Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1905-01-04
CHAPTER v.

ing food to its little one or some
eoachman down In the street who is
abusing his horse. Sometimes they
even maliciously propose one of those
alarming questions that put the minds
Of parents on the rack; all this to di-
vert attention from the distressing
topic l fear that in the face of duty
we are big children, and when that is
the theme seek subterfuges to distract
us.
The first sophism consists In asking
ourselves IL there is such a thing as
duty in the abstract, or IL this word
does not cover one of the numerous H.
lusions OF our forefathers; for duty,
in truth, supposes liberty, and the ques-
ton of liberty leads us into metaphys-
tcs. How can we talk of liberty so
long as this grave problem of free will
IS not solved? Theoretically there is
no objection to this, and IL life were
theory and we were here to work out
a complete system of the universe it
would be absurd to concern ourselves
with duty until we had clarified the
subject of liberty, determined its con-
ditions. fixed its limits.
But life Is not theory. In this ques-
ton of practical morality, as in the
others, life has preceded hypothesis.
and there Is no room to believe that
she ever yields 1t place. This liberty
relative, / admit, like everything we
nre acquainted with, for that matter
this duty whose existence we question
Is none the less the basis of all the
judgments we pass upon ourselves and
our fellow men. We hold each other
to a certain extent responsible for our
deeds and exploits.
The most ardent theorist, once out
side Of his theory. scruples not whit
to approve or disapprove the acts of
others, to take measures against his
enemies. to appeal to the generosity
and justice of those he would dissuade
from an unworthy step. One can no
more rid himself Of the notion Of NOR
al obligation than Of that of time or
space, and as surely as we must re-
sign ourselves to walking before we
know how to define this space through
which we move and this time that
measures our movements, so surely
must we submit to moral obligation be-
fore having put our finger on its deep
hidden roots. Moral law dominates
man whether he respects or defies it.
See how it is In everyday life-each
one Is ready to cast his stone at him
who negiects a plain duty even If he
allege that he has not yet arrived at
philosophic gertrude. Everybody will
say to him, and with excellent reason:
"Sir, we are men before everything
First play your part, do your duty as
citizen, father, son. After that you
shall return to the course of your med
itations."
However, let us be well understood.
We should not wish to turn any one
away from scrupulous research into
the foundations of morality. No
thought which leads men to concern
themselves once more with these grave
questions could be useless or indiffer-
ent. We simply challenge the thinker
to find q way to wait till he has I'M
earthed these foundations before he
does an act Of humanity, OF honesty
or dishonesty, of valor or cowardice.
And most of all do we wish to formu-
late reply for all the insincere who
have never tried to philosophize and for
ourselves when we would offer our
state of philosophic doubt in justifica-
ton of our practical omissions. From
the simple fact that we are men, be-
fore all theorizing, positive or negative,
about duty, we have the peremptory
law to conduct ourselves like men.
There is no getting out of it.
But he little knows the resources of
the human heart who counts on the
effect of such reply. 1t matters not
that It is itself unanswerable. 1t can
not keep other questions from arising.
The sum Of our pretexts for evading
duty is equal to the sum of the sands
Of the sea or the stars of heaven
We take refuge, then, behind duty
that is obscure, difficult, contradictory.
And these are certainly words to call
up painful memories. To be man OF
duty and to question ones route, grope
in the dark, feel oneself torn between
the contrary solicitations of conflicting
calls, or, again. to face duty gigantic,
overwhelming, beyond our strength
what Is harder! And such things hap
pen. We would neither deny nor con-
test the tragedy in certain situations or
the anguish of certain lives. And yet
duty rarely has to make itself plain
across such conflicting circumstances
or to be struck out from the tortured
mil, Ifx.H% CDR -yr,
cloud. Such formidable shocks are ex-
ceptional. Well for US if we stand
stanch when they comet But If no one
Is astonished that oaks are uprooted
by the whirlwind, that wayfarer
stumbles at night on an unknown road
or that soldier caught between two
fires is vanquished, no more should he
condemn without appeal those who
nave been worsted in almost superhu-
man moral conflicts. To succumb UNI