The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-01-01

must be confessed, there is a tendency to
shoddy and imitation. People will read
| great books-or selected pieces of them
because they think ii is the proper thing
to do, not because they are genuinely in
| terested This is bad. as shams always
are, but perhaps it is not worse to be in
terested in imitation literature than in
| imitation jewelry. and the poor, in mind
or purse. are apt to prefer the sham to the
real, for time.
The fact remains, however. that there
are at present absolutely no bounds to
literary knowledge. The translation from
| the Yeda or the japanese poet is side by
side with the latest English or American
novel upon tie shelves of the Libraries. The
writer Of dialect stories. who observes and
records truly the life of the poorest and
most ignorant, is a. welcome to the great
public as the romantic novelist Most i'm
portant of all, there runs through all fc-
ton and history. as well as through the
| avowedly ethical works of the century
| an undercurrent of serious thought. Little
! is accepted without questioning; conven-
ions are no longer held to be the serious
things of life; the age is interested in
human life for its own sake, whether it
be beggar or prince who is the subject
of poem or story. In short, humanity is
| outgrowing its fairy tales and looking at
Thugs as they are. not as they might,
could. would, or should be if the reader
had his way.
Akin to literary progress is that
of ethics. and the Parliament of Re
ligions was strong a proof as
could be adduced OF the unity
ing tendency there. The conviction is
steadily growing, in the minds of think
ing people, that the old fences of dogma
and creed are not worth repairing, that
there are few broad principles, common
to all religions, upon which the human
mind may rest in its search for God The
customs of a people are the outgrowth OF
their nature. and of the climatic, politi-
cal, and social conditions which have help
ed to shape that nature; their religion is
inevitably colored and perhaps deformed
by these. This does not prove that the
core of the religion is bad, but that the
people have allowed superstitions to OBJ
scure the truth. Not in vain was it said
in the New Testament
IF We viii do my will. We shall know of the
doctrine, whether it be of God or whether it
be of man.
If a people fail to obey the great laws
which make for intellectual, moral and
religious progress. they will not know
of the doctrine, for it will be obscured
by conventions and traditions which have
grown up through their indulgence in sell
FISH desires. The tendency of the nine
teenth century has been, most rightly,
to sweep away these conventions and
search for the truth There is no need
Of founding a new religion; it has been
said there are too many creeds already
Let US see what is true in the old reli-
gions. and try TO worship the same God
The close of the nineteenth century,
therefore, leaves the world with fewer
separating traditions, conventions, roliti-
cal divisions. and castles. than ever be-
fore. BY one of the paradoxes which are
eternally occurring in the course of hui
man events, the completely OF material
things has tended toward simplicity in
human life. since each class is more and
more necessary 10 every other class. We
need not fear that this simplicity will
create dead level of sameness In the
true democracy, individuality has more
room than anywhere else, since each in
dividual is honored for what he is, not for
his conformity to the traditions of class.
There is more individuality in this eoun-
try today, though we are far from the
ideal of democratic government, than there
can be in any land of aristocratic tladi-
tons.
China is a fair example How much
individuality is there in group of
coolies? Undoubtedly there is more than
the outsider sees. but how can the life |
Of each person have room to develop !
in all its fullness. when he regards con-
formity to some ones else ideal as his |
first duty in life? There will always be |
some born leaders and some followers, !
some who are instructive hermits, some |
who are saints, and some who are crimi- |
nails: the end 10 be sought is a system |
which shall allow such full and natural |
development of the character of each !
that he viii be OF the utmost possible use /!
to the community, and his faults will |
harm only himself, and not be repeated |
in whole class of his kind. The eight |
zenith century played the game of .rtii- |
ciality to its end; II left the world ready |
to accept new ideal, that Of character |
in place of position. For hundred years |
the most advanced thinkers and men Of |
action in Europe and America have been |
studying this world lesson. 1t remains TO |
be seen what the leaders, and the people, |
of the new century will make of it,
America in 1901.
On an occasion like the present enc it is
proper to allow a little something for |
the learning of the court 1t is quite |