The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-10-11
SUNDAY, OCT. II, 1903.
TO-DAY AND YESTERDAY.


This is undoubtedly the age Of human
ity-as far, at least, as England is con-
cerned. A man who beats his wife is
shocking TO US, and colonel who cannot
manage his soldiers without having them
beaten, IS nearly equally so. We are not
Very fond of hanging; and some of US go
so far as to recoH under any circum-
stances from taking the blood of life. We
perform our operations under chloroform;
and it has even been suggested that those
SchoolmaSterS who insist on adhering in
some sort to the doctrines of Solomon
should perform their operations in the
same guarded manner. If the disgrace be
absolutely necessary let 1t be inflicted; but
not the bodily pain. So far as regards
the low estimate of humanity, this is
doubtless humane age. Let men, wo-
men and children have bread; let them
have, If possible, no blows; or, at least, as
rev as may be; let them also be decently
clothed; and let the pestilence be kept out
OF their way. In Venturing to call these
low, have done so in no contemptuouS
spirit; they are comparatively low if the
body be lower than the mind. The human
1ty of the age is doubtless suited to the
material wants. and such wants are those
which demand the prompteSt remedy.
But in the INNER feelings of men to men,
and of one mans mind TO another mans
mind, Is it not an age of EXTREMIST cru
city? There is sympathy for the hungry
man; but there is no sympathy for the
unsuccessful man who is not hungry. If
fellow mortal be ragged humanity will
subscribe to mend his clothes; but hu-
manity will subscribe nothing to mend his
ragged hopes so long as his outside coat
shall be whole and decent
Yes. Let the devil take the hindmost;
the three or four hindmest if you will:
nay, all but those strong running horses
who can force themselves into noticeable
places under the judges eye. This is the
noble shibboleth with which the English
youth are so Spurred on to deeds Of
what shall We say-money- making ac-
tivity.
But, nevertheless. let all our work be
dere by race horses; all, at least, that
shall be considered honorable. Let us
have strength and speed And how shall
We know who are strong and swift if we
do not train our horses to run against
each other? But this early racing will
hardly produce that humanity of spirit of
which we now deplore the want ''The
devil take the hindmost'' is the very es-
Sence of the young mans book of prov
cribs. The devil assuredly will take all the
hindmost. None but the very foremost
can enter the present heaven of good
things Therefore, oh, my brother. my
the devil take thee; thee quickly, since it
needs must be thee or me.
If one familiar with the thought of
our time were asked to fix the author
ship of the passages given above, he
would certainly attribute them to the
protest of the nobler spirits of this
age against encroaching commercial
ISM But for the reference to English
youth" he would most likely name as
the writer some one of those eager
spirits who see in the present of our
country only that lamentable land
where wealth accumulates and men
decay"
AS matter of fact these extracts
are from the opening chapters of one
of the less familiar novels of Anthony
they saw the light of day. The world
which they describe was the new day
of commercial activity and wealth ex-
pansion that opened before England
just after the repeal of the corn laws,
when cheap food enabled her indus
tries 10 start upon their career of con-
quest of the nations. They are the
language not of passionate extremist
and bitter critic like Carlyle, not of one
given to eXaggeration for literary eff
feet, but of the calmest, kindest, sanest
and least misanthropic of all the great
novelists.
The interest and the moral of. this
picture of the social struggle lie in its
combined nearness and remoteness
from our own experience. We are
stated with silly warnings from the his
tory of Rome, and know exactly how
all that Juvenal said may be applied
to our day. In the immense time in
terval that lies between there Is room
for humanity to have revoked upon its
axis and known the eternal return of
Its cycles. The portent Is too remote.
But in our own decadence, if dccadcnce
can be proved. there must be
gradual progress evflward from con-
Sitions near enough to acknowledge.