New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-12-08
THE DISEASE or MORAL HYSTERTA.

TIE DISEASE or MORAL HYSTERTA
1t is instructive TO observe how the great
ethical and religious impulses that have from
time to time swayed the human race have al
ways driven certain individuals into sort Of
emotional insanity. When the early Church was
subjected to persecution. and martyrdom
forced upon many, there were not wanting men
and women who virtually committed suicide by
forcing the unwilling authorities to make mar
tyrs of them SO the ideal Of saintship held by
the early Christian ascetics soon produced fan
tastic Missionaries like st. Simeon Stylites When
in n later age, the suggestion Of rescung the
Holy Land from the intide took shape, 1t re-
srl'cd in what must be called the emotional In
sanity Of the Crusades. History is so full OF
such strange morbid peryerslOns Of Ideas, In
themselves praiseworthy. that 1t is unnecessary
to recur to them. No step forward has ever been
taken by the race in which instances Of this
tendency have not occurred. The Roman Catho
lie "Pententes," Of New Mexico, to-day, who
cruelty fagelate themselves and each other, and
sometimes actually cruelty each other, in Holy
Week, are a modern case in point To all in
tents and purposes they are mad as March
hares. And yet their insanity Is only morbid
and extravaganza perverslon OF the fundamental
truth that self-denial and suffering may be one
Of the gateways to the highest and noblest pos
sibilities Of life.
If we look about us to-day we cannot help see
ng that the great impulse Of altruism, which Is
doing so much 10 unity and humanize the race,
is producing similar morbid and abnormal ten
denotes These tendencies have occasionally
cropped out in the work of Christian missions,
and have been largely responsible for many OF
the admitted failures of missions Good men,
with more zeal than wisdom, have thrown them
selves into the work, without any proper equip
mcnt under the impression that their mere
desire to convert the heather is the best and
only preparation for 1t. Then, too, we have the
spectacle Of good men whose motives are worthy
Of all praise going to Turkey to convert the
Armenians to Christianity, in face OF the fact
that for centuries the Turks have been perse-
cutting and killing the Armenians because they
are Christians. One might suppose that If the
Armenians are good enough Christians TO be-
come martyrs, their further enlightenment might
wisely be postponed until happier times But
there is no reasoning with moral Don Quxoes;
when they are mounted on their Rosinante they
will ride full tilt against the windmills they
think they sec, in spite Of all the arguments Of
commOn-sense or eXpedency.
So also in the work Of moral rescue. which is
one Of the great sociological signs Of the times,
there may be discerned the hectic note Of NOR
biiity; and in this matter women are the chief
sinners. The explanation Of this Is simple.
Women, becatlse Of their more highly developed
emotional nature and finer spiritual insight, have
caught the inspiration Of altrulsm more truly
and quickly than men. SO it has happened that
while they lead in all helpful movements Of ser
vice TO tue race, the very emotlonasm which
thus prompts them TO deeds of kindness Occa-
sIonally berays them into extravagances Of
thought speech and act The mawkish senu-
mentality over brutal criminals which many
good women exhibit is too common to call for
more than passing mention. 1t seems impos
sible for some women TO espouse any good cause
without growing hysterical over it, Many of
them are utterly lacking in any sense of perspec
tive or proportion. Some rather cynical social
philosopher recently said that he always became |
hopeless OF Il movement when the women en-
gagged in 1t began TO spell right with capital |
X and wrong with capital W. For, as h. eX |
planned, from that moment right and wrong I
ceased to be facts related to the real world in |
which we live. and became fctches standing |
apart by themselves in the fantastic world Of |
hysteria. The trouble which good and we'll |
meaning women with mission may unin- |
tentonally cause, when they are ruled by their |
morbid emotions only. has been strikingly illus |
trated by certain recent events in this town.
No altruistic enterprise, however pralsewOrthy |
and noble it may be in its conception.
succeed if its promoters are credulous, ny stcrcal
and wanting in sane Judgment.
But, unfortunately. moral hysteria is by no
means confined to women. 1t is occasionally |
emitted from the pulpit. the bench and the bar
1t has crippled many an otherwise hopeful move
ment of political, social or religious reform. 1t |
has poured money into numbcrcss absurd and |
chmerical schemes for the beterment OF the
race II has taecn up altrlsm itself which is
perhaps the truest and nobest note OF modern /
civilization, and has striven to cheaper it into
silly fad, in which the pitiful tragedies Of the
poor are exploited by emptyhea stunning
parties The world today needs badly to be
delivered from the disease Of moral hysteria, for
disease ii Is.
REFORM N COLLEGE NOMENCLATURE.
1t is gratifying to observe that Chancellor