Year: 1871

Of the reputation aspcrsed; your vague
friends lis en- to you ainiably, then go back
on their charge, and say, IL am sure OF
it that end. the conversation. They
rely ON their impression Us other people
on known facts. and foggy belief Is to
them what a mathematical demonstration
is to the exact.


In business matters they arc simply
ma"dening. Th' y never have the ncces
sary papers; they do not answer letters !;
they confuse your questions, and reply at
random or not at all and they forget all
dates and Details When they go to their
lawyer on business they leave certificates
and drafts behind them locked up where
no one can get at them or if they send
directions and the keys, they tell the serv-
ant to look for all oblong blue envelope In
the right-hanl drawer, when they ought
to have sald squatc white parcel iu the
left They give you vague commissions to
execute; and you have to find vour way in
the fog to the best Of your ability. They
say they want something like something
else you have never s en-, and they cannot
give an address more exact than "some-
where in Oxford street" They think the
mans name is Baker, or something like
that. Perhaps it is Flower; but the sug-
yesti N of ideas ought TO be ineligible to
YOU, aud is quite near enough fol them.
Tney ask .ou to III, ct them when they
come up to London, but they do not give
you either the station or the train. You
have to make guess as near as you cAu,
and when you reprOach them, they pay
you the compliment of saying you are 50
clever, it was not necessary for them to
explain. If they have any friends out in
Australia or India, they i:qaire of you,
just returned, if you happened to meet
them? When you ask where they were
stationed they say they do not know and
when you suggest that Madras and Cal
cutta are not in the sane Presidencies, that
Iuda is large place, and Australia not
quite like an English county, they look
helpless and bcwilde1ed, and drift, away
into the vague geography familiar to
them, somewhere in India, " somewhere
in AustratiA,' and II thought you might
have met Them For &c ,graphy, like
history, is one OF the branches OF The tree
and Of which the fruits ere as though
they were not But apart from the per
sOnal discrmfor to which vague people
subject themselves, ant the absurdities of
which they are guilty, one cannot help
Cp Su1AtAhS DO w GAAS CPAAA1uAA SoeA'N VI
folks to whom nothing is precise, nothing
definite, and no question of faith clearly
thought out To be sure 'hey may be
gr' al in the realm of conviction; but 50 is
the African savage when he hears the
ghost ol his ancestors pass bowling in the
woods; so is the Assassin of the Noun.
tain, when he sees heaven open as he
throws himselfon the spears Of his enemies
in al ecstacy of faith to be realized by
slaughter and suicide. Convictions based
on Imagination, unsupported by facts or
proofs, are as worthless in moral as in a
logical point of view; but the vague have
nothing better and whether as politicians
or as pietists, though they are warm
partisans, they are but feeble advocates.
fond of flouri>hing about large generali,ies,
but impossible to pin to any point and
unable to defend any position To those
who must have something absolute and
precise, however limi,ed-one inch of
firmly laid foundation on which to build
up the remainder-it is a matter of more
wonder than envy how the vague are con
tent to live forcv, r in haze which has no
clcarness Of outline, no detiniteness of
detail, and how they can make themselves
happy in name, calling their fog faith,
and Herewith counting themselves blessed.
-Saturday Rerietn