Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1885-01-30
nature AND CIVILIZATION.
Ihe wants of Modern Life-Stined by
Civilization.

~ "'s VI Nouerl LEe-Stineu by
Civilization.
Buiion, in page published in every
"Cours de Litterature,' sinrs
ho'anna to cultivated nature, and ap-
pears unable to find words strong
enough to express his horror of nature
IN Its savage state" brute" nature.
as be calls it. At the present day our
impression is precisely the reverse of
this. We seek on almost inaccessible
submits, IN the region of eternal snow,
anu IN the very heart of hitherto unex-
plored continents, n spot where man
has not yet penetrated, and where we
may behold nature in her invioiate
vrglnity We are s:ifled by civiliza-
ton, wearied out with books, news
papers, reviews, and periodicals, letters
to write and TO read; railway travelling,
the post, the telegraph and the tele-
phone devour time and completely
mince up ones life; any solitude for
fruitful reflection is quite out of the
question. Shall l find it. at least,
among the fir trees of the Carpathians
or 5t reath the shade of the old oaks
Of the Balkans? Industry is spelling
and soiling our planet. Chemical
produce poisons the water, the dross
from different works and factories
covers the country. quarries split up the
picturesque slopes of valleys, black
coal smoke dulls the verdant foliage
and the azure of the sky, the drainage
OF large cities turns our rivers into
sewers, whence emerge the germs of
tvphuS. The useful destroys the beauti-
full. and this is so general as at times to
bring tears to the eyes. Have not the
Italians, on the lovely Isle of st.
Helena, near to the public gardens in
Venice, erected works for the building
of engines. and replaced the ruins of y
fourth-century church by chimnevs.
whose Opaque smoke, produced by the
Gctestable bituminous coal of the Saar,
would soon leave spotty trace on the
pink marble of the dogc's palace
and on the mosaics of st. Mark, inst
As we see them on st. Paul's Cathedral
in London, SO ugly covered with
sticky strcaks. 1t is true that the
produce of this industrial activity be-
comes condensed in revenue. which en-
riches many families, and ad0s consid-
erably to The list of the bourg >ois pop
ulation nhabiting the capital. Here,
on the banks of the Rhine, these reyc-
nucs are represented by villas and
castles, whose pscrdO Greek or Gothic
architecture peeps out from among
masses Of exotic trees and plants in the
most sought-aftcr positions, near to
Bonn. Godesberg. 81. Goar or Bingen.
Look. there is an immense feudal castle,
beside which Stolzenfels, Tie Empress
Augusta favoritc residence, would be
mere shooting-box. This immense
asSemhlage of turrets, galleries, roofs
and terraces must have cost ut least
fN0.@@. Has it sprung from coal or
from BcsScmer steel? 1t is situated Just
below the noble ruin of Dracehnfels.
VIII not the dragon watching over the
Nicbelungcn treasure in Nifclheim's
den. ayenge this ilnpertinent challenge
of modern piutocr""y? All that | see on
my way up the h.ine leads me to reflect
on the special characteristics of Prus-
sian administration. The works which
have SO marvelously "domesticated'
the river ~ to make it a type of Whist
Pascal calls ''un chemin qui marche,'
have taken between thirty and forty
years, and have been carried out con-
tinuously. Systematically and scientific
ally. In her public works. as in her
military preparations. Prussia has sue
ceeded in uniting two qualities which
are only too often lacking-a spirit of
consistency and the love Of progress.
The desire to be as near Us possible to
perfection is apparent in the most mi
mute details. Not unfrequently consist
eney, and too close following of tra-
ditions. lead 10 routine which rejects
innovations. Great strength is attained,
and the cnances of success are consid-
Wably increased if. while one aim is
kept always in view, the best means to
attain it are selected and applied with
out delay. Contemporary ReyicU.