The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1882-12-27
The AristOeraey Of Culture.

We see grave reason for apprehend-
ing that the new aristocracyi of cul ure
which is growing up among us, and is
asserting its right to position with so
much energy and success that it half
appalls and half attracts the aristocrac,
of birth and wealth, viii not for long
time 70 come be very liberal in senti-
ment, whether in the party sense or in
that larger sense which the word origi-
nally bore. 1t is getting very separate
from the mass, to begin with. Moth
ing is less explicable or more certain
than that the rapid spread of poor
kind of education has perceptibly deep
ened the chasm between the cultivated
and uncultivated. and inclined the for
mer to insist little more upon their
intellectual rank. to recoil little more
from OBJ; mons held commonly or by
great masses of men. Not only are the
cultivated less moved by general opin-
ion. but they dislike it more, and are
more inclined to '.analyze" those who
hold it, and to pronounce them very
stupid, very dense, and eminently disa-
greeable persons We note that ten
dency distinctly in Mr.. Matthew Ar
nold, the drift being accumulated in
his case by his habitual and inst nctive
kindliness, while in his followers it be-
comes a definite note of thought Sepa-
ration impairs iberality of feeling by
impairing sympathy, for we never sym
pathize keenly with those for whom we
feel an excessive distance. The warm
est advocate of justice. TO animals finds
himself overtaxed in his effort to feel
much for fish. unless they are highly
organized enough to writhe or to bleed
like mammals; and the difficulty exists,
in lesser degree. as between classes Of
men. 1t does not do for the mind to
dwell strongly on the stupidity of the
dim millions. Those who do so end by
ascribing their sufferings to that very
stupidity-that is, to inherent. instead
of removable causes.
The tendency to physical refinement,
again, or astheticism, so marked
among the cultivated of TO-DAY as to
have become almost n new cult,
deepens the chasm, by introducing a
sense of disgust for dirt. dreariness,
and squalor. which. when indulged,
speedily develops into contempt. 1t is
difficult, though not impossible, for Nor
ris's disciples to feel for the "un-
washed" who do not know what a
brutality of color" can mean. While
the democratic movement has undoubt-
edly produced as much recoil among
the cultivated as among the rich, the
former are not afraid for their intel
lectual treasures, which no demagogue,
however powerful, can take away from
them; but they are afraid for their in
! fiuenee, which, great in society, is. they
see very weak among the vast almost
cosmic, semi bland political forces now
in motion 1t is very disagreeable 10 a
man who knows. say, much of al
branches of Egyptology, ancient and
modern, to see that the fate OF Egypt
win be settled by millions of vote s
who. but that Egypt is "a Bible coun-
try" would not know where Egypt
was, and even when they know that
fancy the minute delta broad,
grand land. as important as France.
He does not love the voters more for
their new power, but less, and is in
clined to repudiate their demands,
which, being instructive, are often
right, because of the limits of their
knowledge. The tendency of cultivated
Americans to sneer at philanthropy as
huge "ism" is very noticeable, and
is repeating itself both here and upon
the continent. Philanthropists are
liberals by instinct, for they detest the
past, with its history of wrong and SUI
fering; and we should say that. while
impatience of visible cruelty increases.
true philanthropy does not.-London
| Spectator.