, 1875-03-28
THE GOOD OLD TINES"

There is sentimental longing for the
z" good old times" which, carried to not un-
common excess, produces substantial hnrm,
for men imagine the world is doterloratlng;
that tdal-wave of ignorance, misery, and
vice, is sweeping over the world; and that
they are but atoms, unable to do anything
save drift with this deadly tide. They aban-
don any hopes of Lettering the present OF the
future, sit down N dull inaction, so far as
disinterested effort Is concerned, and let their
dreams Of the golcen age that has been pre-
vent their striving for new golden
age in the present or the boundless
future This is not the view Of most think
ers. Even a man ike the great Frenchman
CANDo1.LE, who mjects "optimism " with
scorn, saying, in his essay Oh "selection IN
the Human Species" that this theory Of ever
lasting progress is sontradicted "by the facts
Of the past and the present and the probable
facts of the futur., even such man be-
ieves in continual progress until now and for
many centuries to chme. Mill ranges him.
self On the same sids Witness his glowing
picture, in the e Three Essays on Religion, OF
the man Of the future, inspired by the "relig-
ion Of humanity" SPENCER is constant and
an e1cecdin gig able tdvocate of the law OF eV-
erlasting progress 0ANpo11R mentions his
arguments with deep respect DRAPER, IN
the tenth chapter OF his "History Of the
Conflict Between Science and Religion" sup
plies mass Of fac.s in regard to the bad old
times which have 50 long mesqueraded as
n NH
sophical reasoning and more convincing to
the average man. Let rs see what those
facts are
The good old tines of idyllic peace and in
nocence we're marked, first, BY terribly de-
structive wars, epi{emics, and plagues- The
oloc;caI auarrels aid prosecutions almost de-
populated Norther, Africa The wars OF JUS
11s1AS made increlble inroads on the people
| of Italy. Spanish 5arbarity killed 1000, 900
| Mexicans, and SWEET Peru almost bare Of Life.
England, thanks tt war, bloody cruelty, sick
ness, and misery only barcty donbled its
nonulation in 50o years after tho Norman
couonest The normM rate OF increase
doubles population every fifty years. In the
famine of 1880, human flesh was cooked and
sold. In 1858, 15,|o0 persons died OF hunger
| in London, then lty Of not more thnn loo,-
600 souls ENEAs Sx1v1Us, afterwards Pope
Pus IL, visited tht British Isles in l43o, and
has left description Of the condition Of the
common people at hat time. They lived, ae
SAYS, in huts builtpf stone without mortar,
with turf roofs, viii dry bulls hide for .
door, without windows, with no chimneys, with
clay floors. Someof them Ind never seer
bread. They lived On coarse vegetables and
On pulverized batr Their scanty clothing
swa7med with vcrn;n- They we're brutal in
their habits The condition of things il
Paris and London fl thousand years befors
the Reformation vas scarcely bettor. Th.
houses wezo OF wod, daubcd with mad ant
thatched with clay & reeds. Dirty straw va!
the only cnrpet i omcstio ana hurnnn ani
mals heplea togothx in Eth. Abag Of straw
and wooden log wire bed and pillow. Med
esty aud purity wre impossible. outsid
J. tbs houses, thing vare no better. Th