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Page 4
What we call the awakening of the social conscience marks an important
step in progress, But, like all progress, it involves hardship to
individuals. For the higher moral classes, the saints and the reformers,
it is the occasion of wholehearted rejoicing. It is just what they have,
all the while, been trying to bring about. But I confess to a sympathy
for the middle class, morally considered, the plain people, who feel the
pinch. They have invested their little all in the old-fashioned
securities, and when these are depreciated they feel that there is
nothing to keep the wolf from the door. After reading a few searching
articles in the magazines they feel that, so far from being excellent
citizens, they are little better than enemies of society. I am not
pleading for the predatory rich, but only for the well-meaning persons
in moderately comfortable circumstances, whose predatoriness has been
suddenly revealed to them.
Many of the most conscientious persons go about with an habitually
apologetic manner. They are rapidly acquiring the evasive air of the
conscious criminal. It is only a very hardened philanthropist, or an
unsophisticated beginner in good works, who can look a sociologist in
the eye. Most persons, when they do one thing, begin to apologize for
not doing something else. They are like a one-track railroad that has
been congested with traffic. They are not sure which train has the right
of way, and which should go on the siding. Progress is a series of
rear-end collisions.
There is little opportunity for self-satisfaction. The old-fashioned
private virtues which used to be exhibited with such innocent pride as
family heirlooms are now scrutinized with suspicion. They are subjected
to rigid tests to determine their value as public utilities.
Perhaps I may best illustrate the need of some receivership by drawing
attention to the case of my friend the Reverend Augustus Bagster.
Bagster is not by nature a spiritual genius; he is only a modern man who
is sincerely desirous of doing what is expected of him. I do not think
that he is capable of inventing a duty, but he is morally
impressionable, and recognizes one when it is pointed out to him. A
generation ago such a man would have lived a useful and untroubled life
in a round of parish duties. He would have been placidly contented with
himself and his achievements. But when he came to a city pulpit he heard
the Call of the Modern. The multitudinous life around him must be
translated into immediate action. His conscience was not merely
awakened: it soon reached a state of persistent insomnia.
When he told me that he had preached a sermon on the text, "Let him that
stole steal no more," I was interested. But shortly after, he told me
that he could not let go of that text. It was a live wire. He had
expanded the sermon into a course on the different kinds of stealing. He
found few things that did not come under the category of Theft.
Spiritual goods as well as material might be stolen. If a person
possessed a cheerful disposition, you should ask, "How did he get it?"
"It seems to me," I said, "that a cheerful disposition is one of the
things where possession is nine tenths of the law. I don't like to think
of such spiritual wealth as ill-gotten."
"I am sorry," said Bagster, "to see that your sympathies are with the
privileged classes."
Several weeks ago I received a letter which revealed his state of
mind:--
"I believe that you are acquainted with the Editor of the 'Atlantic
Monthly.' I suppose he means well, but persons in his situation are
likely to cater to mere literature. I hope that I am not uncharitable,
but I have a suspicion that our poets yield sometimes to the desire to
please. They are perhaps unconscious of the subtle temptation. They are
not sufficiently direct and specific in their charges. I have been
reading Walt Whitman's 'Song of Joys.' The subject does not attract me,
but I like the way in which it is treated. There is no beating around
the bush. The poet is perfectly fearless, and will not let any guilty
man escape.
"'O the farmer's joys!
Ohioans, Illinoisans, Wisconsonese, Kanadians,
Iowans, Kansans, Oregonese joys.'
"That is the way one should write if he expects
to get results. He should point to each individual
and say, 'Thou art the man.'
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