New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-08-27
VONANS UNSELFISHNESS.


Tn comparing one race with another, all feel
that Selhshness is not characteristic OF race Bus
TINS observation suggests one Striking exception 10
its general drift You may say one person Is more
selfish than another, but you may not say TINS OK
any group Of persons till yon come 10 the very
largest into which you can divide the peisonal
world. IL IL not easy 20 make any generailAttlOh
about men and women. for everyone rs either
man or "A woman. and knows his or her own sex I'D a
different manner and different degree from Nn1s
he does the opposite; bat we think the general
opinion may. IN this case, be taken as lts own
Justification; and it appears to us that in some re-
spects this great distinction EXHIBITS what Ne mean
by the antiThesis OF truth and of charity Of what
re have called the nOu-preferentai element IA love.
Men about as much more true than women as
women are more unselfsh than men. We 30 NOD
mean that If you could rec kon up all the lies that
are told in a year you would ind that the greater
number had female origin when II comes 70
conscious deceit, we should suppose that men aud
women were pretty much alike. We mean that q
mans words and thoughts ordinarily stand IN
much closer relation to life than womans do. ana
that to some extent this explains ms being mucn
less ready 10 make sacrlnces than woman IS
For the habit of assuming any excellence has OPP
poslte effects. according TO tne gap Vel"e.n yur
moral position and that excellence We aetuany
widen the chasm II Il be already so Wlde mat tno
profession must be called false. But sincere words
are actions; and in protesting readiness Tor SELF
denial even without knowing fully what III Il, We
may 10 some extent approach 1t. lt u not po,siDie
to imagine person bound over 10 SCI eIIncIns
lite by professions that might he called unreal.
Every human beng must discover, when u comes
to the point, that the expectation OF surrendering
the pleasant Things OF lie, WlAllOub VI
difficulty is mere ignorance OF what sactlhce
means: but AN engagement ID betray no reluetance
or difficulty may possibly tend TO diminish these
feelings unless they be very great. And. IN TACT.
there is = great deal of this kind Of unselnshleSs
among Observation-Disclosures. We mean, 70 an ideal
that is to some extent illusOry. In matter 50
utterly Insignificant as anything personal 10 one
self" as we once heard said, by brilliant anu
cultivated woman one would not. OF course
think t worth while tO hesitate" Inc me- long
since concluded. was not by any means IN snch
glaring contradiction with that piece OF fantastic
morality as we should be apt to imagine Ana
perhaps many of the inconsistencies we hnh IN COM
plex human nature may be explained by remem Ell
ing that 1t Is not impossible that both these effects
shouC be found in the same person, 80 thai al one
moment woman should be more uLselhsh because
she has put herself in position IN which seli-sacri-
fee is a necessity. and that the next moment her
natural impulses should yet rush back upon her
with n rebound, and her prolessed readiness 70
share a crust with her husband should 40 more
suggest any sacrifice of her wishes 10 his. than tie
slght of your Obedent serV ant at the end OF q
letter suggests the discharge of some mcnial otnce.
In that calculating Cub aud nov which We know
"A character the influence of exaggerated profess
sions may tend both TO weaken and 10 strengthen
our moral lite and none but the eye that reads all
heart, can discern which influence ~ 20 give tho
ultimate bias 10 the spirit which feels both