomes
one himself.
Wordsworth, the poet, thought lit well that
the poor should learn to read, and perhaps to
write "But this" he added, sis far from
"eoualy certain The poorest immigrant on
our shores is, so far, wiser than the philOsOphic
poet, that he finds it quite certain that his
child will need the whole of the three RS.
He knows it will make him discontinued. and
sends him to school for that purpose. Once
fortified with learning" the boy is expected
&c 10 oo;pf
an alderman, or something. The London cos
termonger told Mr.. Mayhem that every man
wished his son to have better start in the
world than he himself had; and what is there
vision may here be reality. If our free
schools excite all with tho wish to be gentle
men and ladies, SO much the better. The uni
versal struggle will, in time, elevate the mean
ing of those words. Indeed, it has already
done So Gentleman" and "lady" once i'm
piled social distinction, but they now imply
personal distnction-they refer to man
ners and education, not to property or pursuit.
1t is great step. People advertise for sales
ladies' in shops assuming the new but true
opinion that every shopwoman should be as
ladylike as her customers. Even in England
partly through the reflex influence of America
the same improvement goes on; and you may
"hear tinman in municipal council rebuke
"a grocer for not behaving like a gentleman,
cor candidate address the mob at the hust-
"ings as gentlemen and electors"
This social ambition brings fOllies with it, no
doubt But the first thing is to have the
ambiton-the power to direct it wisely comes
afterward. Social discomfort leads foolish
people to folly, but it leads the wise to self
improvement, to virtue, culture, and the
graces. The energy that marks American men,
the capable" qualities that mark the American
woman, grow directly from our social condi-
ton, and, above all, from our free schools.
Where all are educated, the days of privilege
are ended. Bringing each year new genera
ton into the pursuits of life, our schools grad
ually infuse through the whole community
desire for something better than their fathers
had. With a few, this desire will take the
form of "shoddy" display. With Others it
will take the form Of more rational and agree
able living 1t will lead some to dcspise labor
but others will learn by it to elevate labor into
something more ennobling and more attractive.
The dream of Napoleon that in France all
trades should be elevated into arts, is likely to
be first reached in America Until then, it is
the uuty Oh all 10 ne uissaCisHeu. ne
biographer of young General Lowell, who fell
so nobly in the late war, says that, after
leaving college, he viewed the actual order of
things with generous discomfort of which
Mr. Emerson said, Il hope he will never get
rid of it," Aud the attitude of that young
hero is the proper attitude for all.
Count de Montalembert filled too large
space in the esteem and admiration of his CO.