, 1873-01-02

too dolicato for country girl, and botraya MI
anxiety to drop tho subject, but lo conidcd to n
revolver caught The arm Of the rockor, and 1t !
was III TINT way discharged, whoreupon that
house aud his clothes hocamo too hot for Lin.
THE COMFORTABLE CLASSES.
| From, The london Saturday Reuiee.
| Tho Spectator latofy ho'pcd us to some curious
inliabit thiH fortunate island. We know pretty
| accurately wlat is the number OF porHons at tho
other end Of tho scale. But tho great 1nasB Of
! population which intory0ncs between tho paupor
| md tho millionaire may DO divided by yot Anoth-
er limo Of domarcation. We should, wo must
| confaHs, be somewhat puzzled to nBssGn prociso-
| 1y the amount of income which would ontitlo
man to DO called comfortable" or "roHpcctn--
blo." Fixing tho limo Of comfort, howoYor, ut
tho point whore d naan's house is assossod ut
ono hundred pounds q yoar, tho Spectator an
nouncea o. tho strength of somo reoent statla-
That fa ss9 n ar oty oy y ss nosna %doa o@Gs nt
every ono is respectable" whose house
in assosaod ut f20 and upwards, it diacovors that
thero aro 100000 families, or about ono-cg,lth
of the whole population, who are entitled that
rcasons for doubling tho close accuracy Of tho
computation thus made. But let us admit that
tho figures aro 4 tolorablc approximation to tho
truth. Evon allowing for q considerable diver
gonco from tho truth, It must bo admitted Tint
| tho picture Of Boc1ety thus presented is rather
startling. We must consider tho social pyramid
as reatiug upon a. very wido baso md taporing
worry fnoly towards tho summit. Tho fow mill
ionaires WHO riHe into mid-air aro surely bal-
aucod in rathor doubtful equilibrium upon this
vast maas Of toiIing humanity. Tho comfort
able" claBscA are apt to spoalf nj II they wcro
| practically tho whole body Of tho populntion md
yot o7on they prosont but an attanuatcd appoar~
parontty DO called the unco1nfortablo: Tho salno
tho oyo by walk through tic atroots Of London
as it In prosented to tho mind by faw atatisti-
cal returns. Walk from Charing Crosa to tho
bank md on to tho museum In Bothnal Grocn,
S nY o soyy Of doS S ae gSoe ya meet I
words III aonse inte1ligiblo to tho cook 1t a
Pail Mall club; and how many arc likely ut one
time or another to mako practical acquaintance
good Old hymns Of our infancy instructed us to
convert such thoughta toorr odi6cation bygiving
thanks TINT wo wore not aB our ragged
brcthron. Tho .pioty, or ut least tho philanthro:
perhaps We shall generally bo moro inclined, II
not to feel certain socialist aspirations, at least
to tolerate thom in thoae who regard tho aame
sot OF facts from tho othor stdo Of tho great
their toxt tho strange inequalities Of wealth
which exist ia n civilized community have beon
preached with sufficient eloquenco; and VIC arc
not about to plunge at tho present moment
I T.
To bo silent on such matters would inlood be u
uBoleaa policy; tho deep Waters will be stirred,
however resolutely no may try to conano our
gazo to tho surface; but thoro is a timo for all
things, and Just now we will conflno ourgelyos
to 4 rathcr different vein OF speculation.
Perhaps tho most obyions reflection suRgested
by auch statements concerns tho accuracy Of
tho assertions which We mako with considerable
tastes. What ~ really mount, for example.
when wo say that the whole country ia moved by
a political agtation ? What infnitesimal pos-
ton Of tho population isrea'ly moved by somc Of
.. extcut, say Of spending half-au-hour's thought
) upon them? In cortain remote part of the
country, when great measure was being PASSED
through tho House Of Commons and tho daily
, uai,t ololucnce, tho ono question which really
,. appealed to provincial sympathios wns the pr'.
pr,ety, Of imposing HRE tax ,,a upon shep;
ne l. aGgs Tue thu Sa9gs gs might S5 gt
or might not be diecatabliBtod Two forgot which
WAS tho particular question at issuo) but oithol
oycnt would bo accepted with Indifference &c
long tho farmers Of certain dales oacapod this
change in termu, similar statements might be
applied to far largcr aectionB of the nation. The
cloquonco which is poured forth 30 lavishly
often porcolates through very fow social Btrata
heavy Indifference, to which il Ii ncarly impos
! Biblo to sink allaft. Cheap newspapers, ol
!, courso carry cortnin currents Of political dis
= cussion fur below tho comfortable, md iudeoi
.. prcaa, admirable ns it may 10 iu tho sight ol
3 taeli afford n complete education. It l.
possible for Al Intelligent reader to msa it's pro
: narratives OF thrilling murders When, therc
4 fore, NO Bay that public opinion has pronounced
4 upon given topic, We probably ncan nt tho out
hiatt INF 1F fc1,} of;~+
From this eighth no must deduct tho enormous
majority who never really think upon any sub
!. }eot except their daily work and from the re
! mainder We must take those who layo no par
a will probably como to 30 that porllaps thou
q sandth part Of tho nation has somo sort Of Wow
ba poesb2 1a On nar 9
. been moro OR lcea carried away by the impotu
o received from tho thousandth. Whom
y for example,, it was Haia that Eng
q q North Or Of tho South in tho American Ciyi
!" War, states would probably Aayo shown, i
o statistics had boon obtauable, that very largt
\ minority did not realize TINT war was goint
n on that only an inlinitesimal minority ATTACHED
q any idea to tho Issues inyolyod except 10 far a
t thoy had caught up some vague cry abou
= seyery or wara of conquest; and that oven O
o that minority thero was only a fraction whicl
a attached sufficient dlssipct idcas to tho name
o OF mon and pacee to DO able to stand five min
;, utos croaz- examination on the subject. 70
j. Americana arc very angry, aa should probabl
it ho in T. similar cnao, with the public opil,
! ioa which happened to bo against tLel
comes to think about 1t, should ono bs
q indignant bocnuso out OF many millions o
# people, of whom q. Tow hundreds arc quail
l. lied to form q tolorably reasonable judgment,
j. majority Of tho few thousands who profess t,
q have formed judgment happen to have takos
/, up wrong cry about nattor OF which the,
l. cannot possibly understand the rights aud th
!. wrongs? II the uamo OF England happens t.
n DO unpopular in u foreign country, ought ono t.
il DO seriouely annoyed when ono remembers tha
i probably not one man iu = hundred Or thou
10 sand could tell ofrhand whether England VA
Il tho capital Of London or vice versa ! Wo frs
i personify IL nation, and then talk AZ II 1t haa III
l., individual sentiment towards ,,s and nc tins1
"a no hard to got rid Of tho fiction that wo forge