Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1880-08-18
MODERN SOCIETY.
a Discourse on chat Subject by Mrs
Julia Ward Howe.

Bronson AlcOtt's School of Philosophy
was that of Mrs Julia Ward Howe on
Modern Society,"" Mrs Howe is lady
OF the broadcast culture and most extern
sive travel. and probably the closest OBJ
server OF social habits and customs who
has as yet raised her voice in the Concord
grove. The fact that she deals with great
questions practically as well as from the
standpoint of the philosopher and ad-
vanced thinker gives force to her ar
guments that the deductions of some Of
her more pretentious confreres lack. AS
piece OF writing the lecture will bear
successful comparison with any contri-
button to modern literature or thought
published OF late years. Modern society
says Mrs. Howe, comes in a questionable
shape, bringing with it airs from heaven
and blasts from hell. | have spoken to
1t and 1t has shown me my fathers
ghost. How shall | speak of it and tell
you what it has taught me? You must
think my alemb bic nice one indeed
since you bid me to the analysis of these
subtle and finely mingled forces. You
may Intend that, having tried and failed
in this task, | shall learn for the future
the difficult lesson of holding my peace.
But since text is supposed to make it
sure that the sermon shall have in it one
good sentence, let me take for my text
saying OF the philosopher Kant.
According to Kant logical oppo.
sltion is brought in view when one
attribute OF a certain thing is at
once affirmed and denied. There are CD.
posites which exclude each other and
opposites which can cOexist. Following
this thought up, Mrs Howe sketches the
various contradictions and oppositiOns
which exist in modern society In the
same family are found totally dissimilar
natures and conditions. Humanity, she
says is thing of oppositions, polar and
su Dstantial, and It's contradictions do not
exclude but complement each other. Its
results are the mighty agreements of
Church and State, the affections and dis
affections of the family, and the unity in
the contradiction is the wonder. The sum
and subject of the
FUNDAMENTAL AGREEMENT OF MEN
is the desire OF good, which marks, more
than anything else, the progress of the
race. AS education is enlarged, the agree.
ment Of mankind becomes greater in OBJ
jects 10 be sought by the promotion of
their best interests. But where shall
find society for you? Henry Thoreau
found it here In the passionless face of
nature. Here the shy Hawthorne could
dwell unmolested, not even overshadowed
by the revered sage, who makes reserve
and distance such important elements of
good manners. Mr.Alcott has transplanted
here those sacred olives whose chrism
rests upon his honored brow. The soci-
ETY. which my words shall introduce here
must be neither vulgar nor dull.
A rapid glance is taken at social life in
America. People of most dissim liar
views and customs are depicted and the
bona OF union between them as members
Of tbs human family painted out. Mod
ern society, she claims, seeks uni6cation.
How are we to use its vast resources snd
husband its lessons? To solve this the
speaker claimed to be the Office of true
ethics. The wealth which builds up so.
ciety will pull it down If its possession
leads to fatal luxury and indulgence. The
freedom of intercourse which makes one
nation known to another and puts the out
come of tine most advanced at the service
of the most barbarous is like a flood
which carries everywhere the seeds of
good and evil. The ripening of these de-
ponds much upon the accident of the hu-
man soil they may hap to find. To
America it was said at the outset: "Pre-
pare to receive the world and to make it
free" But where is Coos image in this
human brute who lands on our scores, full
only of the insolence of beggary? Honor
and glory to those patient, good men and
women who will redeem his children from
the degradation which seems almost
proper TO him.
THE OMNIPOTENCE OF MONEY.
One of the most serious social CUES.
tions of the day, says Mrs. Howe, is the
omnipotence of money. People of ton
use this expression in a quasi-sarcastic
sense, not seriously intending what they
say. But the power OF money, nowadays
is such that it becomes as seriously to
ask the question whether there is any
thing which it cannot do? What ancient
strongholds of taste, sentiment and preju.
dice has it not stoImed and carrieds A
servant who sought place during the
first year of the "shoddy' initiation, asked
a lady who was willing to engage her,
"Are you shoddy, ma'am, or old family
I want to live with shoddy, because it
pays the highest wages" Money during
the last twenty years has wiped over all
the old landmarks and obllterated them.
Religion stands aghast at this baptism of
gold, which can convert the Jew and the
heather, the brigand and the robber, into
saints of special prestige. For money
brides the court and pulpit and buys
the press. The highest genius pays hom-
age to it. If the duke has not money, he
will seek in wedlock the most undesirable
of women, if she is also the richest, Roy
atty bows to the splendid cloak of vulgar
ity and invites it to dine and drive. Hap.
py day, you will say, for labor, which
money symbo.izes. But money does not
always symbolic honest and intelligent
industry. A great fortune often repre-
sents transactions akin to theft, sometimes
to the thing itself, which the world is
Spartan enough to approve of II the
criminal is only keen enough to escape
detection. Those, too, who have earned
their money honestly leave 1t to their
children, who turn their backs upon the
class of which their parents came, and
desire to know nothing Of the bread
winning arts which they were constrained
to practice.
Literary people. she says, are not uncor.
rupted either. The refined tastes of liter
airy people lead them to value entertain.
ment at the house of the rich, The luXu.