The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1896-05-01
HUMAN BROTHERHOOD.

= HUMAN BROTHERHOOD.
4. The idea Repulsive to the Average CIV,
h liked Man.
. 10 the average civilized man I'll,
: notion OF human brotherhood is no
only dismaying, it iserepulsive, as The
: physical contactof stranger would be
: we are all, by our difference of tradi
: tions and conditions, more or less
aliens to one another-"infinitely re.
! pellent PARTICLES" like the sentences
!. OF Emerson. When we meet an un.
known fellow man our instinct, il not
to 'heaye half brick" at him. is
to have nothing to do with him because
we do not know him, we wish to shun
ana to shirk him. But If we meet
an unknown fellow man in good So
ciety, we behave decently to him, be-
cause the ideal of society is equality
among guests and between host and
guests. We have to suppose that he is
something like ourselves or he would
not be in good society; and so we con-
sent to endure him, and when we have
been civil to him we find that we like
him little; we like him greatly if it
appears that he is of like aspirations
and endeavors with ourselves. In any
case we make show of liking him, for
any show of disliking him would be
Vulgar. But the only terms of great
liking are parity of aspiration and en-
deavor.
Without this we cannot have fra
ternity, and when we have this we
shall have brotherhood liberated from
those irksome burdens and CALLING ties
which society now inficts upon nat
ural brotherhood. Society does this ig-
norantly, of course, in a conception Of |
the family which is survival of the
times when one family was adverse to
another. when each was the germ of
an unfriendly gems, tribe, clan, and
each OF its embattled members might
not SO unjustly be made to answer for
all the others.
But in civilization the individual. not
the family has been found to be the social
unit; he is precious, and it is he who is
regarded. He is regarded in and for
and not because he is akin to
this, that, or the other one. If he does
wrong, he is punished, and none Of his
KIN are made to suffer through the
state, as they are in barbarous coun-
.rles, where the innocent kindred OF a
public enemy have their eyes put out
when nc is put to death. In this the ;;
'tate shows itself more human than
'ociety, which still regards the family
IS the unit so far as to defame a man il !,
lis brother errs, and to defame all his
brethren II the man himself goes
wrong. Society still recognizes fra
ernity only in the natural sense. and 7
as yet to learn that any love between
rothers is altogether supernatural, a.
nd not an instinct, like the love OF Q
ffspring. Il
fraternity is supernatural, as all
vlilty is. The man was an animal and y.
atural; now he is citizen and super. II
atural, so far as he is civilized. What e
e may do is to civilize him so !.
that his fraternal feeling u
Ill impart itself to all humanity. At al
resent the most of men do not wish to "
larelln the blessings of supernatural ~
aternity, because they dread in them oa
me latent quality of the ANNOYANCE
ey find in natural fraternity. From co
e brotherhood of blood, which they or
ey did not choose to seek, they often MI
eak away as soon as they can, and an
Eat their brothers on business foot De
9. They buy and sell with them: IN.
ey lend and borrow, and give and take
ury, or if. for shame's sake, they do I'M
t, they secretly feel defrauded. =
ey live apart from one another. and PIT
Up their families separate. If one ur'
'ther prospers beyond the others. NV
y are suspicious of him, and Justly. pul
at the bottom of his heart he knows
It they are no longer his equals, and A
RS that they will some time put him thr
ore his equals. We all thought it he
y droll when the new rich man rib
sed to ask his brother to dinner. and and
l: Zone must draw the line some. T"
ere." But we all felt the joke the CON
e because IN our secret souls we qua
the potentiality of the same mean %
s.-W. ID. Howells, in Century. "a
English as She IL Spoke. s.
he darby is fond of long words. The :!
ming doesn't matter, so the words
long, as this absolutely true story 10