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diff --git a/old/13365.txt b/old/13365.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..99fc1fd --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13365.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8950 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ethics of Drink and Other Social +Questions, by James Runciman + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Ethics of Drink and Other Social Questions + Joints In Our Social Armour + +Author: James Runciman + +Release Date: September 3, 2004 [EBook #13365] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ETHICS OF DRINK *** + + + + +Produced by Steven Gibbs and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +THE ETHICS OF DRINK AND OTHER SOCIAL QUESTIONS +_OR_ +_JOINTS IN OUR SOCIAL ARMOUR_ + +BY JAMES RUNCIMAN +_Author of "A Dream of the North Sea," "Skippers and Shellbacks," Etc_ + +London +HODDER AND STOUGHTON +27, PATERNOSTER ROW +MDCCCXCII [1892] + + + + +_THE ETHICS OF THE DRINK QUESTION_. + + +All the statistics and formal statements published about drink are no +doubt impressive enough to those who have the eye for that kind of +thing; but, to most of us, the word "million" means nothing at all, and +thus when we look at figures, and find that a terrific number of gallons +are swallowed, and that an equally terrific amount in millions sterling +is spent, we feel no emotion. It is as though you told us that a +thousand Chinamen were killed yesterday; for we should think more about +the ailments of a pet terrier than about the death of the Chinese, and +we think absolutely nothing definite concerning the "millions" which +appear with such an imposing intention when reformers want to stir the +public. No man's imagination was ever vitally impressed by figures, and +I am a little afraid that the statistical gentlemen repel people instead +of attracting them. The persons who screech and abuse the drink sellers +are even less effective than the men of figures; their opponents laugh +at them, and their friends grow deaf and apathetic in the storm of +whirling words, while cool outsiders think that we should be better +employed if we found fault with ourselves and sat in sackcloth and ashes +instead of gnashing teeth at tradesmen who obey a human instinct. The +publican is considered, among platform folk in the temperance body, as +even worse than a criminal, if we take all things seriously that they +choose to say, and I have over and over again heard vague blather about +confiscating the drink-sellers' property and reducing them to the state +to which they have brought others. Then there is the rant regarding +brewers. Why forget essential business only in order to attack a class +of plutocrats whom we have made, and whom our society worships with +odious grovellings? The brewers and distillers earn their money by +concocting poisons which cause nearly all the crime and misery in broad +Britain; there is not a soul living in these islands who does not know +the effect of the afore-named poisons; there is not a soul living who +does not very well know that there never was a pestilence crawling over +the earth which could match the alcoholic poisons in murderous power. +There is a demand for these poisons; the brewer and distiller supply the +demand and gain thereby large profits; society beholds the profits and +adores the brewer. When a gentleman has sold enough alcoholic poison to +give him the vast regulation fortune which is the drink-maker's +inevitable portion, then the world receives him with welcome and +reverence; the rulers of the nation search out honours and meekly bestow +them upon him, for can he not command seats, and do not seats mean +power, and does not power enable talkative gentry to feed themselves fat +out of the parliamentary trough? No wonder the brewer is a personage. +Honours which used to be reserved for men who did brave deeds, or +thought brave thoughts, are reserved for persons who have done nothing +but sell so many buckets of alcoholized fluid. Observe what happens when +some brewer's wife chooses to spend L5000 on a ball. I remember one +excellent lady carefully boasting (for the benefit of the Press) that +the flowers alone that were in her house on one evening cost in all +L2000. Well, the mob of society folk fairly yearn for invitations to +such a show, and there is no meanness too despicable to be perpetrated +by women who desire admission. So through life the drink-maker and his +family fare in dignity and splendour; adulation surrounds them; powerful +men bow to the superior force of money; wealth accumulates until the +amount in the brewer's possession baffles the mind that tries to +conceive it--and the big majority of our interesting race say that all +this is good. Considering, then, how the English people directly and +indirectly force the man of drink onward until he must of necessity +fancy there is something of the moral demi-god about him; considering +how he is wildly implored to aid in ruling us from Westminster; +considering that his aid at an election may procure him the same honour +which fell to the share of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham--may we not say +that the community makes the brewer, and that if the brewer's stuff mars +the community we have no business to howl at him. We are answerable for +his living, and moving, and having his being--the few impulsive people +who gird at him should rather turn in shame and try to make some +impression on the huge, cringing, slavering crowd who make the +plutocrat's pompous reign possible. + +But for myself, I cannot be bothered with bare figures and vague abuse +nowadays; abstractions are nothing, and neat arguments are less than +nothing, because the dullest quack that ever quacked can always clench +an argument in a fashion. Every turn that talk can take on the drink +question brings the image of some man or woman, or company of men and +women, before me, and that image is alive to my mind. If you pelt me +with tabular forms, and tell me that each adult in Britain drank so many +pints last year, you might just as well recite a mathematical proof. I +fix on some one human figure that your words may suggest and the image +of the bright lad whom I saw become a dirty, loafing, thievish sot is +more instructive and more woeful than all your columns of numerals. + +Before me passes a tremendous procession of the lost: I can stop its +march when I choose and fix on any given individual in the ranks, so +that you can hardly name a single fact concerning drink, which does not +recall to me a fellow-creature who has passed into the place of wrecked +lives and slain souls. The more I think about it the more plainly I see +that, if we are to make any useful fight against drink, we must drop the +preachee-preachee; we must drop loud execrations of the people whose +existence the State fosters; we must get hold of men who _know_ what +drinking means, and let them come heart to heart with the victims who +are blindly tramping on to ruin for want of a guide and friend. My +hideous procession of the damned is always there to importune me; I +gathered the dolorous recruits who form the procession when I was +dwelling in strange, darkened ways, and I know that only the magnetism +of the human soul could ever have saved one of them. If anybody fancies +that Gothenburg systems, or lectures, or little tiresome tracts, or +sloppy yarns about "Joe Tomkins's Temperance Turkey," or effusive +harangues by half-educated buffoons, will ever do any good, he must run +along the ranks of my procession with me, and I reckon he may learn +something. The comic personages who deal with the subject are cruelly +useless; the very notion of making jokes in presence of such a mighty +living Terror seems desolating to the mind; I could not joke over the +pest of drink, for I had as lief dance a hornpipe to the blare of the +last Trumpet. + +I said you must have men who _know_, if you care to rescue any tempted +creature. You must also have men who address the individual and get fast +hold of his imagination; abstractions must be completely left alone, and +your workers must know so much of the minute details of the horror +against which they are fighting that each one who comes under their +influence shall feel as if the story of his life were known and his soul +laid bare. I do not believe that you will ever stop one man from +drinking by means of legislation; you may level every tavern over twenty +square miles, but you will not thereby prevent a fellow who has the +_bite_ of drink from boozing himself mad whenever he likes. As for +stopping a woman by such merely mechanical means as the closing of +public-houses, the idea is ridiculous to anybody who knows the foxy +cunning, the fixed determination of a female soaker. It is a great moral +and physical problem that we want to solve, and Bills and clauses are +only so much ink and paper which are ineffective as a schoolboy's +copybook. If a man has the desire for alcohol there is no power known +that can stop him from gratifying himself; the end to be aimed at is to +remove the desire--to get the drinker past that stage when the craving +presses hardly on him, and you can never bring that about by rules and +regulations. I grant that the clusters of drink-shops which are stuck +together in the slums of our big towns are a disgrace to all of us, but +if we closed 99 per cent. of them by Statute we should have the same +drunken crew left. While wandering far and wide over England, nothing +has struck me more than the steady resolution with which men will obtain +drink during prohibited hours; the cleverest administrator in the world +could not frame a network of clauses that could stop them; one might +close every drink-selling place in Britain, and yet those folks that had +a mind would get drink when they wanted it. You may ply bolts and bars; +you may stop the working of beer-engines and taps; but all will be +futile, for I repeat, that only by asserting power over hearts, souls, +imaginations, can you make any sort of definite resistance to the +awe-striking plague that envenoms the world. With every humility I am +obliged to say that many of the good people who aim at reform do not +know sufficiently well the central facts regarding drink and drinkers. +It is beautiful to watch some placid man who stands up and talks gently +to a gathering of sympathizers. The reposeful face, the reposeful voice, +the refinement, the assured faith of the speaker are comforting; but +when he explains that he has always been an abstainer, I am inclined to +wonder how he can possibly exchange ideas with an alcoholized man. How +_can_ he know where to aim his persuasions with most effect? Can he +really sympathize with the fallen? He has never lived with drunkards or +wastrels; he is apart, like a star, and I half think that he only has a +blurred vision of the things about which he talks so sweetly. He would +be more poignant, and more likely to draw people after him, if he had +living images burned into his consciousness. My own set of pictures all +stand out with ghastly plainness as if they were lit up by streaks of +fire from the Pit. I have come through the Valley of the Shadow into +which I ventured with a light heart, and those who know me might point +and say what was said of a giant: "There is the man who has been in +hell." It was true. Through the dim and sordid inferno, I moved as in a +trance for awhile, and that is what makes me so keen to warn those who +fancy they are safe; that is what makes me so discontented with the +peculiar ethical conceptions of a society which bows down before the +concocter of drink and spurns the lost one whom drink seizes. I have +learned to look with yearning pity and pardon on all who have been +blasted in life by their own weakness, and gripped by the trap into +which so many weakly creatures stumble. Looking at brutal life, catching +the rotting soul in the very fact, have made me feel the most careless +contempt for Statute-mongers, because I know now that you must conquer +the evil of evils by a straight appeal to one individual after another +and not by any screed of throttling jargon. One Father Mathew would be +worth ten Parliaments, even if the Parliaments were all reeling off +curative measures with unexampled velocity. You must not talk to a +county or a province and expect to be heard to any purpose; you must +address John, and Tom, and Mary. I am sure that dead-lift individual +effort will eventually reduce the ills arising from alcohol to a +minimum, and I am equally sure that the blind groping of half-informed +men who chatter at St. Stephen's will never do more good than the +chatter of the same number of jackdaws. It is impossible to help +admiring Sir Wilfrid Lawson's smiling courage, but I really do not +believe that he sees more than the faint shadows of the evils against +which he struggles; he does not know the true nature of the task which +he has attacked, and he fancies that securing temperance is an affair of +bolts, and bars, and police, and cackling local councils. I wish he had +lived with me for a year. + +If you talk with strong emotion about the dark horror of drink you +always earn plenty of jibes, and it is true that you do give your hand +away, as the fighting men say. It is easy to turn off a light paragraph +like this: "Because A chooses to make a beast of himself, is that any +reason why B, and C, and D should be deprived of a wholesome article of +liquid food?"--and so on. Now, I do not want to trouble B, and C, and D +at all; A is my man, and I want to get at him, not by means of a +policeman, or a municipal officer of any kind, but by bringing my soul +and sympathy close to him. Moreover, I believe that if everybody had +definite knowledge of the wide ruin which is being wrought by drink +there would be a general movement which would end in the gradual +disappearance of drinking habits. At this present, however, our state is +truly awful, and I see a bad end to it all, and a very bad end to +England herself, unless a great emotional impulse travels over the +country. The same middle class which is envenomed by the gambling +madness is also the heir of all the more vile habits which the +aristocrats have abandoned. Drinking--conviviality I think they call +it--is not merely an excrescence on the life of the middle class--it +_is_ the life; and work, thought, study, seemly conduct, are now the +excrescences. Drink first, gambling second, lubricity third--those are +the chief interests of the young men, and I cannot say that the +interests of mature and elderly men differ very much from those of the +fledglings. Ladies and gentlemen who dwell in quiet refinement can +hardly know the scenes amid which our middle-class lad passes the span +of his most impressionable days. I have watched the men at all times and +in all kinds of places; every town of importance is very well known to +me, and the same abomination is steadily destroying the higher life in +all. The Chancellors of the Exchequer gaily repeat the significant +figures which give the revenue from alcohol; the optimist says that +times are mending; the comfortable gentry who mount the pulpits do not +generally care to ruffle the fine dames by talking about unpleasant +things--and all the while the curse is gaining, and the betting, +scoffing, degraded crew of drinkers are sliding merrily to destruction. +Some are able to keep on the slide longer than others, but I have seen +scores--hundreds--stop miserably, and the very faces of the condemned +men, with the last embruted look on them, are before me. My subject has +so many thousands of facets that I am compelled to select a few of the +most striking. Take one scene through which I sat not very long ago, and +then you may understand how far the coming regenerator will have to go. +A great room was filled by about 350 men and lads, all of the middle +class; a concert was going on, and I was a little curious to know the +kind of entertainment which the well-dressed company liked. Of course +there was drink in plenty, and the staff of waiters had a busy time; a +loud crash of talk went on between the songs, and, as the drink gathered +power on excited brains, this crash grew more and more discordant. Nice +lads, with smooth, pleasant faces, grew flushed and excited, and I am +afraid that I occupied myself in marking out possible careers for a good +many of them as I studied their faces. There was not much fun of the +healthy kind; fat, comfortable, middle-aged men laughed so heartily at +the faintest indecent allusion that the singers grew broader and +broader, and the hateful music-hall songs grew more and more risky as +the night grew onward. By the way, can anything be more loathsomely +idiotic than the average music-hall ditty, with its refrain and its +quaint stringing together of casual filthiness? If I had not wanted to +fix a new picture on my mind I should have liked better to be in a +tap-room among honestly brutal costers and scavengers than with that +sniggering, winking gang. The drink got hold, glasses began to be broken +here and there, the time was beaten with glass crushers, spoons, pipes, +and walking-sticks; and then the bolder spirits felt that the time for +good, rank, unblushing blackguardism had come. A being stepped up and +faced a roaring audience of enthusiasts who knew the quality of his +dirtiness; he launched out into an unclean stave, and he reduced his +admirers to mere convulsions. He was encored, and he went a trifle +further, until he reached a depth of bestiality below which a gaff in +Shoreditch could net descend. Ah! Those bonny lads, how they roared with +laughter, and how they exchanged winks with grinning elders! Not a +single obscure allusion to filth was lost upon them, and they took more +and more drink under pressure of the secret excitement until many of +them were unsteady and incoherent. I think I should shoot a boy of mine +if I found him enjoying such a foul entertainment. It was leze-Humanity. +The orgie rattled on, to the joy of all the steaming, soddened company, +and I am not able to guess where some of the songs and recitations came +from. There are deeps below deeps, and I suppose that there are skilled +literary workmen who have sunk so far that they are ready to supply the +unspeakable dirt which I heard. + +There was a merry crowd at the bar when this astounding function ceased, +and the lively lads jostled, and laughed, and quoted some of the more +spicy specimens of nastiness which they had just heard. + +Now, I should not have mentioned such an unsavoury business as this, but +that it illustrates in a curious way the fact that one is met and +countered by the power of Drink at every turn in this country. Among +that unholy audience were one or two worthies who ought by rights to +have called the police, and forced the promoters of the fun to appear +before the Bench in the morning. But then these magistrates had an +interest in Beer, and Brewery shares were pretty well represented in the +odious room, and thus a flagrant scandal was gently passed aside. The +worst of it is that, after a rouse like this, the young men do not care +to go to bed, so they adjourn to some one's rooms and play cards till +any hour. In the train next morning there are blotchy faces, dull eyes, +tongues with a bitter taste, and there is a general rush for "liveners" +before the men go to office or warehouse; and the day drags on until the +joyous evening comes, when some new form of debauch drowns the memory of +the morning's headache. Should you listen to a set of these men when the +roar of a long bar is at its height at night, you will find that the +life of the intellect has passed away from their midst. The fellows may +be sharp in a small way at business, and I am sure I hope they are; but +their conversation is painful in the extreme to any one who wishes to +retain a shred of respect for his own species. If you listen long, and +then fix your mind so that you can pick out the exact significance of +what you have heard, you become confounded. Take the scraps of "bar" +gabble. "So I says, 'Lay me fours.' And he winks and says, 'I'll give +you seven to two, if you like.' Well, you know, the horse won, and I +stood him a bottle out of the three pound ten, so I wasn't much in." +"'What!' says I; 'step outside along o' me, and bring your pal with you, +and I'll spread your bloomin' nose over your face.'" "_That_ corked +him." "I tell you Flyaway's a dead cert. I know a bloke that goes to +Newmarket regular, and he's acquainted with Reilly of the Greyhound, and +Reilly told him that he heard Teddy Martin's cousin say that Flyaway was +tried within seven pounds of Peacock. Can you have a better tip than +that?" "I'll give you the break, and we'll play for a bob and the +games." "Thanks, deah boy, I'll jest have one with you. Lor! wasn't I +chippy this morning? I felt as if the pavement was making rushes at me, +and my hat seemed to want a shoehorn to get it on or off for that +matter. Bill's whisky's too good." "I'm going out with a Judy on Sunday, +or else you'd have me with you. The girls won't leave me alone, and the +blessed dears can't be denied." So the talk goes steadily forward. What +can a bright lad learn there? Many of the assembly are very young, and +their features have not lost the freshness and purity of skin which give +such a charm to a healthy lad's appearance. Would any mother like to +see her favourite among that hateful crowd? I do not think that mothers +rightly know the sort of places which their darlings enter; I do not +think they guess the kind of language which the youths hear when the +chimes sound at midnight; they do not know the intricacies of a society +which half encourages callow beings to drink, and then kicks them into +the gutter if the drink takes hold effectually. The kindly, seemly woman +remains at home in her drawing-room, papa slumbers if he is one of the +stay-at-home sort; but Gerald, and Sidney, and Alfred are out in the +drink-shop hearing talk fit to make Rabelais turn queasy, or they are in +the billiard-room learning to spell "ruin" with all convenient speed, or +perhaps they have "copped it"--that is the correct phrase--rather early, +and they are swaggering along, shadowed by some creature--half girl, +half tiger-cat--who will bring them up in good time. If the women knew +enough, I sometimes think they would make a combined, nightly raid on +the boozing-bars, and bring their lads out. + +Some hard-headed fellows may think that there is something grandmotherly +in the regrets which I utter over the cesspool in which so many of our +middle-class seem able to wallow without suffering asphyxia; but I am +only mournful because I have seen the plight of so many and many after +their dip in the sinister depths of the pool. I envy those stolid people +who can talk so contemptuously of frailty--I mean I envy them their +self-mastery; I quite understand the temperament of those who can be +content with a slight exhilaration, and who fiercely contemn the +crackbrain who does not know when to stop. No doubt it is a sad thing +for a man to part with his self-control, but I happen to hold a brief +for the crackbrain, and I say that there is not any man living who can +afford to be too contemptuous, for no one knows when his turn may come +to make a disastrous slip. + +Most strange it is that a vice which brings instant punishment on him +who harbours it should be first of all encouraged by the very people who +are most merciless in condemning it. The drunkard has not to wait long +for his punishment; it follows hard on his sin, and he is not left to +the justice of another world. And yet, as we have said, this vice, which +entails such scathing disgrace and suffering, is encouraged in many +seductive ways. The talk in good company often runs on wine; the man who +has the deadly taint in his blood is delicately pressed to take that +which brings the taint once more into ill-omened activity; but, so long +as his tissues show no sign of that flabbiness and general +unwholesomeness which mark the excessive drinker, he is left unnoticed. +Then the literary men nearly always make the subject of drink attractive +in one way or other. We laugh at Mr. Pickwick and all his gay set of +brandy-bibbers; we laugh at John Ridd, with his few odd gallons of ale +per day; but let any man be seen often in the condition which led to Mr. +Pickwick's little accident, and see what becomes of him. He is soon +shunned like a scabbed sheep. One had better incur penal servitude than +fall into that vice from which the Government derives a huge +revenue--the vice which is ironically associated with friendliness, good +temper, merriment, and all goodly things. There are times when one is +minded to laugh for very bitterness. + +And this sin, which begins in kindness and ends always in utter +selfishness--this sin, which pours accursed money into the +Exchequer--this sin, which consigns him who is guilty of it to a doom +worse than servitude or death--this sin is to be fought by Act of +Parliament! On the one hand, there are gentry who say, "Drink is a +dreadful curse, but look at the revenue." On the other hand, there are +those who say, "Drink is a dreadful thing; let us stamp it out by means +of foolscap and printers' ink." Then the neutrals say, "Bother both your +parties. Drink is a capital thing in its place. Why don't you leave it +alone?" Meantime the flower of the earth are being bitterly blighted. It +is the special examples that I like to bring out, so that the jolly lads +who are tempted into such places as the concert-room which I described +may perhaps receive a timely check. It is no use talking to me about +culture, and refinement, and learning, and serious pursuits saving a man +from the devouring fiend; for it happens that the fiend nearly always +clutches the best and brightest and most promising. Intellect alone is +not worth anything as a defensive means against alcohol, and I can +convince anybody of that if he will go with me to a common lodging-house +which we can choose at random. Yes, it is the bright and powerful +intellects that catch the rot first in too many cases, and that is why I +smile at the notion of mere book-learning making us any better. If I +were to make out a list of the scholars whom I have met starving and in +rags, I should make people gape. I once shared a pot of fourpenny ale +with a man who used to earn L2000 a year by coaching at Oxford. He was +in a low house near the Waterloo Road, and he died of cold and hunger +there. He had been the friend and counsellor of statesmen, but the vice +from which statesmen squeeze revenue had him by the throat before he +knew where he was, and he drifted toward death in a kind of constant +dream from which no one ever saw him wake. These once bright and +splendid intellectual beings swarm in the houses of poverty: if you pick +up with a peculiarly degraded one you may always be sure that he was one +of the best men of his time, and it seems as if the very rich quality of +his intelligence had enabled corruption to rankle through him so much +the more quickly. I have seen a tramp on the road--a queer, long-nosed, +short-sighted animal--who would read Greek with the book upside-down. He +was a very fine Latin scholar, and we tried him with Virgil; he could go +off at score when he had a single line given him, and he scarcely made a +slip, for the poetry seemed ingrained. I have shared a pennyworth of +sausage with the brother of a Chief Justice, and I have played a piccolo +while an ex-incumbent performed a dance which he described, I think, as +Pyrrhic. He fell in the fire and used hideous language in Latin and +French, but I do not know whether that was Pyrrhic also. Drink is the +dainty harvester; no puny ears for him, no faint and bending stalks: he +reaps the rathe corn, and there is only the choicest of the choice in +his sheaves. That is what I want to fix on the minds of young +people--and others; the more sense of power you have, the more pride of +strength you have, the more you are likely to be marked and shorn down +by the grim reaper; and there is little hope for you when the reaper +once approaches, because the very friends who followed the national +craze, and upheld the harmlessness of drink, will shoot out their lips +at you and run away when your bad moment comes. + +The last person who ever suspects that a wife drinks is always the +husband; the last person who ever suspects that any given man is bitten +with drink is that man himself. So stealthily, so softly does the evil +wind itself around a man's being, that he very often goes on fancying +himself a rather admirable and temperate customer--until the crash +comes. It is all so easy, that the deluded dupe never thinks that +anything is far wrong until he finds that his friends are somehow +beginning to fight shy of him. No one will tell him what ails him, and I +may say that such a course would be quite useless, for the person warned +would surely fly into a passion, declare himself insulted, and probably +perform some mad trick while his nerves were on edge. Well, there comes +a time when the doomed man is disinclined for exertion, and he knows +that something is wrong. He has become sly almost without knowing it, +and, although he is pining for some stimulus, he pretends to go without, +and tries by the flimsiest of devices, to deceive those around him. Now +that is a funny symptom; the master vice, the vice that is the pillar of +the revenue, always, without any exception known to me, turns a man into +a sneak, and it generally turns him into a liar as well. So sure as the +habit of concealment sets in, so surely we may be certain that the +dry-rot of the soul has begun. The drinker is tremulous; he finds that +light beverages are useless to him, and he tries something that burns: +his nerve recovers tone; he laughs at himself for his early morning +fears, and he gets over another day. But the dry-rot is spreading; body +and soul react on each other, and the forlorn one soon begins to be +fatally false and weak in morals, and dirty and slovenly in person. Then +in the dead, unhappy nights he suffers all the torments that can be +endured if he wakes up while his day's supply of alcohol lies stagnant +in his system. No imagination is so retrospective as the drunkard's, and +the drunkard's remorse is the most terrible torture known. The wind +cries in the dark and the trees moan; the agonized man who lies waiting +the morning thinks of the times when the whistle of the wind was the +gladdest of sounds to him; his old ambitions wake from their trance and +come to gaze on him reproachfully; he sees that fortune (and mayhap +fame) have passed him by, and all through his own fault; he may whine +about imaginary wrongs during the day when he is maudlin, but the night +fairly throttles him if he attempts to turn away from the stark truth, +and he remains pinned face to face with his beautiful, dead self. Then, +with a start, he remembers that he has no friends. When he crawls out in +the morning to steady his hand he will be greeted with filthy +public-house cordiality by the animals to whose level he has dragged +himself, but of friends he has none. Now, is it not marvellous? Drink is +so jolly; prosperous persons talk with such a droll wink about vagaries +which they or their friends committed the night before; it is all so +very, very lightsome! The brewers and distillers who put the +mirth-inspiring beverages into the market receive more consideration, +and a great deal more money, than an average European prince;--and yet +the poor dry-rotted unfortunate whose decadence we are tracing is like a +leper in the scattering effects which he produces during his shaky +promenade. He is indeed alone in the world, and brandy or gin is his +only counsellor and comforter. As to character, the last rag of that +goes when the first sign of indolence is seen; the watchers have eyes +like cats, and the self-restrained men among them have usually seen so +many fellows depart to perdition that every stage in the process of +degradation is known to them. No! there is not a friend, and dry, clever +gentlemen say, "Yes. Good chap enough once on a day, but can't afford to +be seen with him now." The soaker is amazed to find that women are +afraid of him a little, and shrink from him--in fact, the only people +who are cordial with him are the landlords, among whom he is treated as +a sort of irresponsible baby. "I may as well have his money as anybody +else. He shan't get outrageously drunk here, but he may as well moisten +his clay and keep himself from being miserable. If he gets the jumps in +the night that's his look-out." That is the soaker's friend. The man is +not unkind; he is merely hardened, and his morals, like those of nearly +all who are connected with the great Trade, have suffered a twist. When +the soaker's last penny has gone, he will receive from the landlord many +a contemptuously good-natured gift--pity it is that the lost wastrel +cannot be saved before that weariful last penny huddles in the corner of +his pocket. + +While the harrowing descent goes on our suffering wretch is gradually +changing in appearance: the piggish element that is latent in most of us +comes out in him; his morality is sapped; he will beg, borrow, lie, and +steal; and, worst of all, he is a butt for thoughtless young fellows. +The last is the worst cut of all, for the battered, bloodless, sunken +ne'er-do-well can remember only too vividly his own gallant youth, and +the thought of what he was drives him crazed. + +There is only one end; if the doomed one escapes _delirium tremens_ he +is likely to have cirrhosis, and if he misses both of these, then dropsy +or Bright's disease claims him. Those who once loved him pray for his +death, and greet his last breath with an echoing sigh of thankfulness +and relief: he might have been cheered in his last hour by the graceful +sympathy of troops of friends; but the State-protected vice has such a +withering effect that it scorches up friendship as a fiery breath from a +furnace might scorch a grass blade. If one of my joyous, delightful lads +could just watch the shambling, dirty figure of such a failure as I have +described; if he could see the sneers of amused passers-by, the timid +glances of women, the contemptuous off-hand speech of the children--"Oh! +him! That's old, boozy Blank;" then the youths might well tremble, for +the woebegone beggar that snivels out thanks for a mouthful of gin was +once a brave lad--clever, handsome, generous, the delight of friends, +the joy of his parents, the most brilliantly promising of all his +circle. He began by being jolly; he was well encouraged and abetted; he +found that respectable men drank, and that Society made no demur. But he +forgot that there are drinkers and drinkers, he forgot that the +cool-headed men were not tainted by heredity, nor were their brains so +delicately poised that the least grain of foreign matter introduced in +the form of vapour could cause semi-insanity. And thus the sacrifice of +Society--and the Exchequer--goes to the tomb amid contempt, and hissing, +and scorn; while the saddest thing of all is that those who loved him +most passionately are most glad to hear the clods thump on his coffin. +I believe, if you let me keep a youngster for an hour in a room with me, +I could tell him enough stories from my own shuddery experience to +frighten him off drink for life. I should cause him to be haunted. + +There is none of the rage of the convert in all this; I knew what I was +doing when I went into the base and sordid homes of ruin during years, +and I want to know how any justification _not_ fitted for the libretto +of an extravaganza can be given by certain parliamentary gentlemen in +order that we may be satisfied with their conduct. My wanderings and +freaks do not count; I was a Bohemian, with the tastes of a Romany and +the curiosity of a philosopher; I went into the most abominable company +because it amused me and I had only myself to please, and I saw what a +fearfully tense grip the monster, Drink, has taken of this nation; and +let me say that you cannot understand that one little bit, if you are +content to knock about with a policeman and squint at signboards. Well, +I want to know how these legislators can go to church and repeat certain +prayers, while they continue to make profit by retailing Death at so +much a gallon; and I want to know how some scores of other godly men go +out of their way to back up a traffic which is very well able to take +care of itself. A wild, night-roaming gipsy like me is not expected to +be a model, but one might certainly expect better things from folks who +are so insultingly, aggressively righteous. One sombre and thoughtful +Romany of my acquaintance said, "My brother, there are many things that +I try to fight, and they knock me out of time in the first round." That +is my own case exactly when I observe comfortable personages who deplore +vice, and fill their pockets to bursting by shoving the vice right in +the way of the folks most likely to be stricken with deadly precision by +it. + +It is not easy to be bad-tempered over this saddening business; one has +to be pitiful. As my memory travels over England, and follows the tracks +that I trod, I seem to see a line of dead faces, that start into life if +I linger by them, and mop and mow at me in bitterness because I put out +no saving hand. So many and many I saw tramping over the path of +Destruction, and I do not think that ever I gave one of them a manly +word of caution. It was not my place, I thought, and thus their bones +are bleaching, and the memory of their names has flown away like a +mephitic vapour that was better dispersed. Are there many like me, I +wonder, who have not only done nothing to battle with the mightiest +modern evil, but have half encouraged it through cynical recklessness +and pessimism? We entrap the poor and the base and the wretched to their +deaths, and then we cry out about their vicious tendencies, and their +improvidence, and all the rest. Heaven knows I have no right to +sermonize; but, at least, I never shammed anything. When I saw some +spectacle of piercing misery caused by Drink (as nearly all English +misery is) I simply choked down the tendency to groan, and grimly +resolved to see all I could and remember it. But now that I have had +time to reflect instead of gazing and moaning, I have a sharp conception +of the thing that is biting at England's vitals. People fish out all +sorts of wondrous and obscure causes for crime. As far as England is +concerned I should lump the influences provocative of crime and +productive of misery into one--I say Drink is the root of almost all +evil. It is heartbreaking to know what is going on at our own doors, +for, however we may shuffle and blink, we cannot disguise the fact that +many millions of human beings who might be saved pass their lives in an +obscene hell--and they live so in merry England. Durst any one describe +a lane in Sandgate, Newcastle-on-Tyne, a court off Orange Street or +Lancaster Street, London, an alley in Manchester, a four-storey tenement +in the Irish quarter of Liverpool? I think not, and it is perhaps best +that no description should be done; for, if it were well done it would +make harmless people unhappy, and if it were ill done it would drive +away sympathy. I only say that all the horrors of those places are due +to alcohol alone. Do not say that idleness is answerable for the +gruesome state of things; that would be putting cause for effect. A man +finds the pains of the world too much for him; he takes alcohol to bring +on forgetfulness; he forgets, and he pays for his pleasure by losing +alike the desire and capacity for work. The man of the slums fares +exactly like the gentleman: both sacrifice their moral sense, both +become idle; the bad in both is ripened into rankness, and makes itself +villainously manifest at all seasons; the good is atrophied, and finally +dies. Goodness may take an unconscionable time a-dying, but it is +sentenced to death by the fates from the moment when alcoholism sets in, +and the execution is only a matter of time. + +England, then, is a country of grief. I never yet knew one family which +had not lost a cherished member through the national curse; and thus at +all times we are like the wailing nation whereof the first-born in every +house was stricken. It is an awful sight, and as I sit here alone I can +send my mind over the sad England which I know, and see the army of the +mourners. They say that the calling of the wounded on the field of +Borodino was like the roar of the sea: on my battle-field, where drink +has been the only slayer, there are many dead; and I can imagine that I +hear the full volume of cries from those who are stricken but still +living. The vision would unsettle my reason if I had not a trifle of +Hope remaining. The philosophic individual who talks in correctly frigid +phrases about the evils of the Liquor Trade may keep his reason balanced +daintily and his nerve unhurt. But I have images for company--images of +wild fearsomeness. There is the puffy and tawdry woman who rolls along +the street goggling at the passengers with boiled eye. The little pretty +child says, "Oh! mother, what a strange woman. I didn't understand what +she said." My pretty, that was Drink, and you may be like that one of +these days, for as little as your mother thinks it, if you ever let +yourself touch the Curse carelessly. Bless you, I know scores who were +once as sweet as you who can now drink any costermonger of them all +under the stools in the Haymarket bar. The young men grin and wink as +that staggering portent lurches past: I do not smile; my heart is too +sad for even a show of sadness. Then there are the children--the +children of Drink they should be called, for they suck it from the +breast, and the venomous molecules become one with their flesh and +blood, and they soon learn to like the poison as if it were pure +mother's milk. How they hunger--those little children! What obscure +complications of agony they endure and how very dark their odd +convulsive species of existence is made, only that one man may buy +forgetfulness by the glass. If I let my imagination loose, I can hear +the immense army of the young crying to the dumb and impotent sky, and +they all cry for bread. Mercy! how the little children suffer! And I +have seen them by the hundred--by the thousand--and only helped from +caprice; I could do no other. The iron winter is nearing us, and soon +the dull agony of cold will swoop down and bear the gnawing hunger +company while the two dire agencies inflict torture on the little ones. +Were it not for Drink the sufferers might be clad and nourished; but +then Drink is the support of the State, and a few thousand of +raw-skinned, hunger-bitten children perhaps do not matter. Then I can +see all the ruined gentlemen, and all the fine fellows whose glittering +promise was so easily tarnished; they have crossed my track, and I +remember every one of them, but I never could haul back one from the +fate toward which he shambled so blindly; what could I do when Drink was +driving him? If I could not shake off the memories of squalor, hunger, +poverty--well-deserved poverty--despair, crime, abject wretchedness, +then life could not be borne. I can always call to mind the wrung hands +and drawn faces of well-nurtured and sweet ladies who saw the dull mask +of loathsome degradation sliding downward over their loved one's face. +Of all the mental trials that are cruel, that must be the worst--to see +the light of a beloved soul guttering gradually down into stench and +uncleanness. The woman sees the decadence day by day, while the blinded +and lulled man who causes all the indescribable trouble thinks that +everything is as it should be. The Drink mask is a very scaring thing; +once you watch it being slowly fitted on to a beautiful and spiritual +face you do not care over-much about the revenue. + +And now the famous Russian's question comes up: What shall we do? Well, +so far as the wastrel poor are concerned, I should say, "Catch them when +young, and send them out of England so long as there is any place abroad +where their labour is sought." I should say so, because there is not a +shadow of a chance for them in this country: they will go in their turn +to drink as surely as they go to death. As to the vagabond poor whom we +have with us now I have no hope for them; we must wait until death weeds +them out, for we can do nothing with them nor for them. + +Among the classes who are better off from the worldly point of view, we +shall have sacrifices offered to the fiend from time to time. Drink has +wound like some ubiquitous fungus round and round the tissues of the +national body, and we are sure to have a nasty growth striking out at +intervals. It tears the heart-strings when we see the brave, the +brilliant, the merry, the wise, sinking under the evil clement in our +appalling dual nature, and we feel, with something like despair, that we +cannot be altogether delivered from the scourge yet awhile. I have stabs +of conscience when I call to mind all I have seen and remember how +little I have done, and I can only hope, in a shame-faced way, that the +use of intoxicants may be quietly dropped, just as the practice of +gambling, and the habit of drinking heavy, sweet wines, have passed away +from the exclusive society in which cards used to form the main +diversion. Frankly speaking, I have seen the degradation, the +abomination, and the measureless force of Drink so near at hand that I +am not sanguine. I can take care of myself, but I am never really sure +about many other people, and I had good reason for not being sure of +myself. One thing is certain, and that is that the creeping enemy is +sure to attack the very last man or woman whom you would expect to see +attacked. When the first symptoms are seen, the stricken one should be +delivered from _ennui_ as much as possible, and then some friend should +tell, in dull, dry style, the slow horror of the drop to the Pit. Fear +will be effective when nothing else will. Many are stronger than I am +and can help more. By the memory of broken hearts, by the fruitless +prayers of mothers and sorrowing wives, for the sake of the children who +are forced to stay on earth in a living death, I ask the strong to help +us all. Blighted lives, wrecked intellects, wasted brilliancy, poisoned +morality, rotted will--all these mark the road that the King of Evils +takes in his darksome progress. Out of the depths I have called for aid +and received it, and now I ask aid for others, and I shall not be +denied. + +_October, 1889._ + + + + +_VOYAGING AT SEA_ + + +A philosopher has described the active life of man as a continuous +effort to forget the facts of his own existence. It is vain to pin such +philosophers to a definite meaning; but I think the writer meant vaguely +to hint in a lofty way that the human mind incessantly longs for change. +We all crave to be something that we are not; we all wish to know the +facts concerning states of existence other than our own; and it is this +craving curiosity that produces every form of social and spiritual +activity. Yet, with all this restless desire, this uneasy yearning, only +a few of us are ever able to pass beyond one piteously narrow sphere, +and we rest in blank ignorance of the existence that goes on without the +bounds of our tiny domain. How many people know that by simply going on +board a ship and sailing for a couple of days they would pass +practically into another moral world, and change their mental as well as +their bodily habits? I have been moved to these reflections by observing +the vast amount of nautical literature which appears during the holiday +season, and by seeing the complete ignorance and misconception which are +palmed off upon the public. It is a fact that only a few English people +know anything about the mightiest of God's works. To them life on the +ocean is represented by a series of phrases which seem to have been +transplanted from copy-books. They speak of "the bounding main," "the +raging billows," "seas mountains high," "the breath of the gale," "the +seething breakers," and so on; but regarding the commonplace, quiet +everyday life at sea they know nothing. Strangely enough, only Mr. Clark +Russell has attempted to give in literary form a vivid, veracious +account of sea-life, and his thrice-noble books are far too little +known, so that the strongest maritime nation in the whole world is +ignorant of vital facts concerning the men who make her prosperity. Let +any one who is well informed enter a theatre when a nautical drama is +presented; he will find the most ridiculous spectacle that the mind of +man can conceive. On one occasion, when a cat came on to the stage at +Drury Lane and ran across the heaving billows of the canvas ocean, the +audience roared with laughter; but to the judicious critic the real +cause for mirth was the behaviour of the nautical persons who figured in +the drama. The same ignorance holds everywhere. Seamen scarcely ever +think of describing their life to people on shore, and the majority of +landsmen regard a sea-voyage as a dull affair, to be begun with regret +and ended with joy. Dull! Alas, it is dull for people who have dim eyes +and commonplace minds; but for the man who has learned to gaze aright at +the Creator's works there is not a heavy minute from the time when the +dawn trembles in the gray sky until the hour when, with stars and +sea-winds in her raiment, night sinks on the sea. Dull! As well describe +the rush of the turbulent Strand or the populous splendour of Regent +Street by that word! I have always held that a man cannot be considered +as educated if he is unable to wait an hour in a railway-station for a +train without _ennui_. What is education good for if it does not give us +resources which may enable us to gather delight or instruction from +every sight and sound that may fall on our nerves? The most melancholy +spectacle in the world is presented by the stolid citizen who yawns over +his _Bradshaw_ while the swift panoramas of Charing Cross or Euston are +gliding by him. Men who are rightly constituted find delight in the very +quietude and isolation of sea-life; they know how to derive pure +entertainment from the pageant of the sky and the music of winds and +waters, and they experience a piquant delight by reason of the contrast +between the loneliness of the sea and the eager struggling life of the +City. Proceeding, as is my custom, by examples, I shall give precise +descriptions of specimen days which anybody may spend on the wandering +wastes of the ocean. "All things pertaining to the life of man are of +interest to me," said the Roman; and he showed his wisdom by that +saying. + +Dawn. Along the water-line a pale leaden streak appears, and little +tremulous ripples of gray run gently upwards, until a broad band of +mingled white and scarlet shines with cold radiance. The mystery of the +sea is suddenly removed, and we can watch the strange serpentine belts +that twine and glitter all round from our vessel to the horizon. The +light is strong before the sun appears; and perhaps that brooding hour, +when Nature seems to be turning in her sleep, is the best of the whole +day. The dew lies thickly on deck, and the chill of the night hangs in +the air; but soon a red arc looms up gorgeously at the sea-line; long +rays spread out like a sheaf of splendid swords on the blue; there is, +as it were, a wild dance of colour in the noble vault, where cold green +and pink and crimson wind and flush and softly glide in mystic mazes; +and then--the sun! The great flaming disc seems to poise for a little, +and all around it--pierced here and there by the steely rays--the clouds +hang like tossing scarlet plumes. + + Like a warrior-angel sped + On a mighty mission, + Light and life about him shed-- + A transcendent vision! + + Mailed in gold and fire he stands, + And, with splendours shaken, + Bids the slumbering seas and lands + Quicken and awaken. + + Day is on us. Dreams are dumb, + Thought has light for neighbour; + Room! The rival giants come-- + Lo, the Sun and Labour! + +After witnessing that lordly spectacle, who can wonder at Zoroaster? As +the lights from east and west meet and mingle, and the sky rears its +blue immensity, it is hard to look on for very gladness. + +I shall suppose that we are on a small vessel--for, if we sail in a +liner, or even in an ordinary big steamer, it is somewhat like moving +about on a floating factory. The busy life of a sailor begins, for Jack +rarely has an idle minute while he is on deck. Landsmen can call in help +when their house needs repairing, but sailors must be able to keep every +part of _their_ house in perfect order; and there is always something to +be done. But we are lazy; we toil not, neither do we tar ropes, and our +main business is to get up a thoroughly good appetite while we watch the +deft sailor-men going about their business. It is my belief that a +landsman might spend a month without a tedious hour, if he would only +take the trouble to watch everything that the men do and find out why it +is done. Ages on ages of storm and stress are answerable for the most +trifling device that the sailor employs. How many and many lives were +lost before the Norsemen learned to support the masts of their winged +dragons by means of bull's-hide ropes! How many shiploads of men were +laid at the mercy of the travelling seas before the Scandinavians +learned to use a fixed rudder instead of a huge oar! Not a bolt or rope +or pulley or eyelet-hole has been fixed in our vessel save through the +bitter experience of centuries; one might write a volume about that +mainsail, showing how its rigid, slanting beauty and its tremendous +power were gradually attained by evolution from the ugly square lump of +matting which swung from the masthead of Mediterranean craft. But we +must not philosophise; we must enjoy. The fresh morning breeze runs +merrily over the ripples and plucks off their crests; our vessel leans +prettily, and you hear a tinkling hiss as she shears through the lovely +green hillocks. Sometimes she thrusts away a burst of spray, and in the +midst of the white spurt there shines a rainbow. It may happen that the +rainbows come thickly for half an hour at a time, and then we seem to be +passing through a fairy scene. Go under the main-yard and look away to +leeward. The wind roars out of the mainsail and streams over you in a +cold flood; but you do not mind that, for there is the joyous expanse +of emerald and snow dancing under the glad sun. There is something +unspeakably delightful in the rushing never-ending procession of waves +that passes away, away in merry ranks to the shining horizon; and all +true lovers of the sea are exhilarated by the sweet tumult. Remember I +am talking about a fine day; I shall come to the bad weather in good +time. On this ineffable morning a lady may come up and walk briskly in +the crisp air; but indeed women are the best and coolest of sailors in +any weather when once their preliminary troubles are over. The hours fly +past, and we hail the announcement of breakfast with a sudden joy which +tells of gross materialism. I may say, by-the-way, that our lower +nature, or what sentimental persons call our lower nature, comes out +powerfully at sea, and men of the most refined sort catch themselves in +the act of wondering time after time when meals will be ready. For me I +think that it is no more gross to delight in flavours than it is to +delight in colours or harmonies, and one of my main reasons for dwelling +on the delights of the sea lies in the fact that the voyager learns to +take an exquisite, but quite rational, delight in the mere act of +eating. I know that I ought to speak as though dinner were an ignoble +institution; I know that the young lady who said, "Thanks--I rarely +eat," represented a class who pretend to devote themselves to higher +joys; but I decline to talk cant on any terms, and I say that the +healthy, hearty hunger bestowed by the open sea is one of God's good +gifts. + +The sweet morning passes away, and somehow our thoughts run in bright +grooves. That is the strange thing about the sea--its moods have an +instant effect on the mind; and, as it changes with wild and swift +caprice, the seafarer finds that his views of life alter with +tantalizing but pleasant suddenness. Just now I am speaking only of +content and exhilaration; but I may soon see another side of the +picture. The afternoon glides by like the morning; no churlish houses +and chimney-pots hide the sun, and we see him describe his magnificent +curve, while, with mysterious potency, he influences the wind. Dull! +Why, on shore we should gaze out on the same streets or fields or trees; +but here our residence is driven along like a flying cloud, and we gain +a fresh view with every mile! I confess that I like sailing in populous +waters, for indeed the lonely tropical seas and the brassy skies are not +by any means to be regarded as delightful; but for the present we are +supposing ourselves to be in the track of vessels, and there is some new +and poignant interest for every hour. Watch this vast pallid cloud that +looms up far away; the sun strikes on the cloud, and straightway the +snowy mass gleams like silver; on it comes, and soon we see a superb +four-masted clipper broadside on to us. A royal fabric she is; every +snowy sail is drawing, and she moves with resistless force and matchless +grace through the water, while a boiling wreath of milky foam rushes +away from her bows, and swathes of white dapple the green river that +seems to pour past her majestic sides. The emigrants lean over the rail, +and gaze wistfully at us. Ah, how many thousands of miles they must +travel ere they reach their new home! Strange and pitiful it is to think +that so few of them will ever see the old home again; and yet there is +something bright and hopeful in the spectacle, if we think not of +individuals, but of the world's future. Under the Southern Cross a +mighty state is rising; the inevitable movement of populations is +irresistible as the tides of mid-ocean; and those wistful emigrants who +quietly wave their handkerchiefs to us are about to assist in working +out the destiny of a new world. Dull! The passing of that great vessel +gives matter for grave thought. She swings away, and we may perhaps try +to run alongside for a while, but the immense drag of her four towers of +canvas soon draws her clear, and she speedily looms once more like a +cloud on the horizon. Good-bye! The squat collier lumbers along, and her +leisurely grimy skipper salutes as we near him. It is marvellous to +reflect that the whole of our coal-trade was carried on in those queer +tubs only sixty years ago. They are passing away, and the gallant, +ignorant, comical race of sailors who manned them has all but +disappeared; the ugly sordid iron box that goes snorting past us, +belching out jets of water from her dirty side--that is the agency that +destroyed the colliers, and, alas, destroyed the finest breed of seamen +that ever the world saw! So rapidly do new sights and sounds greet us +that the night steals down almost before we are aware of its approach. +The day is for joy; but, ah, the night is for subtle overmastering +rapture, for pregnant gloom, for thoughts that lie too deep for tears! +If a wind springs up when the last ray of the sun shoots over the +shoulder of the earth, then the ship roars through an inky sea, and the +mysterious blending of terror and ecstasy cannot be restrained. Hoarsely +the breeze shrieks in the cordage, savagely the water roars as it darts +away astern like a broad fierce white flame. The vessel seems to spring +forward and shake herself with passion as the sea retards her, and the +whole wild symphony of humming ropes, roaring water, screaming wind, +sets every pulse bounding. Should the moon shine out from the charging +clouds, then earth has not anything to show more fair; the broad track +of light looks like an immeasurable river peopled by fiery serpents that +dart and writhe and interwind, until the eye aches with gazing on them. +Sleep seems impossible at first, and yet by degrees the poppied touch +lulls our nerves, and we slumber without heeding the harrowing groans of +the timbers or the confused cries of the wind. + +So much for the glad weather; but, when the sky droops low, and leaping +waves of mournful hue seem to rear themselves and mingle with the +clouds, then the gladness is not so apparent. Still the exulting rush of +the ship through the gray seas and her contemptuous shudder as she +shakes off the masses of water that thunder down on her are fine to +witness. Even a storm, when cataracts of hissing water plunge over the +vessel and force every one to "hang on anywhere," is by no means without +its delights; but I must candidly say that a ship is hardly the place +for a woman when the wild winds try their strength against the works of +man. On the whole, if we reckon up the pains and pleasures of life on +board ship, the balance is all in favour of pleasure. The sailors have a +toilsome life, and must endure much; but they have health. It is the +sense of physical well-being that makes the mind so easy when one is on +the sea; and refined men who have lived in the forecastle readily +declare that they were happy but for the invariable dirt. Instead of +trooping to stuffy lodgings, those of my readers who have the nerve +should, if not this year, then next summer, go right away and take a +cheap and charming holiday on the open sea. + +_October, 1887._ + + + + +_WAR._ + + +The brisk Pressmen are usually exceedingly busy in calculating the +chances of a huge fight--indeed they spend a good part of each year in +that pleasing employment. Smug diplomatists talk glibly about "war +clearing the air;" and the crowd--the rank and file--chatter as though +war were a pageant quite divorced from wounds and death, or a mere +harmless hurly-burly where certain battalions receive thrashings of a +trifling nature. It is saddening to notice the levity with which the +most awful of topics is treated, and especially is it sad to see how +completely the women and children are thrust out of mind by belligerent +persons. We who have gazed on the monster of War, we who have looked in +the whites--or rather the reds--of his loathsome eyes, cannot let this +burst of frivolity work mischief without one temperate word of warning +and protest. + +Pleasant it is to watch the soldiers as they march along the streets, or +form in their superb lines on parade. No man or woman of any sensibility +can help feeling proudly stirred when a Cavalry regiment goes by. The +clean, alert, upright men, with their sure seat; the massive war-horses +champing their bits and shaking their accoutrements: the rhythmic thud +of hoofs, the keen glitter of steel, and the general air of power, all +combine to form a spectacle that sets the pulses beating faster. Then, +again, observe the strange elastic rhythm of the march as a battalion of +tall Highlanders moves past. The fifes and drums cease, there is a +silence broken only by that sinuous beautiful onward movement of lines +of splendid men, until the thrilling scream of the pipes shatters the +air, and the mad tumult of warlike sound makes even a Southron's nerves +quiver. Then, once more, watch the deadly, steady march of a regiment of +Guards. The stalwart men step together, and, as the red ranks sway on, +it seems as though no earthly power could stand against them. The gloomy +bearskins are like a brooding dark cloud, and the glitter of the +rifle-barrels carries with it certain sinister terrible suggestions. The +gaiety and splendour of Cavalry and Infantry all gain increased power +over the imagination since we know that each of those gaily clad fellows +would march to his doom without a tremor or a murmur if he received the +word. Poor Tommy Atkins is surrounded by a sort of halo in the popular +imagination, simply because it is known that he may one day have to deal +forth death to an enemy, or take his own doom, according to the chances +of combat. I need say little about the field-days and reviews which have +caused so many martially-minded young men to take the shilling. The +crash of the small-arm firing, the wild galloping of hasty +aides-de-camp, the measured movement of serried lines, the rapid flight +of flocks of bedizened staff-officers, all make up a very exciting and +confusing picture, and many a youngster has fancied that war must be a +glorious game. Let us leave the picturesque and theatrical business and +come to the dry prose. + +So far from being an affair of glitter, excitement, fierce joy, fierce +triumph, war is but a round of hideous hours which bring memories of +squalor, filth, hunger, wretchedness, dull toil, unspeakable misery. +Take it at its best, and consider what a modern engagement really means. +Recollect, moreover, that I am about to use sentences accurate as a +photograph. The sportive Pressman says, "Vernon began to find the +enemy's cloud of sharp-shooters troublesome, so the 5th sought better +cover on the right, leaving Brown free to develop his artillery fire." +"Troublesome!" Translate that word, and it means this: Private Brown and +Private Jones are lying behind the same low bank. Jones raises his head; +there comes a sound like "Roo-o-osh--pht!"--then a horrible thud. Jones +glares, grasps at nothing with convulsed hands, and rolls sideways with +a long shudder. The ball took him in the temple. Serjeant Morrison says, +"Now, men, try for that felled log! Double!" A few men make a short +rush, and gain the solid cover; but one throws up his hands when half +way, gives a choking yell, springs in the air, and falls down limp. The +same thing is going on over a mile of country, while the shell-fire is +gradually gaining power--and we may be sure that the enemy are suffering +at the hands of our marksmen. And now suppose that an infantry brigade +receives orders to charge. "Charge!" The word carries magnificent poetic +associations, but, alas, it is a very prosaic affair nowadays! The lines +move onward in short rushes, and it seems as if a swarm of ants were +migrating warily. The strident voices of the officers ring here and +there: the men edge their way onward: it seems as if there were no +method in the advance; but somehow the loose wavy ranks are kept well +in hand, and the main movement proceeds like machinery. "I feel a bit +queer," says Bill Williams to a veteran friend. "Never mind--'taint +every one durst say that," says the friend. "Whoo-o-sh!" a muffled +thump, and the veteran falls forward, dropping his rifle. He struggles +up on hands and knees, but a rush of blood chokes him, and he drops with +a groan. He will lie there for a long time before his burning throat is +moistened by a cup of water, and he knows only too well that the surgeon +will merely shake his head when he sees him. The brigade still advances; +gradually the sputtering crackle in their front grows into a low steady +roar; a stream of lead whistles in the air, and the long lurid line of +flame glows with the sustained glare of a fire among furze. Men fall at +every yard, but the hoarse murmur of the dogged advance never ceases. At +last the time comes for the rush. The ranks are trimmed up by +imperceptible degrees; the men set their teeth, and a strange eager look +comes over many a face. The eyes of the youngsters stare glassily; they +can see the wood from which the enemy must be dislodged at any price, +but they can form no definite ideas; they merely grip their rifles and +go on mechanically. The word is given--the dark lines dash forward; the +firing from the wood breaks out in a crash of fury--there is a long +harsh rattle, then a chance crack like a thunder-clap, and then a +whirring like the spinning of some demoniac mill. Curses ring out amid a +low sound of hard breathing; the ranks are gapped here and there as a +man wriggles away like a wounded rabbit, or another bounds upward with a +frantic ejaculation. Then comes the fighting at close quarters. Perhaps +kind women who are misled by the newspaper-writer's brisk babblement +may like to know what that means, so I give the words of the best +eyewitness that ever gazed on warfare. He took down his notes by the +light of burning wood, and he had no time to think of grammar. All his +words were written like mere convulsive cries, but their main effect is +too vivid to be altered. Notice that he rarely concludes a sentence, for +he wanted to save time, and the bullets were cutting up the ground and +the trees all round him. "Patches of the wood take fire, and several of +the wounded, unable to move, are consumed. Quite large spaces are swept +over, burning the dead also; some of the men have their hair and beards +singed, some burns on their faces and hands, others holes burnt in their +clothing. The flashes of fire from the cannon, the quick glaring flames +and smoke, and the immense roar--the musketry so general; the light +nearly bright enough for each side to see the other; the crashing, +tramping of men--the yelling--close quarters--hand-to-hand conflicts. +Each side stands up to it, brave, determined as demons; and still the +wood's on fire--still many are not only scorched--too many, unable to +move, are burned to death. Who knows the conflict, hand-to-hand--the +many conflicts in the dark--those shadowy, tangled, flashing, +moon-beamed woods--the writhing groups and squads--the cries, the din, +the cracking guns and pistols, the distant cannon--the cheers and calls +and threats and awful music of the oaths, the indescribable mix, the +officers' orders, persuasions, encouragements--the devils fully roused +in human hearts--the strong shout, 'Charge, men--charge!'--the flash of +the naked swords, and rolling flame and smoke? And still the broken, +clear, and clouded heaven; and still again the moonlight pouring +silvery soft its radiant patches over all." + +There is a description vivid as lightning, though there is not a +properly-constructed sentence in it. Gruesome, cruel, horrible! Is it +not enough to make the women of our sober sensible race declare for ever +against the flaunting stay-at-homes who would egg us on to war? By all +means let us hold to the old-fashioned dogged ways, but let us beware of +rushing into the squalid vortex of war. And now let us see what follows +the brilliant charge and bayonet fight. How many ladies consider what +the curt word "wounded" means? It conveys no idea to them, and they are +too apt to stray off into the dashing details that tell of a great +wrestle of armies. One eminent man--whom I believe to have uttered a +libel--has declared that women like war, and that they are usually the +means of urging men on. He is a very sedate and learned philosopher who +wrote that statement, and yet I cannot believe it. Ah, no! Our ladies +can give their dearest up to death when the State calls on them, but +they will never be like the odious viragoes of the Roman circus. At any +rate, if any woman acts according to the dictum of the philosopher after +reading my bitterly true words, we shall hold that our influence is +departed. Therefore with ruthless composure I follow my observer--a man +whose pure and holy spirit upheld him as he ministered to sufferers for +year after year. + +"Then the camps of the wounded. Oh, heavens, what scene is this? Is this +indeed humanity--these butchers' shambles? There are several of them. +There they lie, in the largest, in an open space in the woods--from two +to three hundred poor fellows. The groans and screams, the odour of +blood mixed with the fresh scent of the night, the grass, the +trees--that slaughter-house! Oh, well is it their mothers, their +sisters, cannot see them, cannot conceive, and never conceived such +things! One man is shot by a shell both in the arm and leg; both are +amputated--there lie the rejected members. Some have their legs blown +off, some bullets through the breast, some indescribably horrid wounds +in the head--all mutilated, sickening, torn, gouged out, some in the +abdomen, some mere boys." Alas, I have quoted enough--and may never such +a task come before me again! The picture is sharp as an etching; it is +drawn with a shudder of the soul. Is that grim sedate man right when he +says that women are the moving influence that drives men to such +carnage? Would you wantonly advocate war? Never! I reject the solemn +philosopher's saying, in spite of his logic and his sententiousness. + +Who shall speak of the awful monotony of the hospital camps, where men +die like flies, and where regret, sympathy, kindness are blotted from +the hardened soldier's breast? People are not cruel by nature, but the +vague picturesque language of historians and other general writers +prevents men and women from forming just opinions. I believe that, if +one hundred wounded men could be transported from a battle-field and +laid down in the public square of any town or city for the population to +see, then the gazers would say among themselves, "So this is war, is it? +Well, for our parts, we shall be very cautious before we raise any +agitation that might force our Government into any conflict. We can die +if our liberties are threatened, for there are circumstances in which +it would be shameful to live, but we shall never do anything which may +bring about results such as those before us." That would be a fair and +temperate mode of talking--far different from the airy babble of the +warlike scribe. + +An argumentative person may stop us here and ask, "Are you of opinion +that it is possible to abolish warfare?" Unfortunately, we can cherish +no such pleasing hope. I do emphatically believe that in time men will +come to see the wild folly of engaging in sanguinary struggles; but the +growth of their wisdom will be slow. Action and reaction are equal; the +fighting instinct has been impressed on our nature by hereditary +transmission for countless generations, and we cannot hope suddenly to +make man a peaceful animal any more than we can hope to breed setters +from South African wild dogs. But the conditions of life are gradually +changing, and the very madness which has made Europe into a huge barrack +may work its own cure. The burden will probably grow so intolerable that +the most embruted of citizens will ask themselves why they bear it, and +a rapid revolution may undo the growth of centuries. The scientific men +point to the huge warfare that goes on from the summit of the Himalayas +to the depths of the ocean slime, and they ask how men can be exempt +from the universal struggle for existence. But it is by no means certain +that the pressure of population in the case of man will always force on +struggles--at any rate, struggles that can be decided only by death and +agony. Little by little we are learning something of the laws that +govern our hitherto mysterious existence, and we have good hopes that by +and by our race may learn to be mutually helpful, so that our span of +life may be passed with as much happiness as possible. Men will strive +against each other, but the striving will not be carried on to an +accompaniment of slaughter and torture. There are keen forms of +competition which, so far from being painful, give positive pleasure to +those who engage in them; there are triumphs which satisfy the victor +without mortifying the vanquished; and, in spite of the indiscreet +writers who have called forth this Essay, I hold that such harmless +forms of competition will take the place of the brutal strife that adds +senselessly to the sum of human woe. Our race has outgrown so many forms +of brutality, so many deliberate changes have taken place in the course +of even two thousand years, that the final change which shall abolish +war is almost certain to come. We find that about one thousand nine +hundred years ago a polished gentleman like Julius Caesar gravely +congratulates himself on the fact that his troops destroyed in cold +blood forty thousand people--men, women, and children. No man in the +civilized world dare do such a deed now, even if he had the mind for the +carnage. The feeling with which we read Caesar's frigid recital measures +the arc of improvement through which we have passed. May the improvement +go on! We can continue to progress only through knowledge; if our +people--our women especially--are wantonly warlike, then our action will +be wantonly warlike; knowledge alone can save us from the guilt of +blood, and that knowledge I have tried to set forth briefly. By wondrous +ways does our Master work out His ends. Let us pray that He may hasten +the time when nation shall not rise up against nation, neither shall +they draw the sword any more. + +_December, 1886._ + + + + +_DRINK_. + + +I have no intention of imitating those intemperate advocates of +temperance who frighten people by their thunderous and extravagant +denunciations; I leave high moral considerations on one side for the +present, and our discussion will be purely practical, and, if possible, +helpful. The duty of helpful men and women is not to rave about horrors +and failures and misfortunes, but to aim coolly at remedial measures; +and I am firmly convinced that such remedial measures can be employed +only by private effort. State interference is always to be deprecated; +individual action alone has power to better the condition of our +sorely-tempted race. With sorrow too keen for words, I hear of blighted +homes, intellects abased, children starved, careers wrecked, wives made +wretched, crime fostered; and I fully sympathize with the men and women +who are stung into wild speech by the sight of a curse that seems +all-powerful in Britain. But I prefer to cultivate a sedate and +scientific attitude of mind; I do not want to repeat catalogues of +evils; I want to point out ways whereby the intemperate may be cured. +Above all, I wish to abate the panic which paralyzes the minds of some +afflicted people, and which causes them to regard a drunkard or even a +tippler as a hopeless victim. "Hopeless" is a word used by ignorant +persons, by cowards, and by fools. When I hear some mourner say, "Alas! +we can do nothing with him--he is a slave!" I feel impelled to reply, +"What do you know about it? Have you given yourself the trouble to do +more than preach? Listen, and follow the simple directions which I lay +down for you." + +First, I deal with the unhappy beings who are called periodical +drinkers. These are generally men who possess great ability and a +capacity for severe stretches of labour. They may be artists, writers, +men of business, mechanicians--anything; but in nearly every case some +special faculty of brain is developed to an extraordinary degree, and +the man is able to put forth the most strenuous exertions at a pinch. +Let us name some typical examples. Turner was a man of phenomenal +industry, but at intervals his temperament craved for some excitement +more violent and distracting than any that he could get from the steady +strain of daily work. He used to go away to Wapping, and spend weeks in +the filthiest debauch with the lowest characters in London. None of his +companions guessed who he was; they only knew that he had more money +than they had, and that he behaved in a more bestial manner than any of +those who frequented the "Fox under the Hill" and other pleasing +hostelries. Turner pursued his reckless career, till his money was gone, +and then he returned to his gruesome den and proceeded to turn out +artistic prodigies until the fit came upon him once more. Benvenuto +Cellini was subject to similar paroxysms, during which he behaved like a +maniac. Our own novelist Bulwer Lytton disappeared at times, and plunged +into the wildest excesses among wretches whom he would have loathed +when he was in his normal state of mind. He used to dress himself as a +navvy, or as a sailor, and no one would have recognized the weird +intellectual face when the great writer was clad in rags, and when the +brutal mask of intoxication had fallen over his face. It was during his +recovery from one of these terrible visitations that he drove the woman +whom he most loved from his house, and brought on that breach which +resulted in irreparable misery. Poor George Morland, the painter, had +wild spells of debauch, during which he spent his time in boxing-saloons +among ruffianly prize-fighters and jockeys. His vice grew upon him, his +mad fits became more and more frequent, and at last his exquisite work +could be produced only when his nerve was temporarily steadied by +copious doses of brandy. Keats, who "worshipped Beauty," was afflicted +by seizures like those of Turner and Morland. On one occasion he +remained in a state of drunkenness for six weeks; and it is a wonder +that his marvellous mind retained its freshness at all after the poison +had passed from amid the delicate tissues of the brain. He conquered +himself at last; but I fear that his health was impaired by his few mad +outbursts. Charles Lamb, who is dear to us all, reduced himself to a +pitiable state by giving way to outbreaks of alcoholic craving. When +Carlyle saw him, the unhappy essayist was semi-imbecile from the effects +of drink; and the savage Scotsman wrote some cruel words which will +unfortunately cleave to Lamb's cherished memory for long. Lamb fought +against his failing; he suffered agonies of remorse; he bitterly blamed +himself for "buying days of misery by nights of madness;" but the sweet +soul was enchained, and no struggles availed to work a blessed +transformation. Read his "Confessions of a Drunkard." It is the most +awful chapter in English literature, for it is written out of the agony +of a pure and well-meaning mind, and its tortured phrases seem to cry +out from the page that holds their misery. We are placed face to face +with a dread aspect of life, and the remorseless artist paints his own +pitiable case as though he longed to save his fellow-creatures even at +the expense of his own self-abasement. All these afflicted creatures +sought the wrong remedy for the exhaustion and the nameless craving that +beset them when they were spent with toil. The periodic drinker takes +his dive into the sensual mud-bath just at the times when eager exertion +has brought on lassitude of body and mind. He begins by timidly drinking +a little of the deleterious stuff, and he finds that his mental images +grow bright and pleasant. A moment comes to him when he would not change +places with the princes of the earth, and he endeavours to make that +moment last long. He fails, and only succeeds in dropping into +drunkenness. On the morning after his first day he feels depressed; but +his biliary processes are undisturbed, and he is able to begin again +without any sense of nausea. His quantity is increased until he +gradually reaches the point when glasses of spirits are poured down with +feverish rapidity. His appetite is sometimes voracious, sometimes +capricious, sometimes absent altogether. His stomach becomes ulcerated, +and he can obtain release from the grinding uneasiness only by feeding +the inflamed organ with more and more alcohol. The liver ceases to act +healthily, the blood becomes charged with bile, and one morning the +wretch awakes feeling that life is not worth having. He has slept like a +log; but all night through his outraged brain has avenged itself by +calling up crowds of hideous dreams. The blood-vessels of the eye are +charged with bilious particles, and these intruding specks give rise to +fearful, exaggerated images of things that never yet were seen on sea or +land. Grim faces leer at the dreamer and make mock of him; frightful +animals pass in procession before him; and hosts of incoherent words are +jabbered in his ear by unholy voices. He wakes, limp, exhausted, +trembling, nauseated, and he feels as if he must choose between suicide +and--more drink. If he drinks at this stage, he is lost; and then is the +time to fix upon him and draw him by main force from the slough. + +Now some practitioners say, "Let him drop it gradually;" and they +proceed to stir every molecule of alcohol in the system into vile +activity by adding small doses of wine or spirit to the deadly +accumulation. The man's brain is impoverished, and the mistaken doctors +proceed to impoverish it more, so that a patient who should be cured in +forty-eight hours is kept in dragging misery for a month or more. The +proper mode of treatment is widely different. You want to nourish the +brain speedily, and at any cost, ere the ghastly depression drives the +agonized wretch to the arms of Circe once more. First, then, give him +milk. If you try milk alone, the stomach will not retain it long, so you +must mix the nourishing fluid with soda-water. Half an hour afterwards +administer a spoonful of meat-essence. Beware of giving the patient any +hot fluid, for that will damage him almost as much as alcohol. Continue +with alternate half-hourly instalments of milk and meat-essence; supply +no solid food whatever; and do not be tempted by the growing good +spirits of your charge to let him go out of doors amid temptation. At +night, after some eight hours of this rapid feeding, you must take a +risky step. Make sure that the drinker is calm, and then prepare him for +sleep. That preparation is accomplished thus. Get a draught of hydrate +of chloral made up, and be sure that you describe your man's +physique--this is most important--to the apothecary who serves you. A +very light dose will suffice, and, when it is swallowed, the drugged man +should be left in quietude. He will sleep heavily, perhaps for as much +as twelve hours, and no noise must be allowed to come near him. If he is +waked suddenly, the consequences may be bad, so that those who go to +look at him must use precautions to ensure silence. In the morning he +will awake with his brain invigorated, his muscles unagitated, and his +craving utterly gone. It is like magic; for a man who was prostrate on +Sunday morning is brisk and eager for work on Monday at noon. Whenever +the cured man feels his craving arise after a spell of labour, he should +at once recuperate his brain by rapidly-repeated doses of the +easily-assimilated meat-essence, and this, with a little strong black +coffee taken at short intervals, will tide him over the evil time. He +saves money, he keeps his working power, and he gives no shock to his +health. Since a beneficent doctor first described this cure to the +British Medical Association, hundreds have been restored and ultimately +reclaimed. + +And now as to the persons who are called "soakers." Scattered over the +country are thousands of men and women who do not go to bestial +excesses, but who steadily undermine their constitutions by persistent +tippling. Such a man as a commercial traveller imbibes twenty or thirty +nips in the course of the day; he eats well in the evening, though he is +usually repelled by the sight of food in the morning, and he preserves +an outward appearance of ruddy health. Then there are the female +soakers, whom doctors find to be the most troublesome of all their +patients. There is not a medical man in large practice who has not a +shocking percentage of lady inebriates on his list, and the cases are +hard to manage. An ill-starred woman, whose well-to-do husband is +engaged in business all day, finds that a dull life-weariness overtakes +her. If she has many children, her enforced activity preserves her from +danger; but, if she is childless, the subtle temptation is apt to +overcome her. She seeks unnatural exaltation, and the very secrecy which +is necessary lends a strange zest to the pursuit of a numbing vice. Then +we have such busy men as auctioneers, ship-brokers, water-clerks, +ship-captains, buyers for great firms--all of whom are more or less a +prey to the custom of "standing liquors." + +The soaker goes on without meeting any startling check for a good while; +but, by slow degrees, the main organs of the body suffer, and a chronic +state of alcoholic irritation is set up. A man becomes suspected by his +employers and slighted by his abstemious friends; he loses health, +character, prospects; and yet he is invariably ready to declare that no +one ever saw him the worse for drink. The tippling goes on till the +resultant irritation reaches an acute stage, and the faintest disturbing +cause brings on _delirium tremens_. There is only one way with people +thus afflicted. They must be made to loathe alcohol, and their nerves +must at the same time be artificially stimulated. The cure is not +precisely easy, but it is certain. If my directions are followed out, +then a man who is in the last stage of alcoholic debility will not only +regain a certain measure of health, but he will turn with horror from +the stuff that fascinated him. In the case of the soaker a little wine +may be given at meal-times during the first stages of the cure; but he +(or she) will soon reject even wine. Strong black coffee, or tea, should +be given as often as possible--the oftener the better--and iced +soda-water should be administered after a heavy meal. Take this +prescription and let it be made up--Rx Acid. Acet. eight ounces. Sponge +down the patient's spine with this fluid until the parts moistened +tingle smartly; and let this be done night and morning. Also get the +following from your chemist--Rx Ext. Cinch. Rub. Liq. four ounces--and +give one teaspoonful in water after each meal. In a week the drinker +will cease to desire alcohol, and in a month he will refuse it with +disgust. His nerves will resume their healthy action, and, if he has not +reached the stage of cirrhosis of the liver, he will become well and +clear-headed. Recollect that this remedy is almost infallible, and then +even the most greedy of literary students will hardly reproach me for +placing a kind of medical chapter in the quarter usually devoted to +disquisitions of another kind. From every side rises the bitter cry of +those who see their loved ones falling victims to the seductive scourge; +from all quarters the voices of earnest men are raised in passionate +pleading; and in every great city there are noble workers who strive to +rescue their fellow-creatures from drink as from a gulf of doom. My +words are not addressed to the happy beings who can rejoice in the +cheerfulness bestowed by wine; I have before me only the fortunes of +those to whom wine is a mocker. Far be it from me to find fault with the +good and sound-hearted men and women who are never scathed by their +innocent potations; my attempt is directed toward saving the wreckages +of civilization who perish in the grasp of the destroyer. + +_March, 1886._ + + + + +_CONCERNING PEOPLE WHO KNOW THEY ARE GOING WRONG_. + + +Some five years ago a mere accident gave to the world one of the most +gruesome and remarkable pieces of literature that has ever perhaps been +seen. A convict named Fury confessed to having committed a murder of an +atrocious character. He was brought from prison, put on his trial at +Durham, and condemned to death. Every chance was given him to escape his +doom; but he persisted in providing the authorities with the most +minutely accurate chain of evidence against himself; and, in the end, +there was nothing for it but to cast him for death. Even when the police +blundered, he carefully set them right--and he could not have proved his +own guilt more clearly had he been the ablest prosecuting counsel in +Britain. He held in his hand a voluminous statement which, as it seems, +he wished to read before sentence of death was passed. The Court could +not permit the nation's time to be thus expended; so the convict handed +his manuscript to a reporter--and we thus have possibly the most +absolutely curious of all extant thieves' literature. Somewhere in the +recesses of Fury's wild heart there must have been good concealed; for +he confessed his worst crime in the interests of justice, and he went to +the scaffold with a serious and serene courage which almost made of him +a dignified person. But, on his own confession, he must have been all +his life long an unmitigated rascal--a predatory beast of the most +dangerous kind. From his youth upward he had lived as a professional +thief, and his pilferings were various and extensive. The glimpses of +sordid villainy which he frankly gives are so poignantly effective that +they put into the shade the most dreadful phases in the life of Villon. +He was a mean sneaking wretch who supported a miserable existence on the +fruits of other people's industry, and he closed his list of crimes by +brutally stabbing an unhappy woman who had never harmed him. The fellow +had genuine literary skill and a good deal of culture; his confession is +very different from any of those contained in the _Newgate +Calendar_--infinitely different from the crude horror of the statement +which George Borrow quotes as a masterpiece of simple and direct +writing. Here is Borrow's specimen, by-the-way--"So I went with them to +a music-booth, where they made me almost drunk with gin and began to +talk their flash language, which I did not understand"--and so on. But +this dry simplicity is not in Fury's line. He has studied philosophy; he +has reasoned keenly; and, as one goes on through his terrible narrative, +one finds that he has mental capacity of a high order. He was as mean a +rascal as Noah Claypole: and yet he had a fine clear-seeing intellect. +Now what does this gallows-bird tell us? Why, his whole argument is +intended to prove that he was an ill-used victim of society! Such a +perversion has probably never been quite equalled; but it remains there +to show us how firmly my theory stands--that the real scoundrel never +knows himself to be a scoundrel. Had Fury settled down in a back street +and employed his genius in writing stories, he could have earned a +livelihood, for people would have eagerly read his experiences; but he +preferred thieving--and then he turned round and blamed other people for +hounding him on to theft. + +There are wrong-doers and wrong-doers; there are men who do ill in the +world because they are entirely harmful by nature, and they seek to hurt +their fellows--there are others who err only from weakness of will. I +make no excuse for the weaklings; a man or woman who is weak may do more +harm than the vilest criminal, and, when I hear any one talk about that +nice man who is nobody's enemy but his own, I am instantly forced to +remember a score or thereabouts of beings whom I know to have been the +deadliest foes of those whom they should have cherished. Let us help +those who err; but let us have no maudlin pity. + +Moralists in general have made a somewhat serious error in supposing +that one has only to show a man the true aspect of any given evil in +order to make sure of his avoiding it. Of late so many sad things have +been witnessed in public and private life that one is tempted to doubt +whether abstract morality is of any use whatever in the world. One may +tell a man that a certain course is dangerous or fatal; one may show by +every device of logic and illustration that he should avoid the said +course, and he will fully admit the truth of one's contentions; yet he +is not deterred from his folly, and he goes on toward ruin with a sort +of blind abandonment. "Blind," I say. That is but a formal phrase; for +it happens that the very men and women who wreck their lives by doing +foolish things are those who are keenest in detecting folly and wisest +in giving advice to others. "Educate the people, and you will find that +a steady diminution of vice, debauchery, and criminality must set in." I +am not talking about criminality at present; but I am bound to say that +no amount of enlightenment seems to diminish the tendency toward forms +of folly which approach criminality. It is almost confounding to see how +lucid of mind and how sane in theoretical judgment are the men who +sometimes steep themselves in folly and even in vice. A wicked man +boasted much of his own wickedness to some fellow-travellers during a +brief sea-voyage. He said, "I like doing wrong for the sake of doing it. +When you know you are outraging the senses of decent people there is a +kind of excitement about it." This contemptible cynic told with glee +stories of his own vileness which made good men look at him with scorn; +but he fancied himself the cleverest of men. With the grave nearly ready +for him, he could chuckle over things which he had done--things which +proved him base, although none of them brought him within measurable +distance of the dock. But such instances are quite rare. The man whose +vision is lucid, but who nevertheless goes wrong, is usually a prey to +constant misery or to downright remorse. Look at Burns's epitaph, +composed by himself for himself. It is a dreadful thing. It is more than +verse; it is a sermon, a prophecy, a word of doom; and it tells with +matchless terseness the story of many men who are at this hour passing +to grim ruin either of body or soul or both. Burns had such magnificent +common sense that in his last two lines he sums up almost everything +that is worth saying on the subject; and yet that fatal lack of will +which I have so often lamented made all his theoretical good sense as +naught He could give one every essential of morality and conduct--in +theory--and he was one of the most convincing and wise preachers who +ever lived; but that mournful epitaph summarises the results of all his +mighty gifts; and I think that it should be learned by all young men, on +the chance that some few might possibly be warned and convinced. Advice +is of scanty use to men of keen reason who are capable of composing +precepts for themselves; but to the duller sort I certainly think that +the flash of a sudden revelation given in concise words is beneficial. +Here is poor Burns's saying-- + + Is there a man whose judgment clear + Can others teach the course to steer, + Yet runs himself life's mad career + Wild as the wave? + Here pause, and through the starting tear + Survey this grave. + + The poor inhabitant below + Was quick to learn and wise to know, + And keenly felt the kindly glow + And softer flame; + But thoughtless follies laid him low + And stained his name. + + Reader, attend! Whether thy soul + Soars fancy's flights beyond the pole; + Or, darkling, grubs this earthly hole + In low pursuit, + Know--prudent cautious self-control + Is wisdom's root. + +When I ponder that forlorn masterpiece, I cannot help a tendency to +despair; for I know, by multifarious experience of men, that the curt +lines hint at profundities so vast as to baffle the best powers of +comprehension. As I think of the hundreds of men who are minor copies of +Burns, I have a passionate wish to call on the Power that sways us all +and pray for pity and guidance. A most wise--should I say "wise"?--and +brilliant man had brought himself very low through drink, and was dying +solely through the effects of a debauch which had lasted for years with +scarcely an interval of pure sanity. He was beloved by all; he had a +most sweet nature; he was so shrewd and witty that it seemed impossible +for him to be wrong about anything. On his deathbed he talked with +lovely serenity, and he seemed rather like some thrice-noble disciple of +Socrates than like one who had cast away all that the world has worth +holding. He knew every folly that he had committed, and he knew its +exact proportions; he was consulted during his last days by young and +old, who recognized the well-nigh superhuman character of his wisdom; +and yet he had abundantly proved himself to be one of the most unwise +men living. How strange! How infinitely pathetic! Few men of clearer +vision ever came on this earth; but, with his flashing eyes open, he +walked into snare after snare, and the last of the devil's traps caught +him fatally. Even when he was too weak to stir, he said that, if he +could move, he would be sure to take the old path again. Well may the +warning devotees cry, "Have mercy upon us!" Well may they bow themselves +and wail for the weakness of man! Well may they cast themselves humbly +on the bosom of the Infinite Pity! For, of a truth, we are a feeble +folk, and, if we depended only on ourselves, it would be well that +George Eliot's ghastly thought of simultaneous universal suicide should +be put into practice speedily. + +Hark to the appalling words of wisdom uttered by the good man whose name +I never miss mentioning because I wish all gentle souls to refresh +themselves with his ineffable sweetness and tender fun! "Could the youth +to whom the flavour of his first wine is delicious as the opening scenes +of life or the entering upon some newly-discovered paradise look upon my +desolation, and be made to understand what a dreary thing it is when a +man shall feel himself going down a precipice with open eyes and a +passive will--to see his destruction and have no power to stop it, and +yet to feel it all the way emanating from himself--to perceive all +goodness emptied out of him, and yet not be able to forget a time when +it was otherwise--to hear about the piteous spectacle of his own +self-ruin--could he see my fevered eye, feverish with last night's +drinking and feverishly looking for this night's repetition of the +folly--could he feel the body of the death out of which I cry hourly, +with feebler and feebler outcry, to be delivered--it were enough to make +him dash the sparkling beverage to the earth in all the pride of its +mantling temptation, to make him clasp his teeth, + + And not undo 'em + To suffer wet damnation to run thro' 'em." + +Can that be beaten for utter lucidity and directness? Not by any master +of prose known to us--not by any man who ever wrote in prose or in +verse. The vision is so completely convincing, the sense of actuality +given by the words is so haunting, that, not even Dickens could have +equalled it. The man who wrote those searing words is to this day +remembered and spoken of with caressing gentleness by all men of +intellect, refinement, quick fancy, genial humour; the editing of his +works has occupied a great part of the lifetime of a most distinguished +ecclesiastic. Could he avoid the fell horror against which he warned +others? No. With all his dread knowledge, he went on his sorrowful +way--and he remained the victim of his vice until the bitter end. It was +Charles Lamb. + +A gambler is usually the most prodigal of men in the matter of promises. +If he is clever, he is nearly always quite ready to smile mournfully at +his own infatuation, and he will warn inexperienced youngsters--unless +he wants to rob them. + +In sum, intellect, wit, keenness, lucidity of vision, perfect reasoning +power, are all useless in restraining a man from proceeding to ruin +unless some steadying agency is allied with them. After much sad +brooding, I cannot but conclude that a fervent religious faith is the +only thing that will give complete security; and it will be a bitter day +for England and the world if ever flippancy and irreligion become +general. + +_June, 1889._ + + + + +_THE SOCIAL INFLUENCE OF THE "BAR."_ + + +A great American writer has lately given a terrible account of "The +Social Influence of the Saloon" in his country. The article is very +grave, and every word is weighed, but the cold precision of the paper +attracts the reader with a horrible fascination. The author does not so +much regret the enormous waste of money, though he allows that about two +hundred millions of pounds sterling are spent yearly in the States on +strong drink; but he mourns most because of the steady ruin which he +sees overtaking the social happiness of his country. The saloon is +subtly corrupting the men of America, and the ghastly plagues of +selfishness, brutality, and immorality are spreading with cruel +swiftness. The great author's conclusion is more than startling, and I +confess to having caught my breath when I read it. He says in effect, +"We sacrificed a million men in order to do away with slavery, but we +now have working in our midst a curse which is infinitely worse than +slavery. One day we shall be obliged to save ourselves from ruin, even +if we have to stamp out the trade in alcohol entirely, and that by means +of a civil war." Strong words--and yet the man speaks with intense +conviction: and his very quietude only serves to emphasise the awful +nature of his disclosures. As I read on I saw with horror that the +description of the state of things in America accurately fits our own +country. We do not talk of a "saloon" here, but "bar" means the same +thing; and the "bar" is crushing out the higher life of the English +middle-class as surely as the saloon is destroying American manhood. +Amid all our material prosperity, amid all the complexities of our +amazing community, an evil is at work which gathers power daily and +which is actually assassinating, as it were, every moral quality that +has made England strong and beneficent. Begin with a picture. The long +curved counter glistens under the flare of the gas; the lines of gaudy +bottles gleam like vulgar, sham jewelry; the glare, the glitter, the +garish refulgence of the place dazzle the eye, and the sharp acrid +whiffs of vile odour fall on the senses with a kind of mephitic +influence. The evening is wearing away, and the broad space in front of +the bar is crowded. A hoarse crashing babble goes steadily on, forming +the ground-bass of an odious symphony; shrill and discordant laughter +rises by fits and starts above the low tumult; a coarse joke sets one +group sniggering; a vile oath rings out from some foul-mouthed +roysterer; and at intervals some flushed and bleared creature breaks +into a slavering laugh which has a sickly resemblance to weeping. At one +of the side-tables a sodden brute leans forward and wags his head to and +fro with ignoble solemnity; another has fallen asleep and snores at +intervals with a nauseous rattle; smart young men, dressed fashionably, +fling chance witticisms at the busy barmaids, and the nymphs answer with +glib readiness. This is the home of Jollity and Good-fellowship; this is +the place from which Care is banished; this is the happy corner where +the social glass is dispensed. Alas for the jollity and the sociability +and all the rest of it! Force yourself to study the vile spectacle, and +you will soon harbour a brood of aching reflections. The whole of that +chattering, swilling mob are employing their muddled minds on frivolity +or obscenity, or worse things still. You will hear hardly an intelligent +word; you will not catch a sound of sensible discussion; the scraps of +conversation that reach you alternate between low banter, low +squabbling, objectionable narrative, and histories of fights or swindles +or former debauches. + +Middle-aged men tell interminable stories about money or smart strokes +of business; youngsters wink and look unspeakably wise as they talk on +the subject of the spring handicaps; wild spirits tell of their +experiences at a glove-fight in some foul East-end tavern; amorous +exploits are detailed with a fulness and freedom which would extremely +amaze the ladies who form the subject of the conversation. In all the +nasty confusion you never hear a word that can be called manly, unless +you are prepared to allow the manliness of pugilism. Each quarter-hour +sees the company grow more and more incoherent; the laughter gradually +becomes senseless, and loses the last indication of pure merriment; the +reek thickens; the dense air is permeated with queasy smells which rise +from the fusel oil and the sugared beer; the shrewd landlord looks on +with affected jollity, and hails casual friends with effusive imitation +of joy; and last of all "time" is called, and the host of men pour into +the street. They are ready for any folly or mischief, and they are all +more or less unfitted for the next day's work. Strangely enough, many of +those wretched fellows who thus waste time amid sordid surroundings come +from refined homes; but music and books and the quiet pleasant talk of +mothers and sisters are tame after the delirious rattle of the bar, and +thus bright lads go home with-their wits dulled and with a complete +incapacity for coherent speech. Now let it be remembered that no real +friendships are contracted in those odious drinking-shops--something in +the very atmosphere of the place seems to induce selfishness, and a +drinker who goes wrong is never pitied; when evil days come, the smart +landlord shuns the failure, the barmaids sneer at him, and his boon +companions shrink away as though the doomed man were tainted. Monstrous +it is to hear the remarks made about a lost soul who is plunging with +accelerated speed down the steep road to ruin. His companions compare +notes about him, and all his bodily symptoms are described with +truculent glee in the filthy slang of the bar. So long as the wretch has +money he is received with boisterous cordiality, and encouraged to rush +yet faster on the way to perdition; his wildest feats in the way of +mawkish generosity are applauded; and the very men who drink at his +expense go on plucking him and laughing at him until the inevitable +crash comes. I once heard with a kind of chilled horror a narrative +about a fine young man who had died of _delirium tremens_. The narrator +giggled so much that his story was often interrupted; but it ran +thus--"He was very shaky in the morning, and he began on brandy; he took +about six before his hand was steady, and I saw him looking over his +shoulder every now and again. In the afternoon a lot of fellows came in, +and he stood champagne like water to the whole gang. At six o'clock I +wanted him to have a cup of tea, but he said, 'I've had nothing but +booze for three days.' Then he got on to the floor, and said he was +catching rats--so we knew he'd got 'em on.[1] At night he came out and +cleared the street with his sword-bayonet; and it's a wonder he didn't +murder somebody. It took two to hold him down all night, and he had his +last fit at six in the morning. Died screaming!" A burst of laughter +hailed the climax, and then one appreciative friend remarked, "He was a +fool--I suppose he was drunk eleven months out of the last twelve." This +was the epitaph of a bright young athlete who had been possessed of +health, riches, and all fair prospects. No one warned him; none of those +who swilled expensive poisons for which he paid ever refused to accept +his mad generosity; he was cheered down the road to the gulf by the +inane plaudits of the lowest of men; and one who was evidently his +companion in many a frantic drinking-bout could find nothing to say but +"He was a fool!" At this moment there are thousands of youths in our +great towns and cities who are leading the heartless, senseless, +semi-delirious life of the bar, and every possible temptation is put in +their way to draw them from home, from refinement, from high thoughts, +from chaste and temperate modes of life. Horrible it is to hear fine +lads talking familiarly about the "jumpy" sensations which they feel in +the morning. The "jumps" are those involuntary twitchings which +sometimes precede and sometimes accompany _delirium tremens_; the +frightful twitching of the limbs is accompanied by a kind of depression +that takes the very heart and courage out of a man; and yet no one who +travels over these islands can avoid hearing jokes on the dismal +subject made by boys who have hardly reached their twenty-fifth +year. The bar encourages levity, and the levity is unrelieved +by any real gaiety--it is the hysterical feigned merriment of +lost souls. + +[Footnote 1: This is the elegant public-house mode of describing +_delirium tremens_.] + +There are bars of a quieter sort, and there are rooms where middle-aged +topers meet, but these are, if possible, more repulsive than the +clattering dens frequented by dissipated youths. Stout staid-looking +men--fathers of families--gather night after night to sodden themselves +quietly, and they make believe that they are enjoying the pleasures of +good-fellowship. Curious it is to see how the fictitious assertion of +goodwill seems to flourish in the atmosphere of the bar and the parlour. +Those elderly men who sit and smoke in the places described as "cosy" +are woeful examples of the effects of our national curse. They are not +riotous; they are only dull, coarse, and silly. Their talk is confused, +dogmatic, and generally senseless; and, when they break out into +downright foulness of speech, their comparatively silent enjoyment of +detestable stories is a thing to make one shiver. Here again +good-fellowship is absent. Comfortable tradesmen, prosperous dealers, +sharp men who hold good commercial situations, meet to gossip and +exchange dubious stories. They laugh a good deal in a restrained way, +and they are apparently genial; but the hard selfishness of all is plain +to a cool observer. The habit of self-indigence has grown upon them +until it pervades their being, and the corruption of the bar subtly +envenoms their declining years. If good women could only once hear an +evening's conversation that passes among these elderly citizens, they +would be a little surprised. Thoughtful ladies complain that women are +not reverenced in England, and Americans in particular notice with +shame the attitude which middle-class Englishmen adopt towards ladies. +If the people who complain could only hear how women are spoken of in +the homes of Jollity, they would feel no more amazement at a distressing +social phenomenon. The talk which is chuckled over by men who have +daughters of their own is something to make an inexperienced individual +redden. Reverence, nobility, high chivalry, common cleanliness, cannot +flourish in the precincts of the bar, and there is not an honest man who +has studied with adequate opportunities who will deny that the social +glass is too often taken to an accompaniment of sheer uncleanness. Why +have not our moral novelists spoken the plain truth about these things? +We have many hideous pictures of the East-end drinking-bars, and much +reproachful pity is expended on the "residuum;" but the evil that is +eating at the very heart of the nation, the evil that is destroying our +once noble middle-class, finds no assailant and no chronicler. Were it +not for the athletic sports which happily engage the energies of +thousands of young men, our middle-class would degenerate with appalling +rapidity. But, in spite of athletics, the bar claims its holocaust of +manhood year by year, and the professional moralists keep silence on the +matter. Some of them say that they cannot risk hurting the sensibilities +of innocent maidens. What nonsense! Those maidens all have a chance of +becoming the wives of men who have suffered deterioration in the reek +and glare of the bar. How many sorrowing wives are now hiding their +heart-break and striving to lure their loved ones away from the curse of +curses! If the moralists could only look on the mortal pathos of the +letters which I receive, they would see that the maidens about whom +they are so nervous are the very people who should be summoned as allies +in our fight against a universal enemy. If our brave sweet English girls +once learn the nature of the temptations to which their brothers and +lovers are exposed, they will use every force of their pure souls to +save the men whom they can influence from a doom which is death in life. + +_May, 1887._ + + + + +_FRIENDSHIP_. + + +The memoirs that are now poured into the book-market certainly tend to +breed cynicism in the minds of susceptible persons, for it appears that +to many eminent men and women of our generation friendship was almost an +unknown sentiment. As we read one spiteful paragraph after another, we +begin to wonder whether the living men around us resemble the dead +purveyors of scandal. The fashionable mode of proceeding nowadays is to +leave diaries crammed with sarcasm, give some unhappy friend orders to +wait until you are settled in the grave, and then confound your friends +and foes by attacks which come to the light long after your ears are +deaf to praise and blame. Samuel Wilberforce went into the choicest +society that Britain could show; he was the confidant of many people, +and he contrived to charm all but a few cross-grained critics. His good +humour seemed inexhaustible; and those who saw his cherubic face beaming +sweetly on the company at banquets or assemblies fancied that so +delightful a man was never known before. But this suave, unctuous +gentleman, who fascinated every one, from Queen to cottager, spent a +pretty fair share of his life in writing vicious witticisms and scandals +concerning the folk with whom he seemed to be on affectionate terms. At +nights, after spending his days in working and bowing and smiling and +winning the hearts of men, he went home and poured out all the venom +that was in his heart. When his memoirs appeared, all the most select +social circles in the country were driven into a serious flutter. No one +was spared; and, as some of the statements made by Wilberforce were, to +say the least, a little sweeping, a violent paper warfare began, which +has hardly ceased raging even now. Happy and contented men who believed +that the Bishop loved and admired them were surprised to find that he +had disliked and despised them. Moreover, the naughty diarist had an +ugly habit of recording men's private conversations; and thus a good +many sayings which should have been kept secret became public property. +A very irreverent wag wrote-- + + How blest was he who'd ne'er consent + With Wilberforce to walk, + Nor dined with Soapy Sam, nor let + The Bishop hear him talk! + +and this crude epigram expressed the feelings of numbers of enraged and +scandalized individuals. The wretched book gave us an ugly picture of a +hollow society where kindness seemed non-existent, and where every man +walked with his head in a cloud of poisonous flies. As more memoirs +appeared, it was most funny to observe that, while Wilberforce was +occupied in scarifying his dear friends, some of his dear friends were +occupied in scarifying him. Thus we find Abraham Hayward, a polished +leader of society, writing in the following way of Wilberforce, with +whom ostensibly his relations were of the most affectionate +description--"Wilberforce is really a low fellow. Again and again the +committee of the Athenaeum Club have been obliged to reprove him for +his vulgar selfishness." This is dreadful! No wonder that petty cynics +snarl and rejoice; they say, "Look at your great men, and see what mean +backbiters they are!" Alas! + +Thomas Carlyle's memoirs are a kind of graveyard of reputations; and we +can well understand the rage and horror with which many individuals +protested against the fierce Scotchman's strictures. In the hearts of +thousands of noble young people Carlyle's memory was cherished like that +of some dear saint; and it was terrible to find that the strong prophet +had been penetrated by such a virus of malice. Carlyle met all the best +men and women in England; but the only ones whom he did not disparage +were Tennyson, the Duke of Wellington, Mr. Froude, and Emerson. He +could not talk even of Charles Darwin without calling him an imbecile; +and his all-round hitting at his closest intimates is simply merciless. +The same perversity which made him talk of Keats's "maudlin weak-eyed +sensibility" caused him to describe his loyal, generous, high-bred +friend Lord Houghton as a "nice little robin-redbreast of a man;" while +Mrs. Basil Montagu, who cheered him and spared no pains to aid him in +the darkest times, is now immortalized by one masterly venomous +paragraph. Carlyle was great--very great--but really the cultivation of +loyal friendships seems hardly to have been in his line. Men who know +his works by heart, and who derived their noblest inspiration from him, +cannot bear to read his memoirs twice over, for it sadly appears as +though the Titan had defiled the very altar of friendship. + +What shall we say of the cunning cat-like Charles Greville, who crept +on tiptoe through the world, observing and recording the littleness of +men? His stealthy eye missed nothing; and the men whom he flattered and +used little thought that the wizened dandy who pleased them with his +old-world courtesy was chronicling their weakness and baseness for all +time. A nobly patriotic Ministry came before the world with a flourish +of trumpets, and declared that England must fight Russia in defence of +public law, freedom, and other holy things. But the wicked diarist had +watched the secret proceedings of his dear friends; and he informs us +that those beloved intimates were all sound asleep when a single +Minister decided on the movement which cost us forty thousand men and +one hundred millions of treasure. That close sly being used--to worm out +the secrets of men's innermost hearts; and his impassive mask never +showed a sign of emotion. To illustrate his mode of extracting the +information of which he made such terrible use, I may tell one trivial +anecdote which has never before been made public. When Greville was very +old, he went to see a spiritualistic "medium" who was attracting +fashionable London. The charlatan looked at the gray worn old man and +thought himself safe; four other visitors attended the _seance_, but the +"medium" bestowed all his attention on Greville. With much emotion he +cried, "There is an aged lady behind your chair!" Greville remarked +sweetly, "How interesting!" "She is very, very like you!" "Who can it +be?" murmured Greville. "She lifts her hands to bless you. Her hands are +now resting over your head!" shouted the medium; and the pallid +emotionless man said, with a slight tremor in his voice, "Pray tell me +who this mysterious visitant may be!" "It is your mother." "Oh," said +Greville, "I am delighted to hear that!" "She says she is perfectly +happy, and she watches you constantly." "Dear soul!" muttered the +imperturbable one. "She tells me you will join her soon, and be happy +with her." Then Greville said gravely, in dulcet tones, "That is +extremely likely, for I am going to take tea with her at five o'clock!" +He had led on the poor swindler in his usual fashion; and he never +hinted at the fact that his mother was nearly a century old. His friends +were "pumped" in the same subtle manner; and the immortally notorious +memoirs are strewn with assassinated characters. + +As we study the phenomena indicated by these memoirs, we begin to wonder +whether friendship is or is not extinct. Men are gregarious, and flocks +of them meet together at all hours of the day and night. They exchange +conventional words of greeting, they wear happy smiles, they are +apparently cordial and charming' one with another; and yet a rigidly +accurate observer may look mournfully for signs of real friendship. How +can it exist? The men and women who pass through the whirl of a London +season cannot help regarding their fellow-creatures rather as lay +figures than as human beings. They go to crowded balls and seething +"receptions," not to hold any wise human converse, but only to be able +to say that they were in such and such a room on a certain night. The +glittering crowds fleet by like shadows, and no man has much chance of +knowing his neighbour's heart. + + How fast the flitting figures come-- + The mild, the fierce, the stony face; + Some bright with thoughtless smiles, and some + Where secret tears have left their trace! + +Ah, it is only the faces that the tired pleasure-seeker sees and knows; +the real comrade, the human soul, is hidden away behind the mask! + +Genuine heroic friendship cannot flourish in an artificial society; and +that perhaps accounts for the fact that the curled darlings of our +modern community spend much of their leisure in reading papers devoted +to tattle and scandal. It seems as though the search after pleasure +poisoned the very sources of nobleness in the nature of men. In our +monstrous city a man may live without a quarrel for forty years; he may +be popular, he may be received with genial greetings wherever he +goes--and yet he has no friend. He lingers through his little day; and, +when he passes away, the change is less heeded than would be the removal +of a chair from a club smoking-room. When I see the callous indifference +with which illness, misfortune, and death are regarded by the dainty +classes, I can scarcely wonder when irate philosophers denounce polite +society as a pestilent and demoralizing nuisance. Among the people +airily and impudently called "the lower orders" noble friendships are by +no means uncommon. "I can't bear that look on your face, Bill. I'm +coming to save you or go with you!" said a rough sailor as he sprang +into a raging sea to help his shipmate. "I'm coming, old fellow!" +shouted the mate of a merchant-vessel; and he dived overboard among the +mountainous seas that were rolling south of Cape Horn one January. For +an hour this hero fought with the blinding water, and he saved his +comrade at last. Strange to say, the lounging impassive dandies who +regard the universe with a yawn, and who sneer at the very notion of +friendship, develop the kindly and manly virtues when they are removed +from the enervating atmosphere of Society and forced to lead a hard +life. A man to whom emotion, passion, self-sacrifice, are things to be +mentioned with a curl of the lip, departs on a campaign, and amid +squalor, peril, and grim horrors he becomes totally unselfish. Men who +have watched our splendid military officers in the field are apt to +think that a society which converts such generous souls into +self-seeking fribbles must be merely poisonous. The more we study the +subject the more clearly we can see that where luxury flourishes +friendship withers. In the vast suffering Russian nation friendships are +at this very moment cherished to the heroic pitch. A mighty people are +awakening, as it were, from sleep; the wicked and corrupt still sit in +high places, but among the weltering masses of the populace purity and +nobleness are spreading, and such friendships are fostered as never have +been shadowed forth in story or song. Sophie Peroffsky mounts the +scaffold with four other doomed mortals; she never thinks of her own +approaching agony--she only longs to comfort her friends and she kisses +them and greets them with cheering words until the last dread moment +arrives. Poor little Marie Soubotine--sweetest of perverted children, +noblest of rebels--refuses to purchase her own safety by uttering a word +to betray her sworn friend. For three years she lingers on in an +underground dungeon, and then she is sent on the wild road to Siberia; +she dies amid gloom and deep suffering, but no torture can unseal her +lips; she gladly gives her life to save another's. Antonoff endures the +torture, but no agony can make him prove false to his friends. When his +captors give him a respite from the thumbscrews and the red-hot wires +that are thrust under his nails, he forgets his own torment, and +scratches on his plate his cipher signals to his comrades. Those men and +women in that awful country are lawless and dangerous, but they are +heroic, and they are true friends one to another. + +How far we proud islanders must have forsaken for a time the road to +nobleness when we are able to exalt the saying "A full purse is the only +true friend" into a representative English proverb! We do not rage and +foam as Timon did--that would be ill-bred and ludicrous; we simply smile +and utter delicate mockeries. In the plays that best please our golden +youth nothing is so certain to win applause and laughter as a sentence +about the treachery or greed of friends. Do those grinning, +superlatively insolent cynics really represent the mighty Mother of +Nations? Ah, no! If even the worst of them were thrust away into some +region where life was hard for him, he would show something like +nobility and manliness; it is the mephitic airs of ease and luxury that +breed selfishness and scorn in his soul. At any rate, those effeminate +people are not typical specimens of our steadfast friendly race. When +the folk in the colliery village hear that deadly thud and feel the +shudder of the earth which tell of disaster, Jack the hewer rushes to +the pit's mouth and joins the search-party. He knows that the gas may +grip him by the throat, and that the heavy current of dissolution may +creep through his veins; but his mate is down there in the workings, +and he must needs save him or die in the attempt. Greater love hath no +man than this. Ah, yes--the poor collier is indeed ready to lay down his +life for his friend! The fiery soldier, William Beresford, sees a +comrade in peril; a horde of infuriated savages are rushing up, and +there is only one pony to carry the two Englishmen. Beresford calls, +"Jump up behind me!" but the friend answers, "No; save yourself! I can +die, and I won't risk your life." Then the undignified but decidedly +gallant Beresford observes, "If you don't come, I'll punch your head!" +The pony canters heavily off; one stumble would mean death, but the +dauntless fighting man brings in his friend safely, though only by the +skin of his teeth. It is absolutely necessary for the saving of our +moral health that we should turn away from the dreary flippancy of an +effete society to such scenes as those. If we regarded only the pampered +classes, then we might well think that true human fellowship had +perished, and a starless darkness--worse almost than Atheism--would fall +on the soul. But we are not all corrupt, and the strong brave heart of +our people still beats true. Young men cherish manly affection for +friends, and are not ashamed to show it; sweet girls form friendships +that hold until the maidens become matrons and till the shining locks +have turned to silver white. Wherever men are massed together the +struggle for existence grows keen, and selfishness and cynicism thrust +up their rank growths. "Pleasure" blunts the moral sense and converts +the natural man into a noxious being; but happily our people are sound +at the core, and it will be long ere cynicism and corruption are +universal. The great healthy middle-class is made up of folk who would +regard a writer of spiteful memoirs as a mere bravo; they have not +perhaps the sweetness and light which Mr. Arnold wished to bestow on +them, but at any rate they have a certain rough generosity, and they +have also a share of that self-forgetfulness which alone forms the basis +of friendship. Having that, they can do without Carlyle's learning and +Wilberforce's polish, and they can certainly do without the sour malice +of the historian and the prelate. + +_July, 1887._ + + + + +_DISASTERS AT SEA_. + + +During last year the register of slaughter on the ocean was worse than +any ever before seen since the _Royal Charter_ took her crew to +destruction; and it seems as though matters were growing worse and +worse. One dismal old story is being repeated week in, week out. In +thick weather or clear weather--it does not seem to matter which--two +vessels approach each other, and the presiding officers on board of each +are quite satisfied and calm; then, on a sudden, one vessel shifts her +course, there are a few hurried and maddened ejaculations, and then +comes a crash. After that, the ugly tale may be continued in the same +terms over and over again; the boats cannot be cleared away, the vessels +drift apart, and both founder, or one is left crippled. I shall have +something to say about the actual effects of a collision presently, but +I may first go on to name some other kinds of disaster. A heavy sea is +rolling, and occasionally breaking, and a vessel is lumbering along from +crest to hollow of the rushing seas; a big wall of water looms over her +for a second, and then comes crashing down; the deck gives way--there +are no water-tight compartments--and the ship becomes suddenly as +unmanageable as a mere cask in a seaway. Again, a plate is wrenched, and +some villainously-made rivets jump out of their places like buttons from +an over-tight bodice; in ten minutes the vessel is wallowing, ready for +her last plunge; and very likely the crew have not even the forlorn +chance of taking to the boats. Once more--on a clear night in the +tropics an emigrant ship is stealing softly through the water; the merry +crowd on deck has broken up, the women, poor creatures, are all locked +up in their quarters, and only a few men remain to lounge and gossip. +The great stars hang like lamps from the solemn dome of the sky, and the +ripples are painted with exquisite serpentine streaks; the wind hums +softly from the courses of the sails, and some of the men like to let +the cool breeze blow over them. Everything seems so delightfully placid +and clear that the thought of danger vanishes; no one would imagine that +even a sea-bird could come up unobserved over that starlit expanse of +water. But the ocean is treacherous in light and shade. The loungers +tell their little stories and laugh merrily; the officer of the watch +carelessly stumps forward from abreast of the wheel, looks knowingly +aloft, twirls round like a teetotum, and stumps back again; and the +sweet night passes in splendour, until all save one or two home-sick +lingerers are happy. It never occurs to any of these passengers to +glance forward and see whether a streak of green fire seems to strike +out from the starboard--the right-hand side of the vessel--or whether a +shaft of red shoots from the other side. As a matter of fact, the vessel +is going on like a dark cloud over the flying furrows of the sea; but +there is very little of the cloud about her great hull, for she would +knock a house down if she hit it when travelling at her present rate. +The captain is a thrifty man, and the owners are thrifty persons; they +consider the cost of oil; and thus, as it is a nice clear night, the +side-lights are not lit, and the judgment of the tramping look-out man +on the forecastle-head is trusted. Parenthetically I may say that, +without being in any way disposed to harbour exaggerated sentiment, I +feel almost inclined to advocate death for any sailor who runs in +mid-ocean without carrying his proper lights out. I once saw a big iron +barque go grinding right from the bulge of the bow to the stern of an +ocean steamer--and that wretched barque had no lights. Half a yard's +difference, and both vessels would have sunk. Three hundred and fifty +people were sleeping peacefully on board the steamer, and the majority +of them must have gone down, while those who were saved would have had a +hard time in the boats. Strange to say, that very same steamer was +crossed by another vessel which carried no lights: but this time the +result was bad, for the steamer went clean through the other ship and +sank her instantly. + +To return to the emigrant vessel. The officer continues his tramp like +one of the caged animals of a menagerie; the spare man of the watch +leans against the rail and hums-- + + We'll go no more by the light of the moon; + The song is done, and we've lost the tune, + So I'll go no more a-roving with you, fair maid-- + A-roving, A-roving, &c. + +--the pipes glow in the clear air, and the flying water bubbles and +moans. Oh, yes, all is well--beautifully well--and we need no lights +whatever! Then the look-out man whistles "Hist!"--which is quite an +unusual mode of signalling; the officer ceases his monotonous tramp and +runs forward. "Luff a little!" "He's still bearing up. Why doesn't he +keep away?" "Luff a little more! Stand by your lee-braces. Oh, he'll go +clear!" So the low clear talk goes, till at last with a savage yell of +rage a voice comes from the other vessel--"Where you coming to?" "Hard +down with it!" "He's into us!" "Clear away your boats!" Then there is a +sound like "smack." Then comes a long scraunch, and a thunderous rattle +of blocks; a sail goes with a report like a gun; the vessels bump a few +times, and then one draws away, leaving the other with bows staved in. A +wild clamour surges up from below, but there is no time to heed that; +the men toil like Titans, and the hideous music of prayers and curses +disturbs the night. Then the vessel that was hit amidships rolls a +little, and there is a gurgle like that of an enormous, weir: a mast +goes with a sharp report; a man's figure appears on the taffrail and +bounds far into the sea--it is an experienced hand who wants to escape +the down-draught; the hull shudders, grows steady, and then with one +lurch the ship swashes down and the bellowing vortex throws up huge +spirts of boiling spray. A few stray swimmers are picked up, but the +rest of the company will be seen nevermore. Fancy those women in that +darkened steerage! Think of it, and then say what should be done to an +owner who stints his officers in the matter of lamp-oil; or to a captain +who does not use what the owner provides! The huddled victims wake from +confused slumbers; some scream--some become insane on the instant; the +children add their shrill clamour to the mad rout; and the water roars +in. Then the darkness grows thick, and the agonized crowd tear and +throttle each other in fierce terror; and then approaches the +slowly-coming end. Oh, how often--how wearily often--have such scenes +been enacted on the face of this fair world! And all to save a little +lamp-oil! + +Yet again--a great vessel plunges away to sea bearing a precious freight +of some one thousand souls. Perhaps the owners reckon the cargo in the +hold as being worth more than the human burden; but of course opinions +differ. The wild rush from one border of the ocean to the other goes on +for a few days and nights, and the tremendous structure of steel cleaves +the hugest waves as though they were but clouds. Down below the +luxurious passengers live in their fine hotel, and the luckier ones are +quite happy and ineffably comfortable. If a sunny day breaks, then the +pallid battalions in the steerage come up to the air, and the ship's +deck is like a long animated street. A thousand souls, we said? True! +Now let some quiet observant man of the sailorly sort go round at night +and count the boats. Twelve, and the gig aft makes thirteen! Allowing a +tremendously large average, this set of boats might actually carry six +hundred persons; but the six hundred would need to sit very carefully +even in smooth water, and a rush might capsize any one boat. + +The vast floating hotel spins on at twenty miles an hour--a speed that +might possibly shame some of the railways that run from London +suburbs--and the officers want to save every yard. No care is omitted; +three men are on the bridge at night, there is a starboard look-out, a +port look-out, and the quartermaster patrols amidships and sees that the +masthead light is all right The officer and the look-out men pass the +word every half-hour, and nothing escapes notice. If some unlucky +steerage passenger happens to strike a light forward, he stands a very +good chance of being put in irons; and, if there is a patient in the +deck-house, the windows must be darkened with thick cloths. Each +officer, on hazy nights, improvises a sort of hood for himself; and he +peers forward as if life depended on his eyesight--as indeed it does. +But there comes a bright evening, and the monster liner's journey is all +but over; three hours more of steaming and she will be safe. A little +schooner comes skimming up on the port side--and the schooner is to the +liner as a chip is to a tree-trunk. The schooner holds on her course, +for she is not bound to give way at all; but the officer on the bridge +of the steamer thinks, "I shall lose a quarter of an hour if I edge away +to starboard and let him fall astern of us. I shall keep right on and +shave his bows." The liner is going at nineteen knots, the schooner is +romping along at eight--yet the liner cannot clear the little vessel. +There comes a fresh gust of wind; the sailing vessel lies over to it, +and just touches the floating hotel amidships--but the touch is enough +to open a breach big enough for a coach and four to go through. The +steamer's head is laid for the land and every ounce of steam is put on, +but she settles and settles more and more. And now what about the +thirteen boats for a thousand people? There is a wild scuffling, wild +outcry. Women bite their lips and-try, with divine patience, to crush +down all appearance of fear, and to keep their limbs from trembling; +some unruly fellows are kept in check only by terror of the revolver; +and the officers remember that their fair name and their hope of earthly +redemption are at stake. In one case of this sort it took three mortal +hours to ferry the passengers and crew over smooth water to the +rescuing vessel; and those rescued folk may think themselves the most +fortunate of all created souls, for, if the liner had been hit with an +impetus of a few more tons, very few on board of her would have lived to +tell the tale. Unless passengers, at the risk of being snubbed and +threatened, criticise the boat accommodation of great steamers, there +will be such a disaster one day as will make the world shudder. + +The pitiful thing is to know how easily all this might be prevented. +Until one has been on board a small vessel which has every spar, bolt, +iron, and plank sound, one can have no idea how perfectly safe a +perfectly-built ship is in any sort of weather. A schooner of one +hundred and fifty tons was caught in a hurricane which was so powerful +that the men had to hang on where they could, even before the flattened +foaming sea rose from its level rush and began to come on board. All +round were vessels in distress; the scare caused many of the seamen to +forget their lights, and the ships lumbered on, first to collision, and +then to that crashing plunge which takes all hands down. The little +schooner was actually obliged to offer assistance to a big +mail-steamer--and yet she might have been rather easily carried by that +same steamer. But the little vessel's lights were watched with sedulous +care; the blasts might tear at her scanty canvas, but there was not a +rag or a rope that would give way; and, although the awful rush of the +gale carried her within eight miles of a rocky lee-shore, her captain +had sufficient confidence in the goodness of his gear to begin sailing +his ship instead of keeping her hove to. One rope faulty, one light +wrong, one hand out of his place at the critical time, and the bones of +a pleasant ship's company would have been strewn on a bleak shore: but +everything was right, and the tiny craft drew away like a seagull when +she was made to sail. Of course the sea ran clean over her, but she +forged quietly on until she was thirty miles clear of those foaming +breakers that roared on the cliffs. During that night more good seamen +were drowned than one would like to number; ships worth a king's ransom +were utterly lost. And why? Simply because they had not the perfect gear +which saved the little schooner. Even had the little craft been sent +over until she refused to rise again to the sea, the boats were ready, +and everybody on board had a good chance. Care first of all is needed, +and then fear may be banished. The smart agent reads his report glibly +to the directors of a steamboat company--and yet I have seen such smart +agents superintending the departure of vessels whereof the appearance +was enough to make a good judge quake for the safety of crew and cargo. + +What do I advise? Well, in the first place, I must remind shoregoing +folk that a sound well-found vessel will live through anything. Let +passengers beware of lines which pay a large dividend and show nothing +on their balance-sheets to allow for depreciation. In the next place, if +any passenger on a long voyage should see that the proper lights are not +shown, he ought to wake up his fellow passengers at any hour of the +night, and go with his friends to threaten the captain. Never mind +bluster or oaths--merely say, "If your lights are not shown, you may +regard your certificate as gone." If that does not bring the gentleman +to his senses, nothing will. Again, take care in any case that no raw +foreign seamen are allowed to go on the look-out in any vessel, for a +misunderstood shout at a critical moment may bring sudden doom on +hundreds of unsuspecting fellow-creatures. Above all, see that the +water-casks in every boat are kept full. In this way the sea tragedies +may be a little lessened in their hateful number. + +_March, 1889._ + + + + +_A RHAPSODY OF SUMMER_. + + +There came into my life a time of strenuous effort, and I drank all the +joys of labour to the lees. When the rich dark midnights of summer +drooped over the earth, I could hardly bear to think of the hours of +oblivion which must pass ere I felt the delight of work once more. And +the world seemed very beautiful; and, when I looked up to the solemn +sky, so sweetly sown with stars, I could see stirring words like "Fame" +and "Gladness" and "Triumph" written dimly across the vault; so that my +heart was full of rejoicing, and all the world promised fair. In those +immortal midnights the sea spoke wonderful things to me, and the long +rollers glittering under the high moon bore health and bright promise as +they hastened to the shore. And, when the ships stole--oh, so +silently!--out of the shadows and moved over the diamond track of the +moon's light, I sent my heart out to the lonely seamen and prayed that +they might be joyous like me. Then the ringing of the song of +multitudinous birds sounded in the hours of dawn, and the tawny-throated +king of songsters made my pulses tremble with his wild ecstasy; and the +blackbird poured forth mellow defiance, and the thrush shrilled in his +lovely fashion concerning the joy of existence. + +Pass, dreams! The long beams are drawn from the bosom of dawn. The gray +of the quiet sea quickens into rose, and soon the glittering serpentine +streaks of colour quiver into a blaze; the brown sands glow, and the +little waves run inward, showing milky curves under the gay light; the +shoregoing boats come home, and their sails--those coarse tanned +sails--are like flowers that wake with the daisies and the peonies to +feast on the sun. Happy holiday-makers who are wise enough to watch the +fishers come in! The booted thickly-clad fellows plunge into the shallow +water; and then the bare-footed women come down, and the harvest of the +night is carried up the cliffs before the most of the holiday-folk have +fairly awakened. The proud day broadens to its height, and the sands are +blackened by the growing crowd; for the beach near a fashionable +watering-place is like a section cut from a turbulent city street, save +that the folk on the sands think of aught but business. I have never +been able to sympathize with those who can perceive only vulgarity in a +seaside crowd. It is well to care for deserted shores and dark moaning +forests in the far North; but the average British holiday-maker is a +sociable creature; he likes to feel the sense of companionship, and his +spirits rise in proportion to the density of the crowd amid which he +disports himself. To me, the life, the concentrated enjoyment, the ways +of the children who are set free from the trammels of town life, are all +like so much poetry. I learned early to rejoice in silent sympathy with +the rejoicing of God's creatures. Only to watch the languid pose of some +steady toiler from the City is enough to give discontented people a +goodly lesson. The man has been ground in the mill for a year; his +modest life has left him no time for enjoyment, and his ideas of all +pleasure are crude. Watch him as he remains passively in an ecstasy of +rest. The cries of children, the confused jargon of the crowd, fall but +faintly on his nerves; he likes the sensation of being in company; he +has a dim notion of the beauty of the vast sky with its shining +snowy-bosomed clouds, and he lets the light breeze blow over him. I like +to look on that good citizen and contrast the dull round of his +wayfarings on many streets with the ease and satisfaction of his +attitude on the sands. Then the night comes. The dancers are busy, the +commonplace music is made refined by distance, and the murmur of the sea +gathers power over all other sounds, until the noon of night arrives and +the last merry voices are heard no more. Poor harmless revellers, so +condemned by men whose round of life is a search for pleasure! Many of +you do not understand or care for quiet refinements of dress and +demeanour; you lack restraint; but I have felt much gladness while +demurely watching your abandonment. I could draw rest for my soul from +the magnetic night long after you were aweary and asleep; but much of my +pleasure came as a reflection from yours. + +As my memories of sweetness--yes, and of purifying sadness--gather more +thickly, I am minded to wonder that so much has been vouchsafed me +rather than to mourn over shadowy might-have-beens. The summer day by +the deep lovely lake--the lake within sound of the sea! All round the +steep walls that shut in the dark glossy water there hung rank festoons +and bosses of brilliant green, and the clear reflections of the weeds +and flowers hung so far down in the mysterious deeps that the height of +the rocky wall seemed stupendous. Far over in one tremendously deep +pool the lazy great fish wallowed and lunged; they would not show their +speckled sides very much until the evening; but they kept sleepily +moving all day, and sometimes a mighty back would show like a log for an +instant. In the morning the modest ground-larks cheeped softly among the +rough grasses on the low hills, while the proud heaven-scaler--the +lordly kinsman of the ground-lark--filled the sky with his lovely +clamour. Sometimes a water-rail would come out from the sedges and walk +on the surface of the lake as a tiny ostrich might on the shifting sand; +pretty creatures of all sorts seemed to find their homes near the deep +wonderful water, and the whole morning might be passed in silently +watching the birds and beasts that came around. The gay sun made streams +of silver fire shoot from the polished brackens and sorrel, the purple +geraniums gleamed like scattered jewels, and the birds seemed to be +joyful in presence of that manifold beauty--joyful as the quiet human +being who watched them all. And the little fishes in the shallows would +have their fun as well. They darted hither and thither; the spiny +creatures which the schoolboy loves built their queer nests among the +waterweeds; and sometimes a silly adventurer--alarmed by the majestic +approach of a large fish--would rush on to the loamy bank at the shallow +end of the lake and wriggle piteously in hopeless failure. The +afternoons were divinely restful by the varied shores of the limpid +lake. Sometimes as the sun sloped there might come hollow blasts of wind +that had careered for a brief space over the woods; but the brooding +heat, the mastering silence, the feeling that multifarious quiescent +living things were ready to start into action, all took the senses with +somnolence. That drowsy joy, that soothing silence which seemed only +intensified by the murmur of bees and the faint gurgle of water, were +like medicine to the soul; and it seemed that the conception of Nirvana +became easily understood as the delicious open-air reverie grew more and +more involved and vague. Then the last look of the sun, the creeping +shadows that made the sea gray and turned the little lake to an inky +hue, and then the slow fall of the quiet-coloured evening, and, last, +the fall of the mystic night! + +Poor little birds, moving uneasily in the darkness, threw down tiny +fragments from the rocks, and each fragment fell with a sound like the +clink of a delicate silver bell; softly the sea moaned, softly the +night-wind blew, and softly--so softly!--came whispering the spirits of +the dead. Joyous faces could be seen by that lake long, long ago. In +summer, when the lower rim was all blazing with red and yellow flowers, +young lovers came to whisper and gaze. They are dead and gone. In +winter, when the tarn was covered with jetty glossy ice, there were +jovial scenes whereof the jollity was shared by a happy few. Round and +round on the glossy surface the skaters flew and passed like gliding +ghosts under the gloom of the rocks; the hiss of the iron sounded +musically, and the steep wall flung back sharp echoes of harmless +laughter. Each volume of sound was magically magnified, and the gay +company carried on their pleasant outing far into the chili winter +night. They are all gone! One was there oftenest in spring and summer, +and the last sun-rays often made her golden hair shine in splendour as +she stood gazing wistfully over the solemn lake. She saw wonders there +that coarser spirits could not know; and all her gentle musings passed +into poetry--poetry that was seldom spoken. Those who loved her never +cared to break her sacred stillness as she pondered by the side of the +beloved tarn; her language was not known to common folk, for she held +high converse with the great of old time; and, when she chanced to speak +with me, I understood but dimly, though I had all the sense of beauty +and mystery. A shipwrecked sailor said she looked as if she belonged to +God. Her Master claimed her early. Dear, your yellow hair will shine no +more in the sun that you loved; you have long given over your +day-dreams--and you are now dreamless. Or perhaps you dwell amid the +silent glory of one last long dream of those you loved. The gorse on the +moor moans by your grave, the brackens grow green and tall and wither +into dead gold year by year, the lake gleams gloomily in fitful flashes +amid its borders of splendour; and you rest softly while the sea calls +your lullaby nightly. Far off, far off, my soul, by quiet seas where the +lamps of the Southern Cross hang in the magnificence of the purple sky, +there is one who remembers the lake, and the glassy ice, and the blaze +of pompous summer, and the shining of that yellow hair. Peace--oh, +peace! The sorrow has passed into quiet pensive regret that is nigh akin +to gladness. + +How many other ineffable days and nights have I known? All who can feel +the thrilling of sea-winds, all who can have even one day amid grass and +fair trees, grasp the time of delight, enjoy all beauties, do not pass +in coarseness one single minute; and then, when the Guide comes to point +your road through the strange gates, you may be like me--you may repine +at nothing, for you will have much good to remember and scanty evil. It +is good for me now to think of the thundering rush of the yacht as, with +the great mainsail drawing heavily, she roared through the field of foam +made by her own splendid speed, while the inky waves on the dim horizon +moaned and the dark summer midnight brooded warmly over the dark sea. It +is good to think of the strange days when the vessel was buried in +wreaths of dark cloud, and the rush of the wind only drove the haze +screaming among the shrouds. The vast dim mountains might not be +pleasant to the eye of either seaman or landsman; but, when they poured +their thundering deluge on a strong safe deck, we did not mind them. +Happy hearts were there even in stormy warring afternoons; and men +watched quite placidly as the long grim hills came gliding on. Then in +the evenings there were chance hours when the dim forecastle was a +pleasant place in bad weather. The bow of the vessel swayed wildly; the +pitching seemed as if it might end in one immense supreme dive to the +gulf, and the mad storming of the wind forced us to utter our simple +talk in loudest tones. Gruff kindly phrases, without much wit or point, +were good enough for us; perhaps even the appalling dignitary--yes, even +the mate--would crawl in; and we listened to lengthy disjointed stories. +And all the while the tremendous howl of the storm went on, and the +merry lads who went out on duty had to rush wildly so as to reach the +alley when a very heavy sea came over. The sense of strength was +supreme; the crash of the gale was nothing; and we rather hugged +ourselves on the notion that the fierce screaming meant us no harm. The +curls of smoke flitted softly amid the blurred yellow beams from the +lamp, and our chat went on while the monstrous billows grew blacker and +blacker and the spray shone like corpse-candles on the mystic and mighty +hills. And then the hours of the terrible darkness! To leave the swept +deck while every vein tingled with the ecstasy of the gale! The dull +warmth below was exquisite; the sly creatures which crept from their, +dens and let the lamplight shine on their weird eyes--even the gamesome +rats--had something merrily diabolic about them. Their thuds on the +floor, their sordid swarming, their inexplicable daring--all gave a kind +of minor current of _diablerie_ to the rush and hurry of the stormy +night; for they seemed to speak--and the creatures which on shore are +odious appeared to be quite in place in the soaring groaning vessel. Ah, +my brave forecastle lads, my merry tan-faced favourites, I shall no more +see your quaint squalor, I shall no more see your battle with wind and +savage waves and elemental turmoil! Some of you have passed to the +shadows before me; some of you have only the ooze for your graves; and +the others cannot ever hear my greeting again on the sweet mornings when +the waves are all gay with lily-hued blossoms of foam. + + Pale beyond porch and portal, + Crowned with dark flowers she stands, + Who gathers all things mortal + With cold immortal hands. + +Gathers! And Proserpina will strew the flowers of foam that I may never +see more--and then she will gather me. + +All was good in the time of delight--all is good now that only a memory +clings lovingly to the heart. Take my counsel. Rejoice in your day, and +the night shall carry no dread for you. + +_June, 1889._ + + + + +_LOST DAYS._ + + +I fully recognize the fact which the Frenchman flippantly stated--that +no human beings really believe that death is inevitable until the last +clasp of the stone-cold king numbs their pulses. Perhaps this +insensibility is a merciful gift; at any rate, it is a fact. If belief +came home with violence to our minds, we should suffer from a sort of +vertigo; but the merciful dullness which the Frenchman perceived and +mocked in his epigram saves us all the miseries of apprehension. This is +very curiously seen among soldiers when they know that they must soon go +into action. The soldiers chat together on the night before the attack; +they know that some of them must go down; they actually go so far as to +exchange messages thus--"If anything happens to me, you know, Bill, I +want you to take that to the old people. You give me a note or anything +else you have; and, if we get out of the shindy, we can hand the things +back again." After confidences of this sort, the men chat on; and I +never yet knew or heard of one who did not speak of his own safe return +as a matter of course. When a brigade charges, there may be a little +anxiety at first; but the whistle of the first bullet ends all +misgivings, and the fellows grow quite merry, though it may be that half +of them are certain to be down on the ground before the day is over. A +man who is struck may know well that he will pass away: but he will +rise up feebly to cheer on his comrades--nay, he will ask questions, as +the charging troops pass him, as to the fate of Bill or Joe, or the +probable action of the Heavies, or similar trifles. + +In the fight of life we all behave much as the soldiers do in the crash +and hurry of battle. If we reason the matter out with a semblance of +logic, we all know that we must move toward the shadows; but, even after +we are mortally stricken by disease or age, we persist in acting and +thinking as if there were no end. In youth we go almost further; we are +too apt to live as though we were immortal, and as though there were +absolutely nothing to result from human action or human inaction. To the +young man and the young woman the future is not a blind lane with a +grave at the end; it is a spacious plain reaching away towards a far-off +horizon; and that horizon recedes and recedes as they move forward, +leaving magnificent expanses to be crossed in joyous freedom. A pretty +delusion! The youth harks onward, singing merrily and rejoicing in +sympathy with the mystic song of the birds; there is so much space +around him--the very breath of life is a joy--and he is content to taste +in glorious idleness the ecstasy of living. The evening closes in, and +then the horizon seems to be narrowing; like the walls of the deadly +chamber in the home of the Inquisition, the skies shrink inward--and the +youth has misgivings. The next day finds his plain shrunken a little in +expanse, and his horizon has not so superb a sweep. Nevertheless he goes +gaily on, and once more he raises his voice joyously, and tries to think +that the plain and the horizon can contract no more. Thus in foolish +hopefulness he passes his days until the glorious plain of his dreams +has been traversed, and, lo, under his very feet is the great gulf +fixed, and far below the tide--the tide of Eternity--laps sullenly +against the walls of the deadly chasm. If the youth knew that the gulf +and the rolling river were so near--if he not only knew, but could +absolutely picture his doom--would he be so merry? Ah, no! + +I repeat that, if men could be so disciplined as to believe in their +souls that death must come, then there would be no lost days. Is there +one of us who can say that he never lost a day amid this too brief, too +joyous, too entrancing term of existence? Not one. The aged Roman--who, +by-the-way, was somewhat of a prig--used to go about moaning, "I have +lost a day," if he thought he had not performed some good action or +learned something in the twenty-four hours. Most of us have no such +qualms; we waste the time freely; and we never know that it is wasted +until with a dull shock we comprehend that all must be left and that the +squandered hours can never be retrieved. The men who are strongest and +greatest and best suffer the acutest remorse for the lost days; they +know their own powers, and that very knowledge makes them suffer all the +more bitterly when they reckon up what they might have done and compare +it with the sum of their actual achievement. + +In a certain German town a little cell is shown on the walls of which a +famous name is marked many times. It appears that in his turbulent youth +Prince Bismarck was often a prisoner in this cell; and his various +appearances are registered under eleven different dates. Moreover, I +observe from the same rude register that he fought twenty-eight duels. +Lost days--lost days! He tells us how he drank in the usual insane +fashion prevalent among the students. He "cannot tell how much Burgundy +he could really drink." Lost days--lost days! And now the great old man, +with Europe at his feet and the world awaiting his lightest word with +eagerness, turns regretfully sometimes to think of the days thrown away. +A haze seems to hang before the eyes of such as he; and it is a haze +that makes the future seem dim and vast, even while it obscures all the +sharp outlines of things. The child is not capable of reasoning +coherently, and therefore its disposition to fritter away time must be +regarded as only the result of defective organization; but the young man +and young woman can reason, and yet we find them perpetually making +excuses for eluding time and eternity. Look at the young fellows who are +preparing for the hard duties of life by studying at a University. Here +is one who seems to have recognized the facts of existence; his hours +are arranged as methodically as his heart beats; he knows the exact +balance between physical and intellectual strength, and he overtaxes +neither, but body and mind are worked up to the highest attainable +pressure. No pleasures of the destructive sort call this youngster +aside; he has learned already what it is to reap the harvest of a quiet +eye, and his joys are of the sober kind. He rises early, and he has got +far through his work ere noon; his quiet afternoon is devoted to +harmless merriment in the cricket-field or on the friendly country +roads, and his evening is spent without any vain gossip in the happy +companionship of his books. That young man loses no day; but unhappily +he represents a type which is but too rare. The steady man, economic of +time, is a rarity; but the wild youth who is always going to do +something to-morrow is one of a class that numbers only too many on its +rolls. To-morrow! The young fellow passes to-day on the river, or spends +it in lounging or in active dissipation. He feels that he is doing +wrong; but the gaunt spectres raised by conscience are always exorcised +by the bright vision of to-morrow. To-morrow the truant will go to his +books; he will bend himself for that concentrated effort which alone +secures success, and his time of carelessness and sloth shall be far +left behind. But the sinister influence of to-day saps his will and +renders him infirm; each new to-day is wasted amid thoughts of visionary +to-morrows which take all the power from his soul; and, when he is +nerveless, powerless, tired, discontented with the very sight of the +sun, he finds suddenly that his feet are on the edge of the gulf, and he +knows that there will be no more to-morrows. + +I am not entering a plea for hard, petrifying work. If a man is a +hand-worker or brain-worker, his fate is inevitable if he regards work +as the only end of life. The loss of which I speak is that incurred by +engaging in pursuits which do not give mental strength or resource or +bodily health. The hard-worked business-man who gallops twenty miles +after hounds before he settles to his long stretch of toil is not losing +his day; the empty young dandy whose life for five months in the year is +given up to galloping across grass country or lounging around stables is +decidedly a spendthrift so far as time is concerned. + +I wish--if it be not impious so to wish--that every young man could +have one glimpse into the future. Supposing some good genius could say, +"If you proceed as you are now doing, your position in your fortieth +year will be this!" what a horror would strike through many among us, +and how desperately each would strive to take advantage of that kindly +"If." But there is no uplifting of the veil; and we must all be guided +by the experience of the past and not by knowledge of the future. I +observe that those who score the greatest number of lost days on the +world's calendar always do so under the impression that they are +enjoying pleasure. An acute observer whose soul is not vitiated by +cynicism may find a kind of melancholy pastime in observing the hopeless +attempts of these poor son's to persuade themselves that they are making +the best of existence. I would not for worlds seem for a moment to +disparage pleasure, because I hold that a human being who lives without +joy must either become bad, mad, or wretched. But I speak of those who +cheat themselves into thinking that every hour which passes swiftly to +eternity is wisely spent. Observe the parties of young men who play at +cards even in the railway-train morning after morning and evening after +evening. The time of the journey might be spent in useful and happy +thought; it is passed in rapid and feverish speculation. There is no +question of reviving the brain; it is not recreation that is gained, but +distraction, and the brain, instead of being ready to concentrate its +power upon work, is enfeebled and rendered vague and flighty. Supposing +a youth spends but one hour per day in handling pieces of pasteboard and +trying to win his neighbour's money, then in four weeks he has wasted +twenty-four hours, and in one year he wastes thirteen days. Is there +any gain--mental, muscular, or nervous--from this unhappy pursuit? Not +one jot or tittle. Supposing that a weary man of science leaves his +laboratory in the evening, and wends his way homeward, the very thought +of the game of whist which awaits him is a kind of recuperative agency. +Whist is the true recreation of the man of science; and the astronomer +or mathematician or biologist goes calmly to rest with his mind at ease +after he has enjoyed his rubber. The most industrious of living +novelists and the most prolific of all modern writers was asked--so he +tells us in his autobiography--"How is it that your thirtieth book is +fresher than your first?" He made answer, "I eat very well, keep regular +hours, sleep ten hours a day, and never miss my three hours a day at +whist." These men of great brain derive benefit from their harmless +contests; the young men in the railway-carriages only waste brain-tissue +which they do nothing-to repair. A very beautiful writer who was an +extremely lazy man pictures his own lost days as arising before him and +saying, "I am thy Self; say, what didst thou to me?" That question may +well be asked by all the host of murdered days, but especially may it be +asked of those foolish beings who try to gain distinction by recklessly +losing money on the Turf or in gambling-saloons. A heart of stone might +be moved by seeing the precious time that is hurled to the limbo of lost +days in the vulgar pandemonium by the racecourse. A nice lad comes out +into the world after attaining his majority, and plunges into that +vortex of Hades. Reckon up the good he gets there. Does he gain health? +Alas, think of the crowd, the rank odours, the straining heart-beats! +Does he hear any wisdom? Listen to the hideous badinage, the wild bursts +of foul language from the betting-men, the mean, cunning drivel of the +gamblers, the shrill laughter of the horsey and unsexed women? Does the +youth make friends? Ah, yes! He makes friends who will cheat him at +betting, cheat him at horse-dealing, cheat him at gambling when the +orgies of the course are over, borrow money as long as he will lend, and +throw him over when he has parted with his last penny and his last rag +of self-respect. Those who can carry their minds back for twenty years +must remember the foolish young nobleman who sold a splendid estate to +pay the yelling vulgarians of the betting-ring. They cheered him when he +all but beggared himself; they hissed him when he failed once to pay. +With lost health, lost patrimony, lost hopes, lost self-respect, he sank +amid the rough billows of life's sea, and only one human creature was +there to aid him when the great last wave swept over him. Lost +days--lost days! Youths who are going to ruin now amid the plaudits of +those who live upon them might surely take warning: but they do not, and +their bones will soon bleach on the mound whereon those of all other +wasters of days have been thrown. When I think of the lost days and the +lost lives of which I have cognizance, then it seems as though I were +gazing on some vast charnel-house, some ghoul-haunted place of skulls. +Memories of those who trifled with life come to me, and their very faces +flash past with looks of tragic significance. By their own fault they +were ruined; they were shut out of the garden of their gifts; their city +of hope was ploughed and salted. The past cannot be retrieved, let +canting optimists talk as they choose; what has been has been, and the +effects will last and spread until the earth shall pass away. Our acts +our angels are, or good or ill; our fatal shadows that walk by us still. +The thing done lasts for eternity; the lightest act of man or woman has +incalculably vast results. So it is madness to say that the lost days +can be retrieved. They cannot! But by timely wisdom we may save the days +and make them beneficent and fruitful in the future. Watch those wild +lads who are sowing in wine what they reap in headache and degradation. +Night after night they laugh with senseless glee, night after night +inanities which pass for wit are poured forth; and daily the nerve and +strength of each carouser grow weaker. Can you retrieve those nights? +Never! But you may take the most shattered of the crew and assure him +that all is not irretrievably lost; his weakened nerve may be steadied, +his deranged gastric functions may gradually grow more healthy, his +distorted views of life may pass away. So far, so good; but never try to +persuade any one that the past may be repaired, for that delusion is the +very source and spring of the foul stream of lost days. Once impress +upon any teachable creature the stern fact that a lost day is lost for +ever, once make that belief part of his being, and then he will strive +to cheat death. Perhaps it may be thought that I take sombre views of +life. No; I see that the world may be made a place of pleasure, but only +by learning and obeying the inexorable laws which govern all things, +from the fall of a seed of grass to the moving of the miraculous brain +of man. + +_April, 1888._ + + + + +_MIDSUMMER DAYS AND MIDSUMMER NIGHTS._ + + +Soon, with pomp of golden days and silver nights, the dying Summer will +wave the world farewell; but the precious time is still with us, and we +cherish the glad moments gleefully. When the dawn swirls up in the +splendid sky, it is as though one gladsome procession of hours had begun +to move. The breeze sighs cool and low, the trees rustle with vast +whisperings, and the conquering sun shoots his level volleys from rim to +rim of the world. The birds are very, very busy, and they take no +thought of the grim time coming, when the iron ground will be swept by +chill winds and the sad trees will quiver mournfully in the biting air. +A riot of life is in progress, and it seems as if the sense of pure joy +banished the very thought of pain and foreboding from all living things. +The sleepy afternoons glide away, the sun droops, and the quiet, +coloured evening falls solemnly. Then comes the hush of the huge and +thoughtful night; the wan stars wash the dust with silver, and the brave +day is over. Alas, for those who are pent in populous cities throughout +this glorious time! We who are out in the free air may cast a kindly +thought on the fate of those to whom "holiday" must be as a word in an +unknown tongue. Some of us are happy amid the shade of mighty hills: +some of us fare toward the Land of the Midnight Sun, where the golden +light steeps all the air by night as well as day; some of us rest beside +the sea, where the loud wind, large and free, blows the long surges out +in sounding bars and thrills us with fresh fierce pleasure; some of us +are able to wander in glowing lanes where the tender roses star the +hedges and the murmur of innumerable bees falls softly on the senses. +Let us thankfully take the good that is vouchsafed to us, and let those +of us who can lend a helping hand do something towards giving the poor +and needy a brief taste of the happiness that we freely enjoy. + +I do not want to dwell on ugly thoughts; and yet it seems selfish to +refrain from speaking of the fate of the poor who are packed in crowded +quarters during this bright holiday season. For them the midsummer days +and midsummer nights are a term of tribulation. The hot street reeks +with pungent odours, the faint airs that wander in the scorching alleys +at noonday strike on the fevered face like wafts from some furnace, and +the cruel nights are hard to endure save when a cool shower has fallen. +If you wander in London byways, you find that the people are fairly +driven from their houses after a blistering summer day, and they sit in +the streets till early morning. They are not at all depressed; on the +contrary, the dark hours are passed in reckless merriment, and I have +often known the men to rest quite contentedly on the pavement till the +dawn came and the time of departure for labour was near. Even the young +children remain out of doors, and their shrill treble mingles with the +coarse rattle of noisy choruses. Some of those cheery youngsters have +an outing in the hopping season, and they come back bronzed and healthy; +but most of them have to be satisfied with one day at the most amid the +fields and trees. I have spoken of London; but the case of those who +dwell in the black manufacturing cities is even worse. What is Oldham +like on a blistering midsummer day? What are Hanley and St. Helen's and +the lower parts of Manchester like? The air is charged with dust, and +the acrid, rasping fumes from the chimneys seem to acquire a malignant +power over men and brain. Toil goes steadily on, and the working-folk +certainly have the advantage of starting in the bright morning hours, +before the air has become befouled; but, as the sun gains strength, and +the close air of the unlovely streets is heated, then the torment to be +endured is severe. In Oldham and many other Lancashire towns a most +admirable custom prevails. Large numbers of people club their money +during the year and establish a holiday-fund; they migrate wholesale in +the summertime, and have a merry holiday far away from the crush of the +pavements and the dreary lines of ugly houses. A wise and beneficent +custom is this, and the man who first devised it deserves a monument. I +congratulate the troops of toilers who share my own pleasure; but, alas, +how many honest folk in those awful Midland places will pant and sweat +and suffer amid grime and heat while the glad months are passing! Good +men who might be happy even in the free spaces of the Far West, fair +women who need only rest and pure air to enable them to bloom in beauty, +little children who peak and pine, are all crammed within the odious +precincts of the towns which Cobbett hated; and the merry stretches of +the sea, the billowy roll of the downs, the peace of soft days, are not +for them. Only last year I looked on a stretch of interminable brown +sand, hard and smooth and broad, with the ocean perpetually rolling in +upon it with slow-measured sweep, with rustle and hiss and foam, and +many a thump as of low bass drums. There before me was Whitman's very +vision, and in the keen mystic joy of the moment I could not help +thinking sadly of one dreadful alley where lately I had been. It seemed +so sad that the folk of the alley could not share my pleasure; and the +murmur of vain regrets came to the soul even amid the triumphant clamour +of the free wind. Poor cramped townsfolk, hard is your fate! It is hard; +but I can see no good in repining over their fortune if we aid them as +far as we can; rather let us speak of the bright time that comes for the +toilers who are able to escape from the burning streets. + +The mathematicians and such-like dry personages confine midsummer to one +day in June; but we who are untrammelled by science know a great deal +better. For us midsummer lasts till August is half over, and we utterly +refuse to trouble ourselves about equinoxes and solstices and +trivialities of that kind. For us it is midsummer while the sun is warm, +while the trees hold their green, while the dancing waves fling their +blossoms of foam under the darting rays that dazzle us, while the sacred +night is soft and warm and the cool airs are wafted like sounds of +blessings spoken in the scented darkness. For us the solstice is +abolished, and we sturdily refuse to give up our midsummer till the +first gleam of yellow comes on the leaves. We are not all lucky enough +to see the leagues upon leagues of overpowering colour as the sun comes +up on the Alps; we cannot all rest in the glittering seclusion of +Norwegian fiords; but most of us, in our modest way, can enjoy our +extravagantly prolonged midsummer beside the shore of our British +waters. Spring is the time for hope; our midsummer is the time for +ripened joy, for healthful rest; and we are satisfied with the beaches +and cliffs that are hallowed by many memories--we are satisfied with +simple copses and level fields. They say that spring is the poet's +season; but we know better. Spring is all very well for those who have +constant leisure; it is good to watch the gradual bursting of early +buds; it is good to hear the thrush chant his even-song of love; it is +good to rest the eye on the glorious clouds of bloom that seem to float +in the orchards. But the midsummer, the gallant midsummer, pranked in +manifold splendours, is the true season of poetry for the toilers. The +birds of passage who are now crowding out of the towns have had little +pleasure in the spring, and their blissful days are only now beginning. +What is it to them that the seaside landlady crouches awaiting her prey? +What is it to them that 'Arry is preparing to make night hideous? They +are bound for their rest, and the surcease of toil is the only thing +that suggests poetry to them. Spring the season for poets! We wipe away +that treasonable suggestion just as we have wiped out the solstice. We +holiday makers are not going to be tyrannized over by literary and +scientific persons, and we insist on taking our own way. Our blood beats +fully only at this season, and not even the extortioners' bills can +daunt us. Let us break into poetry and flout the maudlin enthusiasts who +prate of spring. + + With a ripple of leaves and a twinkle of streams + The full world rolls in a rhythm of praise, + And the winds are one with the clouds and beams-- + Midsummer days! Midsummer days! + The dusks grow vast in a purple haze, + While the West from a rapture of sunset rights, + Faint stars their exquisite lamps upraise-- + Midsummer nights! O Midsummer nights! + + * * * * * + + The wood's green heart is a nest of dreams, + The lush grass thickens and springs and sways, + The rathe wheat rustles, the landscape gleams-- + Midsummer days! Midsummer days! + In the stilly fields, in the stilly way, + All secret shadows and mystic lights, + Late lovers, murmurous, linger and gaze-- + Midsummer nights! O Midsummer nights! + + * * * * * + + There's a swagger of bells from the trampling teams, + Wild skylarks hover, the gorses blaze, + The rich ripe rose as with incense steams-- + Midsummer days! Midsummer days! + A soul from the honeysuckle strays, + And the nightingale, as from prophet heights, + Speaks to the Earth of her million Mays-- + Midsummer nights! O Midsummer nights! + + And it's oh for my Dear and the charm that stays-- + Midsummer days! Midsummer days! + And it's oh for my Love and the dark that plights-- + Midsummer nights! O Midsummer nights! + +There is a burst for you! And we will let the poets of spring, with +their lambkins and their catkins and the rest, match this poem of +William Henley's if they can. The royal months are ours, and we love the +reign of the rose. + +When the burnished tints of bronze shine on the brackens, and the +night-wind blows with a chilly moan from the fields of darkness, we +shall have precious days to remember, and, ah, when the nights are long, +and the churlish Winter lays his fell finger on stream and grass and +tree, we shall be haunted by jolly memories! Will the memories be wholly +pleasant? Perchance, when the curtains are drawn and the lamp burns +softly, we may read of bright and beautiful things. Out of doors the war +of the winter fills the roaring darkness. It may be that + + Hoarsely across the iron ground + The icy wind goes roaring past, + The powdery wreaths go whirling round + Dancing a measure to the blast. + + The hideous sky droops darkly down + In brooding swathes of misty gloom, + And seems to wrap the fated town + In shadows of remorseless doom. + +Then some of us may find a magic phrase of Keats's, or Thomas Hardy's, +or Black's, or Dickens's, that recalls the lovely past from the dead. +Many times I have had that experience. Once, after spending the long and +glorious summer amid the weird subdued beauty of a wide heath, I +returned to the great city. It had been a pleasant sojourn, though I had +had no company save a collie and one or two terriers. At evening the +dogs liked their ramble, and we all loved to stay out until the pouring +light of the moon shone on billowy mists and heath-clad knolls. The +faint rustling of the heath grew to a wide murmur, the little bells +seemed to chime with notes heard only by the innermost spirit, and the +gliding dogs were like strange creatures from some shadowy underworld. +At times a pheasant would rise and whirl like a rocket from hillock to +hollow, and about midnight a rapturous concert began. On one line of +trees a colony of nightingales had established themselves near the heart +of the waste. First came the low inquiry from the leader; then two or +three low twittering answers; then the one long note that lays hold of +the nerves and makes the whole being quiver; and then--ah, the passion, +the pain, the unutterable delight of the heavenly jargoning when the +whole of the little choir begin their magnificent rivalry! The thought +of death is gone, the wild and poignant issues of life are softened, and +the pulses beat thickly amid the blinding sweetness of the music. He who +has not heard the nightingale has not lived. Far off the sea called low +through the mist, and the long path of the moon ran toward the bright +horizon; the ships stole in shadow and shine over the glossy ripples, +and swung away to north and south till they faded in wreaths of delicate +darkness. Dominating the whole scene of beauty, there was the vast and +subtle mystery of the heath that awed the soul even when the rapture was +at its keenest. Time passed away, and on one savage night I read Thomas +Hardy's unparalleled description of the majestic waste in "The Return of +the Native." That superb piece of English is above praise--indeed +praise, as applied to it, is half an impertinence; it is great as +Shakespeare, great almost as Nature--one of the finest poems in our +language. As I read with awe the quiet inevitable sentences, the vision +of my own heath rose, and the memory filled me with a sudden joy. + +I know that the hour of darkness ever dogs our delight, and the shadow +of approaching darkness and toil might affront me even now, if I were +ungrateful; but I live for the present only. Let grave persons talk +about the grand achievements and discoveries that have made this age or +that age illustrious; I hold that holidays are the noblest invention of +the human mind, and, if any philosopher wants to argue the matter, I +flee from his presence, and luxuriate on the yellow sands or amid the +keen kisses of the salty waves. I own that Newton's discoveries were +meritorious, and I willingly applaud Mr. George Stephenson, through +whose ingenuity we are now whisked to our places of rest with the +swiftness of an eagle's flight. Nevertheless I contend that holidays are +the crowning device of modern thought, and I hold that no thesis can be +so easily proven as mine. How did our grandfathers take holiday? Alas, +the luxury was reserved for the great lords who scoured over the +Continent, and for the pursy cits who crawled down to Brighthelmstone! +The ordinary Londoner was obliged to endure agonies on board a stuffy +Margate hoy, while the people in Northern towns never thought of taking +a holiday at all. The marvellous cures wrought by Doctor Ozone were not +then known, and the science of holiday-making was in its infancy. The +wisdom of our ancestors was decidedly at fault in this matter, and the +gout and dyspepsia from which they suffered served them right. Read +volumes of old memoirs, and you will find that our forefathers, who are +supposed to have been so merry and healthy, suffered from all the ills +which grumblers ascribe to struggling civilization. They did not know +how to extract pleasure from their midsummer days and midsummer nights; +we do, and we are all the better for the grand modern discovery. + +Seriously, it is a good thing that we have learned the value of leisure, +and, for my own part, I regard the rushing yearly exodus from London, +Liverpool, Birmingham, with serene satisfaction. It is a pity that so +many English folk persist in leaving their own most lovely land when our +scenery and climate are at their best. In too many cases they wear +themselves with miserable and harassing journeys when they might be +placidly rejoicing in the sweet midsummer days at home. Snarling +aesthetes may say what they choose, but England is not half explored +yet, and anybody who takes the trouble may find out languorous nooks +where life seems always dreamy, and where the tired nerves and brain are +unhurt by a single disturbing influence. There are tiny villages dotted +here and there on the coast where the flaunting tourist never intrudes, +and where the British cad cares not to show his unlovable face. Still, +if people like the stuffy Continental hotel and the unspeakable devices +of the wily Swiss, they must take their choice. I prefer beloved +England; but I wish all joy to those who go far afield. + +_June, 1886._ + + + + +_DANDIES_. + + +Perhaps there is no individual of all our race who is quite insensible +to the pleasures of what children call "dressing-up." Even the cynic, +the man who defiantly wears old and queer clothes, is merely suffering +from a perversion of that animal instinct which causes the peacock to +swagger in the sun and flaunt the splendour of his train, the instinct +that makes the tiger-moth show the magnificence of his damask wing, and +also makes the lion erect the horrors of his cloudy mane and paw proudly +before his tawny mate. We are all alike in essentials, and Diogenes with +his dirty clouts was only a perverted brother of Prince Florizel with +his peach-coloured coat and snowy ruffles. I intend to handle the +subject of dandies and their nature from a deeply philosophic +starting-point, for, like Carlyle, I recognize the vast significance of +the questions involved in the philosophy of clothes. Let no flippant +individual venture on a jeer, for I am in dead earnest. A mocking critic +may point to the Bond Street lounger and ask, "What are the net use and +purport of that being's existence? Look at his suffering frame! His +linen stock almost decapitates him, his boots appear to hail from the +chambers of the Inquisition, every garment tends to confine his muscles +and dwarf his bodily powers; yet he chooses to smile in his torments +and pretends to luxuriate in life. Again, what are the net use and +purport of his existence?" I can only deprecate our critic's wrath by +going gravely to first principles. O savage and critical one, that +suffering youth of Bond Street is but exhibiting in flaunting action a +law that has influenced the breed of men since our forefathers dwelt in +caves or trees! Observe the conduct of the innocent and primitive beings +who dwell in sunny archipelagos far away to the South; they suffer in +the cause of fashion as the youth of the city promenade suffers. The +chief longing of the judicious savage is to shave, but the paucity of +metals and sharp instruments prevents him from indulging his longing +very frequently. When the joyous chance does come, the son of the forest +promptly rises to the occasion. No elderly gentleman whose feet are +studded with corns could bear the agony of patent leather boots in a +heated ballroom with grander stoicism than that exhibited by our savage +when he compasses the means of indulging in a thorough uncompromising +shave. The elderly man of the ballroom sees the rosy-fingered dawn +touching the sky into golden fretwork; he thinks of his cool white bed, +and then, by contrast, he thinks of his hot throbbing feet. Shooting +fires dart through his unhappy extremities, yet he smiles on and bears +his pain for his daughters' sake. But the elderly hero cannot be +compared with the ambitious exquisite of the Southern Seas, and we shall +prove this hypothesis. The careless voyager throws a beer-bottle +overboard, and that bottle drifts to the glad shore of a glittering +isle; the overjoyed savage bounds on the prize, and proceeds to announce +his good fortune to his bosom friend. Then the pleased cronies decide +that they will have a good, wholesome, thorough shave, and they will +turn all rivals green with unavailing envy. Solemnly those children of +nature go to a quiet place, and savage number one lies down while his +friend sits on his head; then with a shred of the broken bottle the +operator proceeds to rasp away. It is a great and grave function, and no +savage worthy the name of warrior would fulfil it in a slovenly way. +When the last scrape is given, and the stubbly irregular crop of +bristles stands up from a field of gore, then the operating brave lies +down, and his scarified friend sits on _his_ head. These sweet and +satisfying idyllic scenes are enacted whenever a bottle comes ashore, +and the broken pieces of the receptacles that lately held foaming Bass +or glistening Hochheimer are used until their edge gives way, to the +great contentment of true untutored dandies. The Bond Street man is at +one end of the scale, the uncompromising heathen barber at the other; +but the same principles actuate both. + +The Maori is even more courageous in his attempts to secure a true +decorative exterior, for he carves the surface of his manly frame into +deep meandering channels until he resembles a walking advertisement of +crochet-patterns for ladies. Dire is his suffering, long is the time of +healing; but, when he can appear among his friends with a staring blue +serpent coiled round his body from the neck to the ankle, when the rude +figure of the bounding wallaby ornaments his noble chest, he feels that +all his pain was worth enduring and that life is indeed worth living. +The primitive dandy of Central Africa submits himself to the magician of +the tribe, and has his front teeth knocked out with joy; the Ashantee +or the Masai has his teeth filed to sharp points--and each painful +process enables the victim to pose as a leader of fashion in the tribe. +As the race rises higher, the refinements of dandyism become more and +more complex, but the ruling motive remains the same, and the Macaroni, +the Corinthian, the Incroyable, the swell, the dude--nay, even the +common toff--are all mysteriously stirred by the same instinct which +prompts the festive Papuan to bore holes in his innocent nose. Who then +shall sneer at the dandy? Does he not fulfil a law of our nature? Let us +rather regard him with toleration, or even with some slight modicum of +reverence. Solemn historians affect to smile at the gaudy knights of the +second Richard's Court, who wore the points of their shoes tied round +their waists; they even ridicule the tight, choking, padded coats worn +by George IV., that pattern father of his people; but I see in the +stumbling courtier and the half-asphyxiated wearer of the padded +Petersham coat two beings who act under the demands of inexorable law. + +Our great modern sage brooded in loneliness for some six years over the +moving problem of dandyism, and we have the results of his meditations +in "Sartor Resartus." We have an uneasy sense that he may be making fun +of us--in fact, we are almost sure that he is; for, if you look at his +summary of the doctrines put forth in "Pelham," you can hardly fail to +detect a kind of sub-acid sneer. Instead of being impressed by the +dainty musings of the learned Bulwer, that grim vulturine sage chose to +curl his fierce lips and turn the whole thing to a laughing-stock. We +must at once get to that summary of what the great Thomas calls +"Dandiacal doctrine," and then just thinkers may draw their own +conclusions. + +Articles of Faith.--1. Coats should have nothing of the triangle about +them; at the same time wrinkles behind should be carefully avoided. 2. +The collar is a very important point; it should be low behind, and +slightly rolled. 3. No license of fashion can allow a man of delicate +taste to adopt the posterial luxuriance of a Hottentot. 4. There is +safety in a swallowtail. 5. The good sense of a gentleman is nowhere +more finely developed than in his rings. 6. It is permitted to mankind, +under certain restrictions, to wear white waistcoats. 7. The trousers +must be exceedingly tight across the hips. + +Then the sage observes, "All which propositions I for the present +content myself with modestly, but peremptorily and irrevocably, +denying." Wicked Scotchman, rugged chip of the Hartz rock, your seven +articles of the Whole Duty of the Dandy are evidently solemn fooling! +You despised Lytton in your heart, and you thought that because you wore +a ragged duffel coat in gay Hyde Park you had a right to despise the +human ephemera who appeared in inspiriting splendour. I have often +laughed at your solemn enumeration of childish maxims, but I am not +quite sure that you were altogether right in sneering. + +So far for the heroic vein. The Clothes Philosopher whose huge burst of +literary horse-laughter was levelled at the dandy does not always +confine himself to indirect scoffing; here is a plain statement--"First, +touching dandies, let us consider with some scientific strictness what a +dandy specially is. A dandy is a clothes-wearing man, a man whose trade +office, and existence consist in the wearing of clothes. Every faculty +of his soul, spirit, purse, and person is heroically consecrated to this +one object--the wearing of clothes wisely and well; so that, as others +dress to live, he lives to dress. The all-importance of clothes has +sprung upon the intellect of the dandy without effort, like an instinct +of genius; he is inspired with cloth--a poet of cloth. Like a generous +creative enthusiast, he fearlessly makes his idea an action--shows +himself in peculiar guise to mankind, walks forth a witness and living +martyr to the eternal worth of clothes. We called him a poet; is not his +body the (stuffed) parchment-skin whereon he writes, with cunning +Huddersfield dyes, a sonnet to his mistress's eyebrow?" + +This is very witty and very trenchant in allusion, but I am obliged to +say seriously that Carlyle by no means reached the root of the matter. +The mere tailor's dummy is deplorable, despicable, detestable, but a +real man is none the worse if he gives way to the imperious human desire +for adornment, and some of the men who have made permanent marks on the +world's face have been of the tribe whom our Scotchman satirised. I have +known sensible young men turned into perfectly objectionable slovens by +reading Carlyle; they thought they rendered a tribute to their master's +genius by making themselves look disreputable, and they found allies to +applaud them. One youth of a poetic turn saw that the sage let his hair +fall over his forehead in a tangled mass. Now this young man had very +nice wavy hair, which naturally fell back in a sweep, but he devoted +himself with an industry worthy of a much better cause to the task of +making his hair fall in unkempt style over his brow. When he succeeded, +he looked partly like a Shetland pony, partly like a street-arab; but +his own impression was that his wild and ferocious appearance acted as a +living rebuke to young men of weaker natures. If I had to express a +blunt opinion, I should say he was a dreadful simpleton. Every man likes +to be attractive in some way in the springtime and hey-day of life; when +the blood flushes the veins gaily and the brain is sensitive to joy, +then a man glories in looking well. Why blame him? The young officer +likes to show himself with his troop in gay trappings; the athlete likes +to wear garments that set off his frame to advantage; and it is good +that this desire for distinction exists, else we should have but a grey +and sorry world to live in. When the pulses beat quietly and life moves +on the downward slope, a man relies on more sober attractions, and he +ceases to care for that physical adornment which every young and healthy +living creature on earth appreciates. So long as our young men are +genuinely manly, good, strong, and courageous, I am not inclined to find +fault with them, even if they happen to trip and fall into slight +extravagances in the matter of costume. The creature who lives to dress +I abhor, the sane and sound man who fulfils his life-duties gallantly +and who is not above pleasing himself and others by means of reasonable +adornments I like and even respect warmly. The philosophers may growl as +they chose, but I contend that the sight of a superb young Englishman +with his clean clear face, his springy limbs, his faultless habiliments +is about as pleasant as anything can be to a discerning man. Moreover, +it is by no means true that the dandy is necessarily incompetent when he +comes to engage in the severe work of life. Our hero, our Nelson, kept +his nautical dandyism until he was middle-aged. Who ever accused him of +incompetence? Think of his going at Trafalgar into that pouring Inferno +of lead and iron with all his decorations blazing on him! "In honour I +won them and in honour I will wear them," said this unconscionable +dandy; and he did wear them until he had broken our terrible enemy's +power, saved London from sack, and worse, and yielded up his gallant +soul to his Maker. Rather an impressive kind of dandy was that wizened +little animal. "There'll be wigs on the green, boys--the dandies are +coming!" So Marlborough's soldiers used to cry when the regiment of +exquisites charged. At home the fierce Englishmen strutted around in +their merry haunts and showed off their brave finery as though their one +task in life were to wear gaudy garments gracefully; but, when the +trumpet rang for the charge, the silken dandies showed that they had the +stuff of men in them. The philosopher is a trifle too apt to say, +"Anybody who does not choose to do as I like is, on the face of it, an +inferior member of the human race." I utterly refuse to have any such +doctrine thrust down my throat. No sage would venture to declare that +the handsome, gorgeous John Churchill was a fool or a failure. He beat +England's enemies, he made no blunder in his life, and he survived the +most vile calumnies that ever assailed a struggling man; yet, if he was +not a dandy, then I never saw or heard of one. All our fine fellows who +stray with the British flag over the whole earth belong more or less +distinctly to the dandy division. The velvet glove conceals the iron +hand; the pleasing modulated voice can rise at short notice to tones of +command; the apparent languor will on occasion start with electric +suddenness into martial vigour. The lounging dandies who were in India +when the red storm of the Mutiny burst from a clear sky suddenly became +heroes who toiled, fought, lavished their strength and their blood, +performed glorious prodigies of unselfish action, and snatched an empire +from the fires of ruin. + +Even if a young fellow cannot afford fine clothes, he can be neat, and I +always welcome the slightest sign of fastidiousness, because it +indicates self-respect. The awful beings who wear felt hats swung on one +side, glaring ties, obtrusive checks, and carry vulgar little sticks, +are so abhorrent that I should journey a dozen miles to escape meeting +one of them. The cheap, nasty, gaudy garments are an index to a vast +vulgarity of mind and soul; the cheap "swell" is a sham, and, as a sham, +he is immoral and repulsive. But the modest youth need not copy the wild +unrestraint of the gentleman known as "'Arry"; he can contrive to make +himself attractive without sullying his appearance by a trace of cheap +and nasty adornment, and every attempt which he makes to look seemly and +pleasing tends subtly to raise his own character. Once or twice I have +said that you cannot really love any one wholly unless you can sometimes +laugh at him. Now I cannot laugh at the invertebrate haunter of flashy +bars and theatre-stalls, because he has not the lovable element in him +which invites kindly laughter; but I do smile--not unadmiringly--at our +dandy, and forgive him his little eccentricities because I know that +what the Americans term the "hard pan" of his nature is sound. It is all +very well for unhandsome philosophers in duffel to snarl at our +butterfly youth. The dry dull person who devours blue-books and figures +may mock at their fribbles; but persons who are tolerant take large and +gentle views, and they indulge the dandy, and let him strut for his day +unmolested, until the pressing hints given by the years cause him to +modify his splendours and sink into unassuming sobriety of demeanour and +raiment. + +_June, 1888._ + + + + +_GENIUS AND RESPECTABILITY_. + + +A very lengthy biography of Percy Bysshe Shelley appeared recently, and +the biographer thought it his duty to give the most minute and peculiar +details concerning the poet's private life. In consequence, the book is +a deplorable one in many respects, and no plain-minded person can read +it without feeling sorry that our sweet singer should be presented to us +in the guise of a weak-minded hypocrite. One critic wrote a great many +pages in which he bemoans the dreary and sordid family-life of the man +who wrote the "Ode to the West Wind." I can hardly help sympathizing +with the critic, for indeed Shelley's proceedings rather test the +patience of ordinary mortals, who do not think that poetic--or rather +artistic--ability licenses its possessor to behave like a scoundrel. +Shelley wrote the most lovely verse in praise of purity; but he tempted +a poor child to marry him, deserted her, insulted her, and finally left +her to drown herself when brutal neglect and injury had driven her +crazy. Poor Harriet Westbrook! She did not behave very discreetly after +her precious husband left her; but she was young, and thrown on a hard +world without any strength but her own to protect her. While she was +drifting into misery the airy poet was talking sentiment and ventilating +his theories of the universe to Mary Godwin. Harriet was too "shallow" +for the rhymester, and the penalty she paid for her shallowness was to +be deceived, enticed into a rash marriage, brutally insulted, and left +to fare as well as she might in a world that is bitterly cruel to +helpless girls. The maker of rhymes goes off gaily to the Continent to +enjoy himself heartily and write bewitching poems; Harriet stays at home +and lives as best she can on her pittance until the time comes for her +despairing plunge into the Serpentine. It is true that the poet invited +the poor creature to come and stay with him; but what a piece of +unparalleled insolence toward a wronged lady! The admirers of the rhymer +say, "Ah, but Harriet's society was not congenial to the poet." +Congenial! How many brave men make their bargain in youth and stand to +it gallantly unto the end? A simple soul of this sort thinks to himself, +"Well, I find that my wife and I are not in sympathy; but perhaps I may +be in fault. At any rate, she has trusted her life to me, and I must try +to make her days as happy as possible." It seems that supreme poets are +to be exempt from all laws of manliness and honour, and a simple woman +who cannot babble to them about their ideals and so forth is to be +pitched aside like a soiled glove! Honest men who cannot jingle words +are content with faith and honour and rectitude, but the poet is to be +applauded if he behaves like a base fellow on finding that some unhappy +loving creature cannot talk in his particular fashion. We may all be +very low Philistines if we are not prepared to accept rhymers for +chartered villains; but some of us still have a glimmering of belief in +the old standards of nobility and constancy. Can any one fancy Walter +Scott cheating a miserable little girl of sixteen into marriage, and +then leaving her, only to many a female philosopher? How that noble soul +would have spurned the maundering sentimentalist who talked of truth and +beauty, and music and moonlight and feeling, and behaved as a mean and +bad man! Scott is more to my fancy than is Shelley. + +Again, this poet, this exquisite weaver of verbal harmonies, is +represented to us by his worshippers as having a passion for truth; +whereas it happens that he was one of the most remarkable fibbers that +ever lived. He would come home with amazing tales about assassins who +had waylaid him, and try to give himself importance by such blustering +inventions. "Imagination!" says the enthusiast; but among commonplace +persons another word is used. "Your lordship knows what kleptomania is?" +said a counsel who was defending a thief. Justice Byles replied, "Oh, +yes! I come here to cure it." Some critical justice might say the same +of Shelley's imagination. We are also told that Shelley's excessive +nobility of nature prevented him from agreeing with his commonplace +father; and truly the poet was a bad and an ungrateful son. But, if a +pretty verse-maker is privileged to be an undutiful son, what becomes of +all our old notions? I think once more of the great Sir Walter, and I +remember his unquestioning obedience to his parents. Then we may also +remember Gibbon, who was quite as able and useful a man as Shelley. The +historian loved a young French lady, but his father refused consent to +their marriage, and Gibbon quietly obeyed and accepted his hard fate. +The passion sanctified his whole life, and, as he says, made him more +dear to himself; he settled his colossal work, and remained unmarried +for life. He may have been foolish: but I prefer his behaviour to that +of a man who treats his father with contumely and ingratitude even while +he is living upon him. We hear much of Shelley's unselfishness, but it +does not appear that he ever denied himself the indulgence of a whim. +The "Ode to the West Wind," the "Ode Written in Dejection near Naples," +and "The Skylark" are unsurpassed and unsurpassable; but I can hardly +pardon a man for cruelty and turpitude merely because he produces a few +masterpieces of art. + +A confident and serene critic attacks Mr. Arnold very severely because +the latter writer thinks that poets should be amenable to fair and +honest social laws. If I understand the critic aright, we must all be so +thankful for beautiful literary works that we must be ready to let the +producers of such works play any pranks they please under high heaven. +They are the children of genius, and we are to spoil them; "Childe +Harold" and "Manfred" are such wondrous productions that we need never +think of the author's orgies at Venice and the Abbey; "Epipsychidion" is +lovely, so we should not think of poor Harriet Westbrook casting herself +into the Serpentine. This is marvellous doctrine, and one hardly knows +whither it might lead us if we carried it into thorough practice. +Suppose that, in addition to indulging the spoiled children of genius, +we were to approve all the proceedings of the clever children in any +household. I fancy that the dwellers therein would have an unpleasant +time. Noble charity towards human weakness is one thing; but blind +adulation of clever and immoral men is another. We have great need to +pity the poor souls who are the prey of their passions, but we need not +worship them. A large and lofty charity will forgive the shortcomings of +Robert Burns; we may even love that wild and misguided but essentially +noble man. That is well; yet we must not put Burns forward and offer our +adulation in such a way as to set him up for a model to young men. A man +may read-- + + The pale moon is setting beyont the white wave, + And Time is setting with me, oh! + +The pathos will wring his heart; but he should not ask any youth to +imitate the conduct of the great poet. Carlyle said very profoundly that +new morality must be made before we can judge Mirabeau; but Carlyle +never put his hero's excesses in the foreground of his history, nor did +he try to apologize for them; he only said, "Here is a man whose stormy +passions overcame him and drove him down the steep to ruin! Think of him +at his best, pardon him, and imitate, in your weak human fashion, the +infinite Divine Mercy." That is good; and it is certainly very different +from the behaviour of writers who ask us to regard their heroes' +evil-doing as not only pardonable, but as being almost admirable. + +This Shelley controversy raises several weighty issues. We forgive Burns +because he again and again offers us examples of splendid self-sacrifice +in the course of his broken life, and we are able to do so because the +balance is greatly on the good side; but we do not refrain from saying, +"In some respects Burns was a scamp." The fact is that the claims of +weak-headed adorers who worship men of genius would lead to endless +mischief if they were allowed. Men who were skilled in poetry and music +and art have often behaved like scoundrels; but their scoundrelism +should be reprobated, and not excused. And my reason for this contention +is very simple--once allow that a man of genius may override all +salutary conventions, and the same conventions will be overridden by +vain and foolish mediocrities. Take, for example, the conventions which +guide us in the matter of dress. Most people grant that in many respects +our modern dress is ugly in shape, ugly in material, and calculated to +promote ill-health. The hard hat which makes the brow ache must affect +the wearer's health, and therefore, when we see the greatest living poet +going about in a comfortable soft felt, we call him a sensible man. +Carlyle used to hobble about with soft shoes and soft slouch-hat, and he +was right But it is possible to be as comfortable as Lord Tennyson or +Carlyle without flying very outrageously in the face of modern +conventions; and many everyday folk contrive to keep their bodies at +ease without trying any fool's device. Charles Kingsley used to roam +about in his guernsey--most comfortable of all dresses--when he was in +the country; but when he visited the town he managed to dress easily and +elegantly in the style of an average gentleman. + +But some foolish creatures say in their hearts, "Men of genius wear +strange clothing--Tennyson wears a vast Inverness cape, Carlyle wore a +duffel jacket, Bismarck wears a flat white cap, Mortimer Collins wore a +big Panama; artists in general like velvet and neckties of various gaudy +hues. Let us adopt something startling in the way of costume, and we +may be taken for men of genius." Thus it happened that very lately +London was invested by a set of simpletons of small ability in art and +letters; they let their hair grow down their backs; they drove about in +the guise of Venetian senators of the fifteenth century; they appeared +in slashed doublets and slouched hats; and one of them astonished the +public--and the cabmen--by marching down a fashionable thoroughfare on a +broiling day with a fur ulster on his back and a huge flower in his +hand. Observe my point--these social nuisances obtained for themselves a +certain contemptible notoriety by caricaturing the ways of able men. I +can forgive young Disraeli's gaudy waistcoats and pink-lined coats, but +I have no patience with his silly imitators. This is why I object to the +praise which is bestowed on men of genius for qualities which do not +deserve praise. The reckless literary admirer of Shelley or Byron goes +into ecstasies and cries, "Perish the slave who would think of these +great men's vices!"--whereupon raw and conceited youngsters say, "Vice +and eccentricity are signs of genius. We will be vicious and eccentric;" +and then they go and convert themselves into public nuisances. + +That vice and folly are not always associated with genius scarcely needs +demonstrating. I allow that many great men have been sensual fools, but +we can by no means allow that folly and sensuality are inseparable from +greatness. My point is to prove that littleness must be conquered before +a man can be great or good. Macaulay lived a life of perfect and +exemplary purity; he was good in all the relations of life; those +nearest to him loved him most dearly, and his days were passed in +thinking of the happiness of others. Perhaps he was vain--certainly he +had something to be vain of--but, though he had such masterful talent, +he never thought himself licensed, and he wore the white flower of a +blameless life until his happy spirit passed easily away. Wordsworth was +a poet who will be placed on a level with Byron when an estimate of our +century's great men comes to be made. But Wordsworth lived his sweet and +pious life without in any way offending against the moral law. We must +have done with all talk about the privileges of irregular genius; a +clever man must be made to see that, while he may be as independent as +he likes, he cannot be left free to offend either the sense or the +sensibility of his neighbours. The genius must learn to conduct himself +in accordance with rational and seemly custom, or he must be brought to +his senses. When a great man's ways are merely innocently different from +those of ordinary people, by all means let him alone. For instance, +Leonardo da Vinci used often to buy caged wild-birds from their captors +and let them go free. What a lovely and lovable action! He hurt no one; +he restored the joy of life to innocent creatures, and no one could find +fault with his sweet fancy. In the same way, when Samuel Johnson chose +to stalk ponderously along the streets, stepping on the edges of the +paving-stones, or even when he happened to roar a little loudly in +conversation, who could censure him seriously? His heart was as a little +child's: his deeds were saintly; and we perhaps love him all the more +for his droll little ways. But, when Shelley outrages decency and the +healthy sense of manliness by his peculiar escapades, it is not easy to +pardon him; the image of that drowned child rises before us, and we are +apt to forget the pretty verses. Calm folk remember that many peculiarly +wicked and selfish gentry have been able to make nice rhymes and paint +charming pictures. The old poet Francois Villon, who has made men weep +and sympathize for so many years, was a burglar, a murderer, and +something baser, if possible, than either murderer or burglar. A more +despicable being probably never existed; and yet he warbles with angelic +sweetness, and his piercing sadness thrills us after the lapse of four +centuries. Young men of unrestrained appetites and negative morality are +often able to talk most charmingly, but the meanest and most unworthy +persons whom I have met have been the wild and lofty-minded poets who +perpetually express contempt of Philistines and cast the shaft of their +scorn at what they call "dross." So far as money goes, I fancy that the +oratorical, and grandiose poet is often the most greedy of individuals; +and, when, in his infinite conceit, he sets himself up above common +decency and morality, I find it difficult to confine myself to moderate +language. A man of genius may very well be chaste, modest, unselfish, +and retiring. Byron was at his worst when he was producing the works +which made him immortal; I prefer to think of him as he was when he cast +his baser self away, and nobly took up the cause of Greece. When once +his matchless common sense asserted itself, and he ceased to contemplate +his own woes and his own wrongs, he became a far greater man than he had +ever been before. I should be delighted to know that the cant about the +lowering restrictions imposed by stupidity on genius had been silenced +for ever. A man of transcendent ability must never forget that he is a +member of a community, and that he has no more right wantonly to offend +the feelings or prejudices of that community than he has to go about +buffeting individual members with a club. As soon as he offends the +common feelings of his fellows he must take the consequences; and +hard-headed persons should turn a deaf ear when any eloquent and +sentimental person chooses to whine about his hero's wrongs. + +_March, 1888._ + + + + +_SLANG_. + + +Has any one ever yet considered the spiritual significance of slang? The +dictionaries inform us that "slang is a conversational irregularity of a +more or less vulgar type;" but that is not all. The prim definition +refers merely to words, but I am rather more interested in considering +the mental attitude which is indicated by the distortion and loose +employment of words, and by the fresh coinages which seem to spring up +every hour. I know of no age or nation that has been without its slang, +and the study is amongst the most curious that a scholar can take up; +but our own age, after all, must be reckoned as the palmy time of slang, +for we have gone beyond mere words, and our vulgarizations of language +are significant of degradation of soul. The Romans of the decadence had +a hideous cant language which fairly matched the grossness of the +people, and the Gauls, with their descendants, fairly matched the old +conquerors. The frightful old Paris of Francois Villon, with all its +bleak show of famine and death, had its constant changes of slang. +"_Tousjours vieil synge est desplaisant,"_ says the burglar-poet, and he +means that the old buffoon is tiresome; the young man with the newest +phases of city slang at his tongue's end is most acceptable in merry +company. Very few people can read Villon's longer poems at all, for they +are almost entirely written in cant language, and the glossary must be +in constant requisition. The rascal is a really great writer in his +abominable way, but his dialect was that of the lowest resorts, and he +lets us see that the copious _argot_ which now puzzles the stranger by +its kaleidoscopic changes was just as vivid and changeable in the +miserable days of the eleventh Louis. In the Paris of our day the slang +varies from hour to hour; every one seems able to follow it, and no one +knows who invents the constant new changes. The slang of the +boarding-house in Balzac's "Pere Goriot" is quite different from that of +the novels done by the Goncourt brothers; and, though I have not yet +mustered courage to finish one of M. Zola's outrages, I can see that the +vulgarisms which he has learned are not at all like any that have been +used in bygone days. The corruption of Paris seems to breed verbal +distortions rather freely, and the ordinary babble of the city workman +is as hard to any Englishman as are the colloquialisms of Burns to the +average Cockney. + +In England our slang has undergone one transformation after another ever +since the time of Chaucer. Shakespeare certainly gives us plenty; then +we have the slang of the Great War, and then the unutterable horrors of +the Restoration--even the highly proper Mr. Joseph Addison does not +disdain to talk of an "old put," and his wags are given to "smoking" +strangers. The eighteenth century--the century of the gallows--gave us a +whole crop of queer terms which were first used in thieves' cellars, and +gradually filtered from the racecourse and the cockpit till they took +their place in the vulgar tongue. The sweet idyll of "Life in London" is +a perfect garden of slang; Tom the Corinthian and Bob Logic lard their +phrases with the idiom of the prize-ring, and the author obligingly +italicises the knowing words so that one has no chance of missing them. +But nowadays we have passed beyond all that, and every social clique, +every school of art and literature, every trade--nay, almost every +religion--has its peculiar slang; and the results as regards morals, +manners, and even conduct in general are too remarkable to be passed +over by any one who desires to understand the complex society of our +era. The mere patter of thieves or racing-men--the terms are nearly +synonymous--counts for nothing. Those who know the byways of life know +that there are two kinds of dark language used by our nomad classes and +by our human predatory animals. A London thief can talk a dialect which +no outsider can possibly understand; for, by common agreement, arbitrary +names are applied to every object which the robbers at any time handle, +and to every sort of underhand business which they transact. But this +gibberish is not exactly an outcome of any moral obliquity; it is +employed as a means of securing safety. The gipsy cant is the remnant of +a pure and ancient language; we all occasionally use terms taken from +this remarkable tongue, and, when we speak of a "cad," or "making a +mull," or "bosh," or "shindy," or "cadger" or "bamboozling," or "mug," +or "duffer," or "tool," or "queer," or "maunder," or "loafer," or +"bung," we are using pure gipsy. No distinct mental process, no process +of corruption, is made manifest by the use of these terms; we simply +have picked them up unconsciously, and we continue to utter them in the +course of familiar conversation. + +I am concerned with a degradation of language which is of an importance +far beyond the trifling corruption caused by the introduction of terms +from the gipsy's caravan, the betting ring, or the thieves' kitchen; one +cannot help being made angry and sad by observing a tendency to belittle +all things that are great, to mock all earnestness, to vulgarize all +beauty. There is not a quarter where the subtle taint has not crept in, +and under its malign influence poetry has all but expired, good +conversation has utterly ceased to exist, art is no longer serious, and +the intercourse of men is not straightforward. The Englishman will +always be emotional in spite of the rigid reserve which he imposes upon +himself; he is an enthusiast, and he does truly love earnestness, +veracity, and healthy vigour. Take him away from a corrupt and petty +society and give him free scope, and he at once lets fall the film of +shams from off him like a cast garment, and comes out as a reality. Shut +the same Englishman up in an artificial, frivolous, unreal society, and +he at once becomes afraid of himself; he fears to exhibit enthusiasm +about anything, and he hides his genuine nature behind a cloud of slang. +He belittles everything he touches, he is afraid to utter a word from +his inner heart, and his talk becomes a mere dropping shower of verbal +counters which ring hollow. The superlative degree is abhorrent to him +unless he can misuse it for comic purposes; and, like the ridiculous +dummy lord in "Nicholas Nickleby," he is quite capable of calling +Shakespeare a "very clayver man." I have heard of the attitude taken by +two flowers of our society in presence of Joachim. Think of it! The +unmatched violinist had achieved one of those triumphs which seem to +permeate the innermost being of a worthy listener; the soul is +entranced, and the magician takes us into a fair world where there is +nothing but loveliness and exalted feeling. "Vewy good fellow, that +fiddle fellow," observed the British aristocrat. "Ya-as," answered his +faithful friend. Let any man who is given to speaking words with a view +of presenting the truth begin to speak in our faint, super-refined, +orthodox society; he will be looked at as if he were some queer object +brought from a museum of curiosities and pulled out for exhibition. The +shallowest and most impudent being that ever talked fooleries will +assume superior airs and treat the man of intellect as an amusing but +inferior creature. More than that--earnestness and reality are classed +together under the head of "bad form," the vital word grates on the +emasculate brain of the society man, and he compensates himself for his +inward consciousness of inferiority by assuming easy airs of insolence. +A very brilliant man was once talking in a company which included +several of the superfine division; he was witty, vivid, genial, full of +knowledge and tact; but he had one dreadful habit--he always said what +he thought. The brilliant man left the company, and one sham-languid +person said to a sham-aristocratic person, "Who is that?" "Ah, he's a +species of over-educated savage!" Now the gentleman who propounded this +pleasant piece of criticism was, according to trustworthy history, the +meanest, most useless, and most despicable man of his set; yet he could +venture to assume haughty airs towards a man whose shoes he was not fit +to black, and he could assume those airs on the strength of his slangy +impassivity--his "good form." When we remember that this same fictitious +indifference characterized the typical _grand seigneur_ of old France, +and when we also remember that indifference may be rapidly transformed +into insolence, and insolence into cruelty, we may well look grave at +the symptoms which we can watch around us. The dreary _ennui_ of the +heart, _ennui_ that revolts at truth, that is nauseated by earnestness, +expresses itself in what we call slang, and slang is the sign of mental +disease. + +I have no fault to find with the broad, racy, slap-dash language of the +American frontier, with its picturesque perversions and its droll +exaggeration. The inspired person who chose to call a coffin an +"eternity box" and whisky "blue ruin" was too innocent to sneer. The +slang of Mark Twain's Mr. Scott when he goes to make arrangements for +the funeral of the lamented Buck Fanshawe is excruciatingly funny and +totally inoffensive. Then the story of Jim Baker and the jays in "A +Tramp Abroad" is told almost entirely in frontier slang, yet it is one +of the most exquisite, tender, lovable pieces of work ever set down in +our tongue. The grace and fun of the story, the odd effects produced by +bad grammar, the gentle humour, all combine to make this decidedly +slangy chapter a literary masterpiece. A miner or rancheman will talk to +you for an hour and delight you, because his slang somehow fits his +peculiar thought accurately; an English sailor will tell a story, and he +will use one slang word in every three that come out of his mouth, yet +he is delightful, for the simple reason that his distorted dialect +enables him to express and not to suppress truth. But the poison that +has crept through the minds of our finer folk paralyses their utterance +so far as truth is concerned; and society may be fairly caricatured by a +figure of the Father of Lies blinking through an immense eyeglass upon +God's universe. + +Mr. George Meredith, with his usual magic insight, saw long ago whither +our over-refined gentry were tending; and in one of his finest books he +shows how a little dexterous slang may dwarf a noble deed. Nevil +Beauchamp was under a tremendous fire with his men: he wanted to carry a +wounded soldier out of action, but the soldier wished his adored officer +to be saved. At the finish the two men arrived safely in their own lines +amid the cheers of English, French, and even of the Russian enemy. This +is how the votary of slang transfigures the episode; he wishes to make a +little fun out of the hero, and he manages it by employing the tongue +which it is good form to use. "A long-shanked trooper bearing the name +of John Thomas Drew was crawling along under fire of the batteries. Out +pops old Nevil, tries to get the man on his back. It won't do. Nevil +insists that it's exactly one of the cases that ought to be, and they +remain arguing about it like a pair of nine-pins while the Moscovites +are at work with the bowls. Very well. Let me tell you my story. It's +perfectly true, I give you my word. So Nevil tries to horse Drew, and +Drew proposes to horse Nevil, as at school. Then Drew offers a +compromise. He would much rather have crawled on, you know, and allowed +the shot to pass over his head; but he's a Briton--old Nevil's the same; +but old Nevil's peculiarity is that, as you are aware, he hates a +compromise--won't have it--_retro Sathanas!_--and Drew's proposal to +take his arm instead of being carried pick-a-or piggy-back--I am +ignorant how Nevil spells it--disgusts old Nevil. Still it won't do to +stop where they are, like the cocoanut and pincushion of our friends +the gipsies on the downs; so they take arms and commence the journey +home, resembling the best friends on the evening of a holiday in our +native clime--two steps to the right, half a dozen to the left, &c. They +were knocked down by the wind of a ball near the battery. 'Confound it!' +cries Nevil. 'It's because I consented to a compromise!'" + +Most people know that this passage refers to Rear-Admiral Maxse, yet, +well as we may know our man, we have him presented like an awkward, +silly, comic puppet from a show. The professor of slang could degrade +the conduct of the soldiers on board the _Birkenhead_; he could make the +choruses from _Samson Agonistes_ seem like the Cockney puerilities of a +comic news-sheet. It is this high-sniffing, supercilious slang that I +attack, for I can see that it is the impudent language of a people to +whom nothing is great, nothing beautiful, nothing pure, and nothing +worthy of faith. + +The slang of the "London season" is terrible and painful. A gloriously +beautiful lady is a "rather good-looking woman--looks fairly well +to-night;" a great entertainment is a "function;" a splendid ball is a +"nice little dance;" high-bred, refined, and exclusive ladies and +gentlemen are "smart people;" a tasteful dress is a "swagger frock;" a +new craze is "the swagger thing to do." Imbecile, useless, contemptible +beings, male and female, use all these verbal monstrosities under the +impression that they make themselves look distinguished. A +microcephalous youth whose chief intellectual relaxation consists in +sucking the head of a stick thinks that his conversational style is +brilliant when he calls a man a "Johnnie," a battle "a blooming slog," +his lodgings his "show," a hero "a game sort of a chappie," and so on. +Girls catch the infection of slang; and thus, while sweet young ladies +are leading beautiful lives at Girton and Newnham, their sisters of +society are learning to use a language which is a frail copy of the +robust language of the drinking-bar and the racecourse. Under this +blight lofty thought perishes, noble language also dies away, real wit +is cankered and withered into a mere ghastly crackle of wordplay, humour +is regarded as the sign of the savage, and generous emotion, manly love, +womanly tenderness are reckoned as the folly of people whom the smart +young lady of the period would describe as "Jugginses." + +As to the slang of the juniors of the middle class, it is well-nigh past +description and past bearing. The dog-collared, tight-coated, horsey +youth learns all the cant phrases from cheap sporting prints, and he has +an idea that to call a man a "bally bounder" is quite a ducal thing to +do. His hideous cackle sounds in railway-carriages, or on breezy piers +by the pure sea, or in suburban roads. From the time when he gabbles +over his game of Nap in the train until his last villainous howl +pollutes the night, he lives, moves, and has his being in slang; and he +is incapable of understanding truth, beauty, grandeur, or refinement. He +is apt to label any one who does not wear a dog-collar and stableman's +trousers as a cad; but, ah, what a cad he himself is! In what a vast +profound gulf of vulgarity his being wallows; and his tongue, his slang, +is enough to make the spirits of the pure and just return to earth and +smite him! Better by far the cunning gipsy with his glib chatter, the +rough tramp with his incoherent hoarseness! All who wish to save our +grand language from deterioration, all who wish to retain some savour of +sincerity and manhood among us, should set themselves resolutely to talk +on all occasions, great or trivial, in simple, direct, refined English. +There is no need to be bookish; there is much need for being natural and +sincere--and nature and sincerity are assassinated by slang. + +_September, 1888._ + + + + +_PETS._ + + +That enterprising savage who first domesticated the pig has a good deal +to answer for. I do not say that the moral training of the pig was a +distinct evil, for it undoubtedly saved many aged and respectable +persons from serious inconvenience. The more practical members of the +primitive tribes were wont to club the patriarchs whom they regarded as +having lived long enough; and an exaggerated spirit of economy led the +sons of the forest to eat their venerable relatives. The domestication +of the noble animal which is the symbol of Irish prosperity caused a +remarkable change in primitive public opinion. The gratified savage, +conscious of possessing pigs, no longer cast the anxious eye of the +epicure upon his grandmother. Thus a disagreeable habit and a +disagreeable tradition were abolished, and one more step was made in the +direction of universal kindliness. But, while we are in some measure +grateful to the first pig-tamer, we do not feel quite so sure about the +first person who inveigled the cat into captivity. Mark that I do not +speak of the "slavery" of the cat--for who ever knew a cat to do +anything against its will? If you whistle for a dog, he comes with +servile gestures, and almost overdoes his obedience; but, if a cat has +got into a comfortable place, you may whistle for that cat until you are +spent, and it will go on regarding you with a lordly blink of +independence. No; decidedly the cat is not a slave. Of course I must be +logical, and therefore I allow, under reasonable reservations, that a +boot-jack, used as a projectile, will make a cat stir; and I have known +a large garden-syringe cause a most picturesque exodus in the case of +some eloquent and thoughtful cats that were holding a conference in a +garden at midnight. Still I must carefully point out the fact that the +boot-jack will not induce the cat to travel in any given direction for +your convenience; you throw the missile, and you must wait in suspense +until you know whether your cat will vanish with a wild plunge through +the roof of your conservatory or bound with unwonted smartness into your +favourite William pear tree. The syringe is scarcely more trustworthy in +its action than the boot-jack; the parting remarks of six drenched cats +are spirited and harmonious; but the animals depart to different +quarters of the universe, and your hydraulic measure, so far from +bringing order out of chaos, merely evokes a wailing chaos out of +comparative order. These discursive observations aim at showing that a +cat has a haughty spirit of independence which centuries of partial +submission to the suzerainty of man have not eradicated. I do not want +to censure the ancient personage who made friends with the creature +which is a thing of beauty and a joy for ever to many estimable +people--I reserve my judgment. Some otherwise calm and moral men regard +the cat in such a light that they would go and jump on the tomb of the +primeval tamer; others would erect monuments to him; so perhaps it is +better that we do not know whose memory we should revere--or +anathematise--the processes are reversible, according to our +dispositions. Man is the paragon of animals; the cat is the paradox of +animals. You cannot reason about the creature; you can only make sure +that it has every quality likely to secure success in the struggle for +existence; and it is well to be careful how you state your opinions in +promiscuous company, for the fanatic cat-lover is only a little less +wildly ferocious than the fanatical cat-hater. + +Cats and pigs appear to have been the first creatures to earn the +protective affection of man; but, ah, what a cohort of brutes and birds +have followed! The dog is an excellent, noble, lovable animal; but the +pet-dog! Alas! I seem to hear one vast sigh of genuine anguish as this +Essay travels round the earth from China to Peru. I can understand the +artfulness of that wily savage who first persuaded the wolf-like animal +of the Asiatic plains to help him in the chase; I understand the +statesmanship of the Thibetan shepherd who first made a wolf turn +traitor to the lupine race. But who first invented the pet-dog? This +impassioned question I ask with thoughts that are a very great deal too +deep for tears. Consider what the existence of the pet-dog means. You +visit an estimable lady, and you are greeted, almost in the hall, by a +poodle, who waltzes around your legs and makes an oration like an +obstructionist when the Irish Estimates are before the House. You feel +that you are pale, but you summon up all your reserves of base hypocrisy +and remark, "Poor fellow! Poo-poo-poo-ole fellow!" You really mean, "I +should like to tomahawk you, and scalp you afterwards!"--but this +sentiment you ignobly retain in your own bosom. You lift one leg in an +apologetic way, and poodle instantly dashes at you with all the +vehemence of a charge of his compatriots the Cuirassiers. You shut your +eyes and wait for the shedding of blood; but the torturer has all the +malignant subtlety of an Apache Indian, and he tantalizes you. Presently +the lady of the house appears, and, finding that you are beleaguered by +an ubiquitous foe, she says sweetly, "Pray do not mind Moumou; his fun +gets the better of him. Go away, naughty Moumou! Did Mr. Blank frighten +him then--the darling?" Fun! A pleasing sort of fun! If the rescuer had +seen that dog's sanguinary rushes, she would not talk about fun. When +you reach the drawing-room, there is a pug seated on an ottoman. He +looks like a peculiarly truculent bull-dog that has been brought up on a +lowering diet of gin-and-water, and you gain an exaggerated idea of his +savagery as he uplifts his sooty muzzle. He barks with indignation, as +if he thought you had come for his mistress's will, and intended to cut +him off with a Spratt's biscuit. Of course he comes to smell round your +ankles, and equally of course you put on a sickly smile, and take up an +attitude as though you had sat down on the wrong side of a harrow. Your +conversation is strained and feeble; you fail to demonstrate your +affection; and, when a fussy King Charles comes up and fairly shrieks +injurious remarks at you, the sense of humiliation and desertion is too +severe, and you depart. Of course your hostess never attempts to control +her satellites--they are quiet with her; and, even if one of them +sampled the leg of a guest with a view to further business, she would be +secretly pleased at such a proof of exclusive affection. We suppose that +people must have something to be fond of; but why should any one be +fond of a pug that is too unwieldy to move faster than a hedgehog? His +face is, to say the least, not celestial--whatever his nose may be; he +cannot catch a rat; he cannot swim; he cannot retrieve; he can do +nothing, and his insolence to strangers eclipses the best performances +of the finest and tallest Belgravian flunkeys. He is alive, and in his +youth he may doubtless have been comic and engaging; but in his obese, +waddling, ill-conditioned old age he is such an atrocity that one wishes +a wandering Chinaman might pick him up and use him instantly after the +sensible thrifty fashion of the great nation. + +I love the St. Bernard; he is a noble creature, and his beautiful +life-saving instinct is such that I have seen a huge member of the breed +jump off a high bridge to save a puppy which he considered to be +drowning. The St. Bernard will allow a little child to lead him and to +smite him on the nose without his uttering so much as a whine by way of +remonstrance. If another dog attacks him, he will not retaliate by +biting--that would be undignified, and like a mere bull-dog; he lies +down on his antagonist and waits a little; then that other dog gets up +when it has recovered breath, and, after thinking the matter over, it +concludes that it must have attacked a sort of hairy traction-engine. +All these traits of the St. Bernard are very sweet and engaging, and I +must, moreover, congratulate him on his scientific method of treating +burglars; but I do object with all the pathos at my disposal to the St. +Bernard considered as a pet. His master will bring him into rooms. Now, +when he is bounding about on glaciers, or infringing the Licensing Act +by giving travellers brandy without scrutinizing their return-tickets, +or acting as pony for frozen little boys, or doing duty as special +constable when burglars pay an evening call, he is admirable; but, when +he enters a room, he has all the general effects of an earthquake +without any picturesque accessories. His beauty is of course praised, +and, like any other big lumbering male, he is flattered; his vast tail +makes a sweep like the blade of a screw-propeller, and away goes a vase. +A maid brings in tea, and the St. Bernard is pleased to approve the +expression of Mary's countenance; with one colossal spring he places his +paws on her shoulders, and she has visions of immediate execution. Not +being equal to the part of an early martyr, she observes, "Ow!" The St. +Bernard regards this brief statement as a compliment, and, in an ecstasy +of self-approval, he sends poor Mary staggering. Of course, when he is +sent out, after causing this little excitement, he proceeds to eat +anything that happens to be handy; and, as the cook does not wish to be +eaten herself, she bears her bitter wrong in silence, only hoping that +the two pounds of butter which the animal took as dessert may make him +excessively unwell. + +Now I ask any man and brother, or lady and sister, is a St. Bernard a +legitimate pet in the proper sense of the word? As to the bull-dog, I +say little. He at least is a good water-dog, and, when he is taught, he +will retrieve birds through the heaviest sea as long as his master cares +to shoot. But his appearance is sardonic, to say the least of it; he +puts me in mind of a prize-fighter coming up for the tenth round when he +has got matters all his own way. Happily he is not often kept as a pet; +he is usually taken out by fast young men in riverside places, for his +company is believed to give an air of dash and fashion to his master; +and he waddles along apparently engaged in thinking out some scheme of +reform for sporting circles in general. In a drawing-room he looks +unnatural, and his imperturbable good humour fails to secure him favour. +Dr. Jessopp tells a story of a clergyman's wife who usually kept from +fifteen to twenty brindled bull-dogs; but this lady was an original +character, and her mode of using a red-hot iron bar when any of her pets +had an argument was marked by punctuality and despatch. + +The genuine collie is an ideal pet, but the cross-grained fleecy brutes +bred for the show-bench are good neither for one thing nor another. The +real, homely, ugly collie never snaps at friends; the mongrel brute with +the cross of Gordon setter is not safe for an hour at a time. The real +collie takes to sheep-driving by instinct; he will run three miles out +and three miles in, and secure his master's property accurately after +very little teaching; the present champion of all the collies would run +away from a sheep as if he had seen a troop of lions. In any case, even +when a collie is a genuine affectionate pet, his place is not in the +house. Let him have all the open air possible, and he will remain +healthy, delightful in his manners, and preternaturally intelligent. The +dog of the day is the fox-terrier, and a charming little fellow he is. +Unfortunately it happens that most smart youths who possess fox-terriers +have an exalted idea of their friends' pugilistic powers, and hence the +sweet little black, white, and tan beauty too often has life concerted +into a battle and a march. Still no one who understands the fox-terrier +can help respecting and admiring him. If I might hint a fault, it is +that the fox-terrier lacks balance of character. The ejaculation +"Cats!" causes him to behave in a way which is devoid of well-bred +repose, and his conduct when in presence of rabbits is enough to make a +meditative lurcher or retriever grieve. When a lurcher sees a rabbit in +the daytime, he leers at him from his villainous oblique eye, and seems +to say, "Shan't follow you just now--may have the pleasure of looking +you up this evening." But the fox-terrier converts himself into a kind +of hurricane in fur, and he gives tongue like a stump-orator in full +cry. I may say that, when once the fox-terrier becomes a drawing-room +pet, he loses all character--he might just as well be a pug at once. The +Bedlington is perhaps the best of all terriers, but his disreputable +aspect renders him rather out of place in a refined room. It is only +when his deep sagacious eyes are seen that he looks attractive. He can +run, swim, dive, catch rabbits, retrieve, or do anything. I grieve to +say that he is a dog of an intriguing disposition; and no prudent lady +would introduce him among dogs who have not learned mischief. The +Bedlington seems to have the power of command, and he takes a fiendish +delight in ordering young dogs to play pranks. He will whisper to a +young collie, and in an instant you will see that collie chasing sheep +or hens, or hunting among flower-beds, or baiting a cow, or something +equally outrageous. Decidedly the Bedlington does not shine as a pet; +and he should be kept only where there are plenty of things to be +murdered daily--then he lives with placid joy, varied by sublime +Berserker rage. + +As to feathered pets, who has not suffered from parrots? You buy a grey +one at the docks, and pay four pounds for him on account of his manifold +accomplishments. When he is taken home and presented to a prim lady, he +of course gives her samples of the language used by the sailors on the +voyage home; and, even when his morals are cured and his language is +purified by discipline, he is a terrible creature. The imp lurks in his +eye, and his beak--his abominable beak--is like a malicious vice. But I +allow that Polly, when well behaved, gives a charming appearance to a +room, and her ways are very quaint. Lonely women have amused themselves +for many and many a weary hour with the antics of the pretty tropical +bird; and I shall say nothing against Poll for the world. + +I started with the intention of merely skirting the subject; but I find +I am involved in considerations deep as society--deep as the origins of +the human race. In their proper place I like all pets, with the +exception of snakes. The aggressive pug is bad enough, but the snake is +a thousand times worse. When possible, all boys and girls should have +pets, and they should be made to tend their charges without any adult +help whatever. No indirect discipline has such a humanizing effect. The +unregenerate boy deprived of pets will tie kettles to dogs' tails, he +will shoot at cats with catapults, he is merciless to small birds, and +no one can convince him that frogs or young nestlings can feel. When he +has pets, his mental horizon is widened and his kindlier instincts +awaken. A boy or girl without a pet is maimed in sympathy. + +Let me plead for discrimination in choice of pets. A gentleman--like the +celebrated Mary--had a little lamb which he loved; but the little lamb +developed into a very big and vicious ram which the owner could not +find heart to kill. When this gentleman's friends were holding sweet and +improving converse with him, that sheep would draw up behind his +master's companion; then he would shoot out like a stone from a sling, +and you would see a disconcerted guest propelled through space in a +manner destructive alike to dignity and trousers. That sheep comes and +butts at the front-door if he thinks his master is making too long a +call; it is of no use to go and apologize for he will not take any +denial, and, moreover, he will as soon ram you with his granite skull as +look at you. Let the door be shut again, and the sheep seems to say, "If +I don't send a panel in, you may call me a low, common goat!" and then +he butts away with an enthusiasm which arouses the street. A pet of that +sort is quite embarrassing, and I must respectfully beg leave to draw +the line at rams. A ram is too exciting a personage for the owner's +friends. + +Every sign that tells of the growing love for dumb animals is grateful +to my mind; for any one who has a true, kindly love for pets cannot be +wholly bad. While I gently ridicule the people who keep useless brutes +to annoy their neighbours, I would rather see even the hideous, useless +pug kept to wheeze and snarl in his old age than see no pets at all. +Good luck to all good folk who love animals, and may the reign of +kindness spread! + +_March, 1888._ + + + + +_THE ETHICS OF THE TURF_. + + +When Lord Beaconsfield called the Turf a vast engine of national +demoralization, he uttered a broad general truth; but, unfortunately, he +did not go into particulars, and his vague grandiloquence has inspired a +large number of ferocious imitators, who know as little about the +essentials of the matter as Lord Beaconsfield did. These imitators abuse +the wrong things and the wrong people; they mix up causes and effects; +they are acrid where they should be tolerant; they know nothing about +the real evils; and they do no good, for the simple reason that racing +blackguards never read anything, while cultured gentlemen who happen to +go racing smile quietly at the blundering of amateur moralists. Sir +Wilfrid Lawson is a good man and a clever man; but to see the kind of +display he makes when he gets up to talk about the Turf is very +saddening. He can give you an accurate statement concerning the evils of +drink, but as soon as he touches racing his innocence becomes woefully +apparent, and the biggest scoundrel that ever entered the Ring can +afford to make game of the harmless, well-meaning critic. The subject is +an intricate one, and you cannot settle it right off by talking of +"pampered nobles who pander to the worst vices of the multitude;" and +you go equally wrong if you begin to shriek whenever that inevitable +larcenous shopboy whimpers in the dock about the temptations of betting. +We are poisoned by generalities; our reformers, who use press and +platform to enlighten us, resemble a doctor who should stop by a +patient's bedside and deliver an oration on bad health in the abstract +when he ought to be finding out his man's particular ailment. Let us +clear the ground a little bit, until we can see something definite. I am +going to talk plainly about things that I know, and I want to put all +sentimental rubbish out of the road. + +In the first place, then, horse-racing, in itself, is neither degrading +nor anything else that is bad; a race is a beautiful and exhilarating +spectacle, and quiet men, who never bet, are taken out of themselves in +a delightful fashion when the exquisite thoroughbreds thunder past. No +sensible man supposes for a moment that owners and trainers have any +deliberate intention of improving the breed of horses, but, +nevertheless, these splendid tests of speed and endurance undoubtedly +tend indirectly to produce a fine breed, and that is worth taking into +account. The Survival of the Fittest is the law that governs racing +studs; the thought and observation of clever men are constantly +exercised with a view to preserving excellence and eliminating defects, +so that, little by little, we have contrived, in the course of a +century, to approach equine perfection. If a twelve-stone man were put +up on Bendigo, that magnificent animal could give half a mile start to +any Arab steed that ever was foaled, and run away from the Arab at the +finish of a four-mile course. Weight need not be considered, for if the +Eastern-bred horse only carried a postage-stamp the result would be much +about the same. Minting could carry fourteen stone across a country, +while, if we come to mere speed, there is really no knowing what horses +like Ormonde, Energy, Prince Charlie, and others might have done had +they been pressed. If the Emir of Hail were to bring over fifty of his +best mares, the Newmarket trainers could pick out fifty fillies from +among their second-rate animals, and the worst of the fillies could +distance the best of the Arabs on any terms; while, if fifty heats were +run off, over any courses from half a mile to four miles, the English +horses would not lose one. The champion Arab of the world was matched +against one of the worst thoroughbreds in training; the English "plater" +carried about five stone more than the pride of the East, and won by a +quarter of a mile. + +Unconsciously, the breeders of racers have been evolving for us the +swiftest, strongest, and most courageous horse known to the world, and +we cannot afford to neglect that consideration, for people will not +strive after perfection unless perfection brings profit. + +Again, we hear occasionally a good deal of outcry about the great +noblemen and gentlemen who keep up expensive studs, and the assumption +is that racehorses and immorality go together; but what would the +critics have the racing nobleman do? He is born into a strange +artificial society; his fate is ready-made for him; he inherits luxuries +and pastimes as he inherits land and trees. Say that the stud is a +useless luxury: but then, what about the daubs for which plutocrats pay +thousands of guineas? A picture costs, let us say, 2,000 guineas; it is +the slovenly work of a hurried master, and the guineas are paid for a +name; it is stuck away in a private gallery, and, if its owner looks at +it so often as once a week, it costs him L2 per peep--reckoning only the +interest on the money sunk. Is that useless luxury? The fact is that we +are living in a sort of guarded hothouse; our barbarian propensities +cannot have an easy outlet; and luxury of all sorts tends to lull our +barbarian energy. If we blame one man for indulging a costly hobby, we +must blame almost every man and woman who belongs to the grades above +the lower middle-class. A rich trader who spends L5,000 a year on +orchid-houses cannot very well afford to reprove a man who pays 50s. per +week for each of a dozen horses in training. Rich folk, whose wealth has +been fostered during the long security of England, will indulge in +superfluities, and no one can stop them. A country gentleman who +succeeds to a deer park cannot slaughter all the useless, pretty +creatures merely because they _are_ useless: he is bound by a thousand +traditions, and he cannot suddenly break away. A nobleman inherits a +colossal income, of which he cannot very well rid himself: he follows +the traditions of his family or his class, and employs part of his +profuse surplus riches in maintaining a racing stud; how can any one +find fault with him? Such a man as Lord Hartington would never dream of +betting except in a languid, off-hand way. He (and his like) are fond of +watching the superb rush of the glossy horses; they want the freedom, +the swift excitement of the breezy heath; our society encourages them to +amuse themselves, and they do so with a will. That is all. It may be +wrong for A and B and C to own superfluous wealth, but then the fact is +there--that they have got it, and the community agree that they may +expend the superfluity as they choose. The rich man's stud gives +wholesome employment to myriads of decent folks in various stations of +life--farmers, saddlers, blacksmiths, builders, corn dealers, +road-makers, hedgers, farriers, grooms, and half a score other sorts of +toilers derive their living from feeding, harnessing, and tending the +horses, and the withdrawal of such a sportsman as Mr. "Abington" from +Newmarket would inflict a terrible blow on hundreds of industrious +persons who lead perfectly useful and harmless lives. My point is, that +racing (as racing) is in no way noxious; it is the most pleasant of all +excitements, and it gives bread to many praiseworthy citizens. I have +seen 5,000 given for a Latin hymn-book, and, when I pondered on the +ghastly, imbecile selfishness of that purchase, I thought that I should +not have mourned very much if the money had been laid out on a dozen +smart colts and fillies, for, at least, the horses would have ultimately +been of some use, even if they all had been put to cab-work. We must +allow that when racing is a hobby, it is quite respectable--as hobbies +go. One good friend of mine, whose fortune has been made by shrewd +judgment and constant work, always keeps five or six racers in training. +He goes from meeting to meeting with all the eagerness of a boy; his +friends sturdily maintain that his stud is composed of "hair trunks," +and the animals certainly have an impressively uniform habit of coming +in last But the good owner has his pleasure; his hobby satisfies him; +and, when he goes out in the morning to watch his yearlings frolicking, +he certainly never dreams that he is fostering an immoral institution. +Could we only have racing--and none of the hideous adjuncts--I should +be glad, in spite of all the moralists who associate horse-flesh with +original sin. + +As to the bookmakers, I shall have much to say further on. At present I +am content with observing that the quiet, respectable bookmaker is as +honourable and trustworthy as any trafficker in stocks and shares, and +his business is almost identical with that of the stockjobber in many +respects. No class of men adhere more rigidly to the point of honour +than bookmakers of the better sort, and a mere nod from one of them is +as binding to him as the most elaborate of parchments. They are simply +shrewd, audacious tradesmen, who know that most people are fools, and +make their profit out of that knowledge. It is painful to hear an +ignorant man abusing a bookmaker who does no more than use his +opportunities skilfully. Why not abuse the gentry who buy copper to +catch the rise of the market? Why not abuse the whole of the thousands +of men who make the City lively for six days of the week? Is there any +rational man breathing who would scruple to accept profit from the rise +of a stock or share? If I, practically, back South-Eastern Railway +shares to rise, who blames me if I sell when my property has increased +in value by one-eighth? My good counsellor, Mr. Ruskin, who is the most +virulent enemy of usury, is nevertheless very glad that his father +bought Bank of England shares, which have now been converted into Stock, +and stand at over 300; Ruskin senior was a shrewd speculator, who backed +his fancy; and a bookmaker does the same in a safer way. Bookmaking is a +business which is carried out in its higher branches with perfect +sobriety, discretion, mid probity; the gambling element does not come +in on the bookmaker's side, but he deals with gamblers in a fair way. +They know that he will lay them the shortest odds he can; they know that +they put their wits against his, and they also know that he will pay +them with punctilious accuracy if they happen to beat him in the +encounter of brains. Three or four of the leading betting men "turn +over" on the average about half a million each per annum; one firm who +bet on commission receive an average of five thousand pounds per day to +invest, and the vouchers of all these speculators and agents are as good +as bank notes. Mark that I grant the certainty of the bookmakers +winning; they can remain idle in their mansions for months in the year, +and the great gambling public supply the means; but I do not find fault +with the bookmakers because they use their opportunities, or else I +might rave about the iniquity of a godly man who earns in a week 100,000 +from a "corner" in tin, or I might reprobate the quack who makes no less +than 7000 per cent on every box of pills that he sells. A good man once +chatted with me for a whole evening, and all his talk ran on his own +luck in "spotting" shares that were likely to move upward. Certainly his +luck as a gambler had been phenomenal. I turned the conversation to the +Turf case of Wood _v_. Cox, and the torrent of eloquence which met me +was enough to drown my intellect in its whirl and rush. My friend was +great on the iniquity of gaming and racing, and I rather fancy that he +proposed to play on the Betting Ring with a mitrailleuse if ever he had +the power. I know he was most sanguinary--and I smiled. He never for an +instant seemed to think that he was exactly like a backer of horses, +and I have no doubt but that his density is shared by a few odd millions +here and there. The stockbroker is a kind of bookmaker, and the men and +women who patronise both and make their wealth are fools who all may be +lumped under the same heading. I knew of one outside-broker--a mere +bucket-shop keeper--who keeps 600 clerks constantly employed. That seems +to point out rather an extensive gambling business. + +And now I have tried to clear the ground on one hand a little, and my +last and uttermost good word has been said for the Turf. With sorrow I +say that, after all excuses are made, the cool observer must own that it +is indeed a vast engine of national demoralization, and the subtle venom +which it injects into the veins of the Nation creeps along through +channels of which Lord Beaconsfield never dreamed. I might call the Turf +a canker, but a canker is only a local ailment, whereas the evils of +betting have now become constitutional so far as the State is concerned. +If we cut out the whole tribe of bookmakers and betting-agents, and +applied such cautery as would prevent any similar growth from arising in +the place wherefrom we excised them, we should do very little good; for +the life-blood of Britain is tainted, and no superficial remedy can cure +her now. I shut my eyes on the bookmakers, and I only spare attention +for the myriads who make the bookmakers' existence possible--who would +evolve new bookmakers from their midst if we exterminated the present +tribe to-morrow. It is not the professional bettors who cause the +existence of fools; it is the insensate fools who cause the existence of +professional bettors. + +Gambling used to be mainly confined to the upper classes; it is now a +raging disease among that lower middle-class which used to form the main +element of our national strength, and the tradesman whose cart comes to +your area in the morning gambles with all the reckless abandonment that +used to be shown by the Hon. A. Deuceace or Lady Betty when George the +Third was King. Your clerk, shopman, butcher, baker, barber--especially +the barber--ask their companions, "What have you done on the Lincoln?" +or "How do you stand for the Two Thousand?" just as ordinary folks ask +after each other's health. Tradesmen step out of their shops in the +morning and telegraph to their bookmaker just as they might to one of +their wholesale houses; there is not a town in broad England which has +not its flourishing betting men, and some very small towns can maintain +two or three. The bookmakers are usually publicans, barbers, or +tobacconists; but whatever they are they invariably drive a capital +trade. In the corner of a smoking-room you may see a quiet, impassive +man sitting daily in a contemplative manner; he does not drink much; he +smokes little, and he appears to have nothing in particular to worry +him. If he knows you well, he will scarcely mind your presence; men (and +boys) greet him, and little, gentle colloquies take place from time to +time; the smartest man could detect nothing, and yet the noiseless, +placid gentleman of the smoking-room registers thirty or forty bets in a +day. That is one type which I have watched for hours, days, months. +There are dozens of other types, but I need not attempt to sketch them; +it is sufficient to say that the poison has taken hard hold on us, and +that I see every symptom of a national decadence. + +Some one may say, "But you excused the Turf and the betting men." +Exactly. I said that racing is a delightful pastime to those who go to +watch good horses gallop; the miserable thing to me is seeing the +wretches who do not care for racing at all, but only care for gambling +on names and numbers. Let Lord Hartington, Lord Randolph Churchill, Mr. +Chaplin, Mr. Corlett, Mr. Rothschild, Lord Rosebery, and the rest, go +and see the lovely horses shooting over the turf; by all means let them +watch their own colts and fillies come flying home. But the poor +creatures who muddle away brains, energy, and money on what _they_ are +pleased to term sport, do not know a horse from a mule; they gamble, as +I have said, on names; the splendid racers give them no enjoyment such +as the true sportsman derives, for they would not know Ormonde from a +Clydesdale. To these forlorn beings only the ignoble side of racing is +known; it is sacrilege to call them sportsmen; they are rotting their +very souls and destroying the remnants of their manhood over a game +which they play blindfold. It is pitiful--most pitiful. No good-natured +man will begrudge occasional holiday-makers their chance of seeing a +good race. Rural and industrial Yorkshire are represented by thousands +at Doncaster, on the St. Ledger day, and the tourists get no particular +harm; they are horsey to the backbone, and they come to see the running. +They criticize the animals and gain topics for months of conversation, +and, if they bet an odd half-crown and never go beyond it, perhaps no +one is much the worse. When the Duke of Portland allowed his tenantry to +see St. Simon gallop five years ago at Newcastle, the pitmen and +artisans thronged to look at the horse. There was no betting whatever, +because no conceivable odds could have measured the difference between +St. Simon and his opponent, yet when Archer let the multitude see how +fast a horse _could_ travel, and the great thoroughbred swept along like +a flash, the excitement and enthusiasm rose to fever-pitch. Those men +had an unaffected pleasure in observing the beauty and symmetry and +speed of a noble creature, and they were unharmed by the little treat +which the good-natured magnate provided for them. It is quite otherwise +with the mob of stay-at-home gamblers; they do not care a rush for the +horses; they long, with all the crazy greed of true dupes, to gain money +without working for it, and that is where the mischief comes in. +Cupidity, mean anxieties, unwholesome excitements, gradually sap the +morality of really sturdy fellows--the last shred of manliness is torn +away, and the ordinary human intelligence is replaced by repulsive +vulpine cunning. If you can look at a little group of the stay-at-homes +while they are discussing the prospects of a race, you will see +something that Hogarth would have enjoyed in his large, lusty fashion. +The fair human soul no longer shines through those shifty, deceitful +eyes; the men have, somehow, sunk from the level of their race, and they +make you think that Swift may-have been right after all. From long +experience I am certain that if a cultured gentleman, accustomed to high +thinking, were suddenly compelled to live among these dismal beings, he +would be attacked by a species of intellectual paralysis. The affairs of +the country are nothing to them; poetry, art, and all beautiful things +are contemptible in their eyes; they dwell in an obscure twilight of the +mind, and their relaxation, when the serious business of betting is put +aside for awhile, mostly lies in the direction of sheer bawdry and +abomination. It is curious to see the oblique effect which general +degradation has upon the vocabulary of these people; quiet words, or +words that express a plain meaning, are repugnant to them; even the +old-fashioned full-mouthed oaths of our fathers are tame to their fancy, +for they must have something strongly spiced, and thus they have by +degrees fitted themselves up with a loathly dialect of their own which +transcends the comparatively harmless efforts of the Black Country +potter. Foul is not the word for this ultra-filthy mode of talk--it +passes into depths below foulness. I may digress for a little to +emphasize this point. The latter-day hanger-on of the Turf has +introduced a new horror to existence. Go into the Silver Ring at a +suburban meeting, and listen while two or three of the fellows work +themselves into an ecstasy of vile excitement, then you will hear +something which cannot be described or defined in any terms known to +humanity. Why it should be so I cannot tell, but the portentous symptom +of putridity is always in evidence. As is the man of the Ring, so are +the stay-at-homes. The disease of their minds is made manifest by their +manner of speech; they throw out verbal pustules which tell of the rank +corruption which has overtaken their nature, and you need some seasoning +before you can remain coolly among them without feeling symptoms of +nausea. There is one peer of this realm--a hereditary legislator and a +patron of many Church livings--who is famous for his skill in the use of +certain kinds of vocables. This man is a living exemplar of the +mysterious effect which low dodging and low distractions have on the +soul. In five minutes he can make you feel as if you had tumbled into +one of Swedenborg's loathsome hells; he can make the most eloquent of +turf thieves feel, envious, and he can make you awe-stricken as you see +how far and long God bears with man. The disease from which this +pleasing pillar of the State suffers has spread, with more or less +virulence, to the furthermost recesses of our towns, and you must know +the fringe of the Turf world before you can so much as guess what the +symptoms are like. + +Here is a queer kind of a world which has suddenly arisen! Faith and +trust are banished; real honesty is unknown; purity is less than a name; +manliness means no more than a certain readiness to use the fists. Most +of the dwellers in this atmosphere are punctilious about money payments +because they durst not be otherwise, but the fine flower of real probity +does not flourish in the mephitic air. To lie, to dodge, to take mean +advantages--these are the accomplishments which an ugly percentage of +middle-class youths cultivate, and all the mischief arises from the fact +that they persist in trying to ape the manners of the most unworthy +members of an order to which they do not belong. It is bad enough when a +rich and idle man is bitten with the taste for betting, but when he is +imitated by the tailor's assistant who carries his clothes home, then we +have a still more unpleasant phenomenon to consider. For it is fatal to +a nation when any large and influential section of the populace once +begin to be confused in their notions of right and wrong. Not long ago I +was struck by noticing a significant instance of this moral dry rot. An +old racing man died, and all the sporting papers had something to say +about him and his career. Now the best of the sporting journalists are +clever and cultured gentlemen, who give refinement, to every subject +that they touch. But a certain kind of writing is done by pariahs, who +are not much of a credit to our society, and I was interested by the +style in which these scribbling vermin spoke of the dead man. Their gush +was a trifle nauseating; their mean worship of money gave one a shiver, +and the relish with which they described their hero's exploits would +have been comic were it not for the before-mentioned nausea. + +It seemed that the departed turfite had been--to use blunt English--a +very skilful and successful swindler. He would buy a horse which took +his fancy, and he would run the animal again and again, until people got +tired of seeing such a useless brute taken down to the starting-point. +The handicappers finally let our schemer's horse in at a trifling +weight, and then he prepared for business. He had trustworthy agents at +Manchester, Nottingham, and Newcastle, and these men contrived, without +rousing suspicion, to "dribble" money into the market in a stealthy way, +until the whole of their commission was worked on very advantageous +terms. The arch-plotter did not show prominently in the transaction, and +he contrived once or twice to throw dust in the eyes of the very +cleverest men. One or two neatly arranged strokes secured our acute +gentleman a handsome fortune. He missed L70,000 once, by a short head, +but this was the only instance in which his plans seriously failed; and +he was looked up to as an epitome of all the virtues which are most +acceptable in racing circles. Well, had this dodger exhibited the +heroism of Gordon, the benevolence of Lord Shaftesbury, the probity of +Henry Fawcett, he could not have been more bepraised and bewailed by the +small fry of sporting literature. All he had done in life was to deceive +people by making them fancy that certain good horses were bad ones: +strictly speaking, he made money by false pretences, and yet, such is +the twist given by association with genuine gamblers, that educated men +wrote of him as if he had been a saint of the most admirable order. This +disposition is seen all through the piece: successful roguery is +glorified, and our young men admire "the Colonel," or "the Captain," or +Jack This and Tom That, merely because the Captain and the Colonel and +Jack and Tom are acute rascals who have managed to make money. +Decidedly, our national ideals are in a queer way. Just think of a +little transaction which occurred in 1887. A noble lord ordered a +miserable jockey boy to pull a horse, so that the animal might lose a +race: the exalted guide of youth was found out, and deservedly packed +off the Turf; but it was only by an accident that the Stewards were able +to catch him. That legislator had funny notions of the duty which he +owed to boyhood: he asked his poor little satellite to play the +scoundrel, and he only did what scores do who are _not_ found out. + +A haze hangs about the Turf, and all the principles which should guide +human nature are blurred and distorted; the high-minded, honourable +racing men can do nothing or next to nothing, and the scum work their +will in only too many instances. Every one knows that the ground is +palpitating with corruption, but our national mental disease has so +gained ground that some regard corruption in a lazy way as +being inevitable, while others--including the stay-at-home +horse-racers--reckon it as absolutely admirable. + +Some years ago, a pretty little mare was winning the St. Leger easily, +when a big horse cut into her heels and knocked her over. About two +months afterwards, the same wiry little mare was running in an important +race at Newmarket, and at the Bushes she was hauling her jockey out of +the saddle. There were not many spectators about, and only a few noticed +that, while the mare was fighting for her head, she was suddenly pulled +until she reared up, lost her place, and reached the post about seventh +in a large field. The jockey who rode the mare, and who made her exhibit +circus gambols, received a thousand pounds from the owner of the winning +horse. Now, there was no disguise about this transaction--nay, it was +rather advertised than otherwise, and a good many of the sporting prints +took it quite as a matter of course. Why? Simply because no prominent +racing man raked up the matter judicially, and because the ordinary Turf +scramblers accept suspicious proceedings as part of their environment. +Mr. Carlyle mourned over the deadly virus of lying which was emitted by +Loyola and his crew; he might mourn now over the deadly virus of +cheating which is emitted from the central ganglia of the Turf. The +upright men who love horses and love racing are nearly powerless; the +thieves leaven the country, and they have reduced what was once the +finest middle-class in the world to a condition of stark putridity. + +Before we can rightly understand the degradation which has befallen us +by reason of the Turf, we must examine the position of jockeys in the +community. Lord Beaconsfield, in one of his most wicked sentences, said +that the jockey is our Western substitute for the eunuch; a noble duke, +who ought to know something about the matter, lately informed the world +through the medium of a court of law with an oath that "jockeys are +thieves." Now, I know one jockey whose character is not embraced by the +duke's definition, and I have heard that there are two, but I am not +acquainted with the second man. The wonder is, considering the +harebrained, slavering folly of the public, that any of the riding +manikins are half as honest as they are; the wonder is that their poor +little horsey brains are not led astray in such fashion as to make every +race a farce. They certainly do try their best on occasion, and I +believe that there are many races which are _not_ arranged before the +start; but you cannot persuade the picked men of the rascals' corps that +any race is run fairly. When Melton and Paradox ran their tremendous +race home in the Derby, I heard quite a number of intelligent gentry +saying that Paradox should have won but for the adjectived and +participled propensities of his jockey. Nevertheless, although most +devout turfites agree with the emphatic duke, they do not idolize their +diminutive fetishes a whit the less; they worship the manikin with a +touching and droll devotion, and, when they know him to be a confirmed +scamp, they admire his cleverness, and try to find out which way the +little rogue's interest lies, so that they may follow him. So it comes +about that we have amidst us a school of skinny dwarfs whose leaders are +paid better than the greatest statesmen in Europe. The commonest +jockey-boy in this company of manikins can usually earn more than the +average scholar or professional man, and the whole set receive a good +deal more of adulation than has been bestowed on any soldier, sailor, +explorer, or scientific man of our generation. And what is the +life-history of the jockey? A tiny boy is bound apprentice, and +submitted to the discipline of a training stable; he goes through the +long routine of morning gallops, trials, and so forth, and when he +begins to show signs of aptitude he is put up to ride for his master in +public. If he is a born horseman, like Archer or Robinson, he may make +his mark long before his indentures are returned to him, and he is at +once surrounded by a horde of flatterers who do their best to spoil him. +There is no cult so distinguished by slavishness, by gush, by +lavishness, as jockey-worship, and a boy needs to have a strong head and +sound, careful advisers, if he is to escape becoming positively +insufferable. When the lad Robinson won the St. Leger, after his horse +had been left at the post, he was made recipient of the most frantic and +silly toadyism that the mind can conceive; the clever trainer to whom he +was apprenticed received L1,500 for transferring the little fellow's +services, and he is now a celebrity who probably earns a great deal more +than Professor Owen or Mr. Walter Besant. The tiny boy who won the +Cesarevitch on Don Juan received L1,000 after the race, and it must be +remembered that this child had not left school. Mr. Herbert Spencer has +not earned L1,000 by the works that have altered the course of modern +thought; the child Martin picked up the amount in a lump, after he had +scurried for less than five minutes on the back of a feather-weighted +thoroughbred. As the jockey grows older and is freed from his +apprenticeship he becomes a more and more important personage; if his +weight keeps well within limits he can ride four or five races every day +during the season; he draws five guineas for a win, and three for the +mount, and he picks up an infinite number of unconsidered trifles in the +way of presents, since the turfite, bad or good, is invariably a +cheerful giver. The popular jockey soon has his carriages, his horses, +his valet, and his sumptuous house; noblemen, millionaires, great dames, +and men and women of all degrees conspire to pamper him: for +jockey-worship, when it is once started, increases in intensity by a +sort of geometrical progression. A shrewd man of the world may smile +grimly when he hears that a popular rider was actually received with +royal honours and installed in the royal box when he went to the theatre +during his honeymoon, but there are the facts. It was so, and the best +people of the fine town in which this deplorable piece of toadyism was +perpetrated were tolerably angry at the time. If the sporting +journalists perform their work of puffery with skill and care, the +worship of the jockey reaches a pitch that borders on insanity. If +General Gordon had returned and visited such a place as Liverpool or +Doncaster during a race-meeting, he would not have been noticed by the +discriminating crowd if Archer had passed along the street. If the Prime +Minister were to visit any place of public resort while Watts or Webb +happened to be there, it is probable that his lordship would learn +something useful concerning the relative importance of Her Majesty's +subjects. I know for a fact that a cleverly executed cartoon of Archer, +Fordham, Wood, or Barrett will have at least six times as many buyers as +a similar portrait of Professor Tyndall, Mr. James Payn, M. Pasteur, +Lord Salisbury, Mr. Chamberlain, or any one in Britain excepting Mr. +Gladstone. I do not know how many times the _Vanity Fair_ cartoon of +Archer has been reprinted, but I learn on good authority that, for +years, not a single day has been known to pass on which the caricature +was not asked for. And now let us bring to mind the plain truth that +these jockeys are only uneducated and promoted stable-boys after all. Is +it not a wonder that we can pick out a single honest man from their +midst? Vast sums depend on their exertions, and they are surrounded by a +huge crowd of moneyed men who will stand at nothing if they can gain +their ends; their unbalanced, sharp little minds are always open to +temptation; they see their brethren amassing great fortunes, and they +naturally fall into line and proceed, when their turn comes, to grab as +much money as they can. Not long ago the inland revenue officials, after +minute investigation, assessed the gains of one wee creature at L9,000 +per year. This pigmy is now twenty-six years of age, and he earned as +much as the Lord Chancellor, and more than any other judge, until a jury +decided his fate by giving him what the Lord Chief Justice called "a +contemptuous verdict." Another jockey paid income-tax on L10,000 a year, +and a thousand pounds is not at all an uncommon sum to be paid merely as +a retainer. Forty or fifty years ago a jockey would not have dreamed of +facing his employer otherwise than cap in hand, but the value of +stable-boys has gone up in the market, and Lear's fool might now say, +"Handy-Dandy! Who is your jockey now and who is your master?" The little +men gradually gather a kind of veneer of good manners, and some of them +can behave very much like pocket editions of gentlemen, but the scent of +the stable remains, and, whether the jockey is a rogue or passably +honest, he remains a stable-boy to the end. Half the mischief on the +Turf arises from the way in which these overpaid, spoilt menials can be +bribed, and, certes, there are plenty of bribers ready. Racing men do +not seem able to shake off the rule of their stunted tyrants. When the +gentleman who paid income-tax on nine thousand a year brought the action +which secured him the contemptuous verdict, the official handicapper to +the Jockey Club declared on oath that the jockey's character was "as bad +as bad can be." The starter and a score of other witnesses followed in +the same groove, and yet this man was freely employed. Why? We may +perhaps explain by inference presently. + +With this cynically corrupt corps of jockeys and their hangers-on, it +may easily be seen that the plutocrats who manipulate the Turf wires +have an admirable time of it, while the great gaping mob of zanies who +go to races, and zanies who stay at home, are readily bled by the +fellows who have the money and the "information" and the power. The rule +of the Turf is easily formulated:--"Get the better of your neighbour. +Play the game outwardly according to fair rules. Pay like a man if your +calculations prove faulty, but take care that they shall be as seldom +faulty as possible. Never mind what you pay for information if it gives +you a point the better of other men. Keep your agents honest if you can, +but, if they happen to be dishonest under pressure of circumstances, +take care at any rate that you are not found out." In short, the Ring is +mainly made up of men who pay with scrupulous honesty when they lose, +but who take uncommonly good care to reduce the chances of losing to a +minimum. Are they in the wrong? It depends. I shall not, at the present +moment, go into details; I prefer to pause and ask what can be expected +to result from the wolfish scheme of Turf morality which I have +indicated. I do not compare it with the rules which guide our host of +commercial middlemen, because, if I did, I should say that the betting +men have rather the best of the comparison: I keep to the Turf, and I +want to know what broad consequences must emanate from a body which +organizes plans for plunder and veils them under the forms of honesty. +An old hand--the Odysseus of racing--once said to me: "No man on earth +would ever be allowed to take a hundred thousand pounds out of the Ring: +they wouldn't allow it, they wouldn't That young fool must drop all he's +got." We were speaking about a youthful madman who was just then being +plucked to the last feather, and I knew that the old turfite was right. +The Ring is a close body, and I have only known about four men who ever +managed to beat the confederacy in the long run. There is one astute, +taciturn, inscrutable organizer whom the bookmakers dread a little, +because he happens to use their own methods; he will scheme for a year +or two if necessary until he succeeds in placing a horse advantageously, +and he usually brings off his _coup_ just at the time when the Ring +least like it. "They don't yell like that when one of mine rolls home," +he once said, while the bookmakers were clamouring with delight over the +downfall of a favourite; and indeed this wily master of deceptions has +very often made the pencillers draw long faces. But the case of the Turf +Odysseus is not by any means typical; the man stands almost alone, and +his like will not be seen again for many a day. The rule is that the +backer must come to grief in the long run, for every resource of +chicanery, bribery, and resolute keenness is against him. He is there to +be plundered; it is his mission in life to lose, or how could the +bookmakers maintain their mansions and carriages? It matters little what +the backer's capital may be at starting, he will lose it all if he is +idiot enough to go on to the end, for he is fighting against +unscrupulous legions. One well-known bookmaker coolly announced in 1888 +that he had written off three hundred thousand pounds of bad debts. +Consider what a man's genuine business must be like when he can jauntily +allude to three hundred thousands as a bagatelle by the way. That same +man has means of obtaining "information" sufficient to discomfit any +poor gambler who steps into the Ring and expects to beat the bookmakers +by downright above-board dealing. As soon as he begins to lay heavily +against a horse the animal is regarded as doomed to lose by all save the +imbeciles who persist in hoping against hope. In 1889 this betting man +made a dead set at the favourite for the Two Thousand Guineas. The colt +was known to be the best of his year; he was trained in a stable which +has the best of reputations; his exercise was uninterrupted, and mere +amateurs fancied they had only to lay heavy odds _on_ him in order to +put down three pounds and pick up four. Yet the inexorable bookmaker +kept on steadily taking the odds; the more he betted, the more money was +piled on to the unbeaten horse, and yet few took warning, although they +must have seen that the audacious financier was taking on himself an +appalling risk. Well, the peerless colt was pulled out, and, on his way +to the starting post, he began to shake blood and matter from his jaws; +he could hardly move in the race, and when he was taken to his quarters +a surgeon let out yet another pint of pus from the poor beast's jaw. +Observe that the shrewdest trainer in England, a crowd of stable-boys, +the horse's special attendant, the horse-watchers at Kingsclere, and the +casual strangers who saw the favourite gallop--all these knew nothing +apparently about that monstrous abscess, and no one suspected that the +colt's jaw had been splintered. But "information"--always +information--evidently reached one quarter, and the host of outsiders +lost their money. Soon afterwards a beautiful colt that had won the +Derby was persistently backed for the City and Suburban Handicap. On +paper it seemed as if the race might be regarded as over, for only the +last year's Derby winner appeared to have a chance; but our prescient +penciller cared nothing about paper. Once more he did not trouble +himself about betting to figures; he must have laid his book five times +over before the flag fell. Then the nincompoops who refused to attend to +danger-signals saw that the beautiful colt which had spun over the same +course like a greyhound only ten months before was unable to gallop at +all. The unhappy brute tried for a time, and was then mercifully eased; +the bookmaker would have lost L100,000 if his "information" had not been +accurate, but that is just the crux--it _was_. So admirably do the +bookmakers organize their intelligence department that I hardly know +more than three instances in which they have blundered after they really +began to lay fiercely against a horse. They contrive to buy jockeys, +stablemen, veterinary surgeons--indeed, who can tell whom they do _not_ +subsidize? When Belladrum came striding from the fateful hollow in front +of Pretender, there was one "leviathan" bookmaker who turned green and +began to gasp, for he stood to lose L50,000; but the "leviathan" was +spared the trouble of fainting, for the hill choked the splendid +Stockwell horse, and "information" was once more vindicated, while +Belladrum's backers paid copious tribute. Just two years before the +leviathan had occasion to turn green our Turf Odysseus really did manage +to deceive the great betting corporation with consummate skill. The +whole business throws such a clear light on Turf ethics that I may +repeat it for the benefit of those who know little about our great +national sport--the Sport of Kings. It was rumoured that Hermit had +broken a blood-vessel, and the animal was stopped for a little in his +work. Then Odysseus and his chief confederate proceeded to seize their +chance. The horse started at 1000 to 15, and it seemed like a million to +one against him, for his rough coat had been left on him, and he looked +a ragged equine invalid. The invalid won, however, by a neck, the +Marquis of Hastings was ruined, and the confederates won about L150,000. + +As we go over these stories of plot and counterplot, it is hardly +possible to avoid thinking what a singularly high-souled set of gentry +we have got amongst. What ambitions! To trick money out of somebody's +pocket! To wager when you know that you have made winning certain! The +outcome of it all is that, in the unequal battle between the men who +back and the men who lay, the latter must win; they _will_ win, even if +they have to cog the dice on a pinch; and, moreover, they will not be +found out officially, even though their "secret" is as open as if it +were written across the sky. A strange, hard, pitiless crew are these +same bookmakers. Personally, strange to say, they are, in private life, +among the most kindly and generous of men; their wild life, with its +excitement and hurry, and keen encounters of wits, never seems to make +them anything but thoughtful and liberal when distress has to be aided; +but the man who will go far out of his way to perform a charitable +action will take your very skin from you if you engage him in that +enclosure which is his battle-ground, and he will not be very particular +as to whether he wins your skin by fair means or foul. + +About two years ago, an exasperating, soft-headed boy brought a colossal +fortune into the Ring. I never pitied him much; I only longed to see him +placed in the hands of a good schoolmaster who knew how to use a birch. +This piteous wretch, with his fatuous airs of sharpness, was exactly the +kind of game that the bookmakers cared to fly at; he was cajoled and +stimulated; he was trapped at every turn; the vultures flapped round +him; and there was no strong, wise man to give the booby counsel or to +drag him by main force from his fate. There was no pity for the boy's +youth; he was a mark for every obscene bird of prey that haunts the +Turf; respectable betting men gave him fair play, though they exacted +their pound of flesh; the birds of Night gave him no fair play at all. +In a few short months he had poured a quarter of a million into the +bursting pockets of the Ring, and he was at last "posted" for the paltry +sum of L1,400. This tragic farce was not enacted in a corner; a hundred +journals printed every act as it was played; the victim never received +that one hearty flogging which might have saved him, and the curtain was +at last rung down on a smug, grinning group of bookmakers, a deservedly +ruined spendthrift, and a mob of indifferent lookers-on. So minutely +circumstantial were the newspapers, that we may say that all England saw +a gigantic robbery being committed, and no man, on the Turf or off, +interfered by so much as a sign. Decidedly, the Ethics of the Turf offer +an odd study for the moralist; and, in passing, I may say that the +national ethics are also a little queer. We ruin a tradesman who lets +two men play a game at billiards for sixpence on licensed premises, and +we allow a silly boy to be rooked of a quarter of a million in nine +months, although the robbery is as well-known as if it were advertised +over the whole front page of _The Times_ day by day. + +In sum, then, we have an inner circle of bookmakers who take care either +to bet on figures alone, or on perfectly accurate and secret +information; we have another circle of sharp owners and backers, who, by +means of modified (or unmodified) false pretences, succeed at times in +beating the bookmakers; we have then an outer circle, composed partly of +stainless gentlemen who do not bet and who want no man's money, partly +of perfectly honest fellows who have no judgment, no real knowledge, and +no self-restraint, and who serve as prey on which the bookmakers batten. + +And then we have circle on circle showing every shade of vice, baseness, +cupidity, and blank folly. First, I may glance--and only glance--at the +unredeemed, hopeless villains who are the immediate hangers-on of the +Turf. People hardly believe that there are thousands of sturdy, +able-bodied men scattered among our great towns and cities who have +never worked, and who never mean to work. In their hoggish way they feed +well and lie warm--the phrase is their own favourite--and they subsist +like odious reptiles, fed from mysterious sources. Go to any suburban +race meeting (I don't care which you pick) and you will fancy that +Hell's tatterdemalions have got holiday. Whatsoever things are vile, +whatsoever things are roguish, bestial, abominable, belong to the +racecourse loafers. To call them thieves is to flatter them, for their +impudent knavery transcends mere thieving; they have not a virtue; they +are more than dangerous, and, if ever there comes a great social +convulsion, they will let us know of their presence in an awkward +fashion, for they are trained to riot, fraud, bestiality, and theft, on +the fringe of the racecourse. + +Then comes the next line of predatory animals who suck the blood of the +dupes. If you look at one of the daily sporting papers you will see, on +the most important page, a number of flaming announcements, which will +make very comic reading for you if you have any sense of humour at all. +Gentlemen, who usually take the names of well-known jockeys or trainers, +offer to make your fortune on the most ridiculously easy terms. You +forward a guinea or half-a-guinea, and an obliging prophet will show you +how to ruin the bookmakers. Old Tom Tompkins has a "glorious success" +every week; Joe, and Bill, and Harry, and a good score more, are always +ready to prove that they named the winner of any given race; one of +these fellows advertises under at least a dozen different names, and he +is able to live in great style and keep a couple of secretaries, +although he cannot write a letter or compose a circular. The _Sporting +Times_ will not allow one of these vermin to advertise in its columns, +and it has exposed all their dodges in the most conclusive and trenchant +set of articles that I ever saw; but other journals admit the +advertisements at prices which seem well-nigh prohibitive, and they are +content to draw from L15 to L20 per day by blazoning forth false +pretences. I have had much fun out of these "tipsters," for they are +deliciously impudent blackguards. A fellow will send you the names of +six horses--all losers; in two days he will advertise--"I beg to +congratulate all my patrons. This week I was in great form on the whole, +and on Thursday I sent all six winners. A thousand pounds will be paid +to any one who can disprove this statement." Considering that the sage +sent you six losers on the Thursday, you naturally feel a little +surprised at his tempestuously confident challenge. All the seers are +alike; they pick names at haphazard from the columns of the newspapers, +and then they pretend to be in possession of the darkest stable secrets. +If they are wrong, and they usually are, they advertise their own +infallibility all the more brazenly. I do not exactly know what getting +money under false pretences may be if the proceedings which I have +described do not come under that heading, and I wonder what the police +think of the business. They very soon catch a poor Rommany wench who +tells fortunes, and she goes to gaol for three months. But I suppose +that the Rommany rawnee does not contribute to the support of +influential newspapers. A sharp detective ought to secure clear cases +against at least a dozen of these parasites in a single fortnight, for +they are really stupid in essentials. One of the brotherhood always sets +forth his infallible prophecies from a dark little public-house bar near +Fountain Court. I have seen him, when I came off a journey, trying to +steady his hand at seven in the morning; his twisted, tortured fingers +could hardly hold the pencil, and he was fit for nothing but to sit in +the stinking dusk and soak whisky; but no doubt many of his dupes +imagined that he sat in a palatial office and received myriads of +messages from his ubiquitous corps of spies. He was a poor, diseased, +cunning rogue; I found him amusing, but I do not think that his patrons +always saw the fun of him. + +And last there comes the broad outer circle, whereof the thought makes +me sad. On that circle are scattered the men who should be England's +backbone, but they are all suffering by reason of the evil germs wafted +from the centre of contagion. Mr. Matthew Arnold often gave me a good +deal of advice; I wish I could sometimes have given him a little. I +should have told him that all his dainty jeers about middle-class +denseness were beside the mark; all the complacent mockery concerning +the deceased wife's sister and the rest, was of no use. If you see a man +walking right into a deadly quicksand, you do not content yourself with +informing him that a bit of fluff has stuck to his coat. Mr. Arnold +should have gone among the lower middle-class a trifle more instead of +trusting to his superfine imagination, and then he might have got to +know whither our poor, stupid folks are tending. I have just ended an +unpleasantly long spell which I passed among various centres where +middle-class leisure is spent, and I would not care to repeat the +experience for any money. Any given town will suit a competent observer, +for I found scarcely any vital differences in passing from place to +place. It is tragical and disheartening to see scores of fine lads and +men, full of excellent faculties and latent goodness--and all under the +spell of the dreary Circe of the Turf. I have been for a year, on and +off, among a large circle of fellows whom I really liked; and what was +their staple talk? Nothing but betting. The paralysis at once of +intellect and of the sense of humour which attacks the man who begins +flirting with the gambling Enchantress struck me with a sense of +helplessness. I like to see a race when it is possible, and I can always +keep a kind of picture of a horse in my eye. Well, I have known a very +enthusiastic gentleman say, "The Bard, sir, The Bard; the big horse, the +mighty _bay_. He'll smother 'em all." I modestly said, "Do you think he +is big enough?" "Big enough! a giant, sir! Mark my words, sir, you'll +see Bob Peck's colours in triumph on the bay." I mildly said: "I thought +The Bard was a very little one when I saw him, and he didn't seem bay. +He was rather like the colour you might get by shaking a flour-dredger +over a mulberry. Have you had a look at him?" As usual, I found that my +learned friend had never seen that horse nor any other; he was +neglecting his business, loafing with wastrels, and trying, in a small +way, to imitate the fine strategy of the Colonel and the Captain and +Odysseus. Amongst these bewitched unfortunates, the life of the soul +seems to die away. Once I said to a nice lad, "Do none of your set ever +read anything?" and he made answer, "I don't think any of them read +very much except the _Sportsman_." That was true--very true and rather +shocking. The _Sportsman_ is bright enough and good enough in its way, +and I read it constantly; but to limit your literature to the +_Sportsman_ alone--well, it must be cramping. But that is what our fine +young men are mostly doing nowadays; the eager, intellectual life of +young Scotchmen and of the better sort of Englishmen is unknown: you may +wait for a year and you will never hear a word of talk which is +essentially above the intelligence of a hog; and a man of whom you are +fond, purely because of his kindliness, may bore you in the deadliest +manner by drawling on by the hour about names and weights, the shifting +of the odds, and the changes of luck. The country fairly swarms with +clubs where betting goes on all day, and sometimes all night: the +despicable dupes are drawn in one after another, and they fall into +manifold varieties of mischief; agonized parents pray for help; +employers chafe at the carelessness and pre-occupation of their +servants; the dupes sink to ruin unpitied, and still the crowd steps +onward to the gulf of doom. To think that by merely setting certain +noble creatures to exhibit their speed and staunchness, we should have +ended by establishing in our midst a veritable Inferno! Our faith, our +honour, our manhood, our future as a nation, are being sacrificed, and +all because Circe has read her spell over our best and most promising +souls. And our legislators amuse themselves with recriminations! We +foster a horde of bloodsuckers who rear their strength on our weakness +and our vices. Why should a drink-seller be kept in check by his having +to pay for a license, while the ruin-seller needs no license, and is +not even required to pay income tax. If licenses to bet were issued at +very heavy prices, and if a crushing fine were inflicted on any man who +made a book without holding a license, we might stamp out the villainous +small fry who work in corners at all events. But Authority is supreme; +the peer and the plutocrat go on unharmed, while the poor men who copy +follies which do not hurt the rich go right on to the death of the soul. + +_April, 1889._ + + + + +_DISCIPLINE_. + + +Of the ancestor generally assigned to us by gentlemen who must be +right--because they say so--we have very few records save the odd +scratches found on bones and stones, and the remnants of extremely +frugal meals eaten ages ago. We gather that the revered ancestor hunted +large game with an audacity which must have pleased the Rider Haggard of +ancient days; at any rate, some simple soul certainly scratched the +record of a famous mammoth-fight on a tusk, and we can now see a furious +beast charging upon a pigmy who awaits the onset with a coolness quite +superior to Mr. Quatermain's heroics. That Siberian hunter evidently +went out and tried to make a bag for his own hand, and I have no doubt +that he carried out the principle of individualism until his last +mammoth reduced him to pulp. There is no indication of organization, +and, although the men of the great deltas were able to indulge in +oysters with a freedom which almost makes me regret the advance of +civilization and the decay of Whitstable, yet I cannot trace one record +of an orderly supper-party. This shows how the heathen in his blindness +neglects his natural advantages. Long after the savage of the tundras +passed away we find vestiges of the family; and thenceforward discipline +advances steadily, though with occasional relapses toward anarchy, until +we see the ordered perfection which enables us to have West-end riots +and all-night sittings of the House of Commons without any trouble +whatever. I do not care much to deal with the times when the members of +the families elected each other promiscuously according to the success +with which they managed to club their neighbours--in fact, I wish to +come as soon as possible to the period when discipline, as understood by +us, was gradually allowed to sway the lives of men, and when the +sections of the race recognized tacitly the law of the strongest by +appointing their best man as chief. At present we in England are passing +through a dangerous and critical transition stage; a very strong party +inclines to abolish discipline of all sorts, the views of the +Continental anarchists are slowly filtering into our great towns, and, +as soon as such a move is safe, we shall have a large number of people +who will not scruple to cry out for free land, no taxation, free +everything. We have heard so much about rights lately that some of us +are beginning to question within ourselves as to what rights really are. +If a gentleman, no matter how bookish or eloquent he may be, desires to +do away with discipline altogether, I will give him credit for all the +tongue-power which he happens to possess; but I must ask leave to think +for myself in old-fashioned grooves just a little longer. After all, a +system which--for civilized countries--has been growing gradually for +more thousands of years than we dare compute cannot be entirely bad, no +matter what chance faults we may see. The generations that have flown +into the night may not have possessed complete wisdom, but they adapted +their social systems step by step to the needs of each new generation, +and it requires very little logic to tell that they would not be likely +always to cast out the good. The noisy orator who gets up and addresses +a London crowd at midnight, yelling "Down with everything!" can hardly +know what he means to destroy. We have come a long way since the man of +the swamps hunted the hairy elephant and burrowed in caves; that very +structure in which the anarchists have taken to meeting represents sixty +thousand years of slow progression from savagery towards seemliness and +refinement and wisdom; and therefore, bitterly as we may feel the +suffering of the poor orator, we say to him, "Wait a little, and talk to +us. I do not touch politics--I loathe place-hunters and talkers as much +as you do; but you are speaking about reversing the course of the ages, +and you cannot quite manage that. Let us forget the windy war of the +place-hunters, and speak reasonably and in a broad human way." + +I do not by any means hold with those very robust literary characters +who want to see the principle of stern Drill carried into the most +minute branchings of our complex society. (By-the-way, these robust +gentry always put a capital "D" to the word "Drill," as though they +would have their precious principle enthroned as an object of reverence, +or even of worship.) And I am inclined to think that not a few of them +must have experienced a severe attack of wrath when they found Carlyle +suggesting that King Friedrich Wilhelm would have laid a stick across +the shoulders of literary men had he been able to have his own way. The +unfeeling old king used to go about thumping people in the streets with +a big cudgel; and Carlyle rather implies that the world would not have +been much the worse off if a stray literary man here and there could +have been bludgeoned. The king flogged apple-women who did not knit and +loafers who were unable to find work; and our historian apparently +fancies that the dignity of kingship would have been rather enhanced +than otherwise had his hero broken the head of a poet or essayist. This +is a clear case of a disciplinarian suffering from temporary +derangement. I really cannot quite stomach such heroic and sweeping +work. Carlyle, who was a Scotch peasant by birth, raised himself until +he was deservedly regarded as the greatest man of his day, and he did +this by means of literature; yet he coolly sets an ignorant, cruel, +crowned drill-serjeant high above the men of the literary calling. It is +a little too much! Suppose that Carlyle had been flogged back to the +plough-tail by some potentate when he first went to the University; +should we not have heard a good deal of noise about the business sooner +or later? Again, we find Mr. Froude writing somewhat placidly when he +tells us about the men who were cut to pieces slowly in order that their +agony might be prolonged. The description of the dismemberment of +Ballard and the rest, as given in the "Curiosities of Literature," is +too gratuitously horrible to be read a second time; but Mr. Froude is +convinced that the whole affair was no more than a smart and salutary +lesson given to some obtrusive Papists, and he commends the measures +adopted by Elizabeth's ministers to secure proper discipline. Similarly +the wholesale massacre of the people in the English northern counties is +not at all condemned by the judicious Mr. Freeman. The Conqueror left a +desert where goodly homesteads and farms had flourished; but we are not +any the less to regard him as a great statesman. I grow angry for a +time with these bold writers, but I always end by smiling, for there is +something very feminine about such shrill expressions of admiration for +force. I like to figure to myself the troubles which would have ensued +had Carlyle lived under the sway of his precious Friedrich. It was all +very well to sit in a comfortable house in pleasant Chelsea, and enlarge +upon the beauties of drill and discipline; but, had the sage been cast +into one of the noisome old German prisons, and kept there till he was +dying, merely because the kingly disciplinarian objected to a phrase in +a pamphlet, we should have heard a very curious tune from our great +humourist. A man who groaned if his bed was ill-made or his bacon +ill-fried would not quite have seen the beauty of being disciplined in a +foul cellar among swarming vermin. + +The methods of certain other rulers may no doubt appear very fine to our +robust scribblers, but I must always enter my own slight protest. Ivan +the Terrible was a really thorough-paced martinet who preserved +discipline by marvellously powerful methods. He did not mind killing a +few thousands of men at a time; and he was answerable for several +pyramids of skulls which remained long after his manly spirit had passed +away. He occasionally had prisoners flayed alive or impaled merely by +way of instituting a change; and I think that some graphic British +historian should at once give us a good life of this remarkable and +royal man. The massacre of the revolted peasants would afford a fine +opening to a stern rhetorician; he might lead off thus--"Dost thou think +that this king cared for noble sentiment? Thou poor creature who canst +not look on a man without turning green with feminine terror, this +writer begs to inform you and all creatures of your sort that law is law +and discipline is discipline, and the divine origin of both is +undeniable even in an age of advertised soap and interminable spouting. +Ivan had no parliamentary eloquence under his control, but he had cold +steel and whips and racks and wheels, and he employed them all with +vigour for the repression of undisciplined scoundrels. He butchered some +thousands of innocent men! Ah, my sentimental friend, an anarchic mob +cannot be ruled by sprinkling rose-water; the lash and the rope and the +stern steel are needed to bring them to order! When my Noble One, with a +glare in his lion eyes, watched the rebels being skinned alive, he was +performing a truly beneficent function and preparing the way for that +vast, noble, and expansive Russia which we see to-day. The poor +long-eared mortals who were being skinned did not quite perceive the +beneficence at the time. How should they, unhappy long-eared creatures +that they were? Oh, Dryasdust, does any long-eared mortal who is being +skinned by a true King--a Canning, Koeniglich, Able Man--does the +long-eared one amid his wriggles ever recognize the scope and +transcendent significance of Kingship? Answer me that, Dryasdust, or +shut your eloquent mouth and go home to dinner." + +That is quite a proper style for a disciplinarian, but I have not got +into the way of using it yet. For, to my limited intelligence, it +appears that, if you once begin praising Friedrichs and Charlemagnes and +Ivans at the rate of a volume or so per massacre, you may as well go on +to Cetewayo and Timour and Attila--not to mention Sulla and Koffee +Kalkalli. I abhor the floggers and stranglers and butchers; and when I +speak of discipline, I leave them out of count. My business is a little +more practical, and I have no time to refute at length the vociferations +of persons who tell us that a man proves his capacity of kingship by +commanding the extinction or torture of vast numbers of human creatures. +My thoughts are not bent on the bad deeds--the deeds of blood--wrought +out in bitterness and anguish either long ago or lately; I am thinking +of the immense European fabric which looks so solid outwardly, but which +is being permeated by the subtle forces of decay and disease. Discipline +is being outwardly preserved, but the destroying forces are creeping +into every weak place, and the men of our time may see strange things. +Gradually a certain resolute body of men are teaching weaker people that +even self-discipline is unnecessary, and that self-reverence, +self-knowledge, self-control are only phrases used by interested people +who want to hold others in slavery. In our England it is plainer every +day that the character of the people is changing. Individual men are +obedient, brave to the death, self-sacrificing, just as they always were +even in our darkest times; but, none the less, it is too plain that +authority ordained by law is dying, and that authority which rests on +vague and fluctuating sentiment gains power with steady swiftness. The +judges sit and retain all their old confidence; the magistrates sentence +daily their batches of submissive culprits; the policeman rules supreme +over the streets--he scares the flower-girl, and warns the pensive +burglar with the staccato thunder of his monarchical foot. All seems +very firm and orderly; and our largest crowds maintain their attitude of +harmless good-humour when no inflammatory talkers are there. But the +hand has written, and true discipline cannot survive very much longer +unless we rouse ourselves for a dead-lift effort. Take Parliament at the +crown of the social structure, and the School--the elementary school--at +the foundation, and we cannot feel reassured. All between the highest +and the lowest is moderately sound; the best of the middle-classes are +decent, law-abiding, and steady; the young men are good fellows in a +way; the girls and young women are charming and virtuous. But the +extremities are rotten, and sentiment has rotted them both. Parliament +has become a hissing and a scorn. No man of any party in all broad +England could be found to deny this, and many would say more. The +sentimentalist has said that loutishness shall not be curbed, that a +bawling ruffian who is silenced is martyred, that every man shall talk +as he likes, and the veto of the Polish Assembly which enabled any one +man to ruin the work of a session is revived in sober, solid England. So +it is that all has gone to wreck; and an assembly once the noblest on +earth is treated with unhidden contempt by the labourer in his field and +the mechanic at his bench. And all this has arisen from lack of +discipline. + +In the School--the lower-class school--things are much worse. The lowest +of the low--the beings who should be kept in order by sharp, firm +kindness and justice--have been taught to mock at order and justice and +to treat kindness as a sign of weakness. The lads will all soon be ready +to aid in governing the country. May the good powers defend us! What a +set of governors! The son of the aristocrat is easily held in order, +because he knows that any infraction of discipline will be surely +punished; the son and daughter of the decent artizan cause little +trouble to any teacher, because they know that their parents are on the +side of order, and, even if the children are inclined to be rebellious, +they dare not defy the united authority of parents and teacher. But the +child of the thief, the costermonger, the racecourse swindler, the +thriftless labourer, is now practically emancipated through the action +of sentimental persons. He may go to school or not, as he likes; and, +while the decent and orderly poor are harried by School Board +regulations, the rough of the slum snaps his fingers without fear at all +regulations. If one of the bad boys from the "rookeries" does go to +school, he soon learns that he may take his own way. If he is +foul-mouthed, thievish, indecent, or insolent, and is promptly punished, +he drags his teacher into a police-court, and the sentimentalists secure +a conviction. No one can tell the kind of anarchy that reigns in some +parts of England excepting men who dwell amidst it; and, to make matters +worse, a set of men who may perhaps be charitably reckoned as insane +have framed a Parliamentary measure which may render any teacher who +controls a young rough liable at once to one hundred pounds fine or six +months' imprisonment. This is no flight of inventive humour on our part; +it is plain fact which may probably be seen in action as law before +twelve months are over. + +Tyranny I abhor, cruelty I abhor--above all, cruelty to children. But we +are threatened at one pole of the State-world with a tyranny of +factioneers who cultivate rudeness and rowdyism as a science, while at +the other pole we are threatened with the uncontrolled tyranny of the +"residuum." We must return to our common sense; the middle-classes must +make themselves heard, and we must teach the wild spirits who aim at +wrecking all order that safety depends upon the submission of all to the +expressed will of the majority. Debate is free enough--too free--and no +man is ever neglected ultimately if he has anything rational to say, so +that a minority has great power; but, when once a law is made, it must +be obeyed. England is mainly sound; our movement is chiefly to the good; +but this senseless pampering of loutishness in high and low places is a +bad symptom which tends to such consequences as can be understood only +by those who have learned to know the secret places. If it is not +checked--if anarchists, young and old, are not taught that they must +obey or suffer--there is nothing ahead but tumult, heart-burning, and +wreck. + +_March, 1889._ + + + + +_BAD COMPANY_. + + +There has been much talk about the insensate youth who boasted that he +had squandered half-a-million on the Turf in a year. The marvellous +journalists who frequent betting resorts printed hundreds of paragraphs +every week explaining the wretched boy's extravagances--how he lost ten +thousand pounds in one evening at cards; how he lost five thousand on +one pigeon-shooting match; how he kept fifty racehorses in training; how +he made little presents of jewelry to all and sundry of his friends; how +he gaily lost fifteen thousand on a single race, though he might have +saved himself had he chosen; how he never would wear the same shirt +twice. Dear boy! Every day those whose duty compels them to read +newspapers were forced to see such nauseous stuff, so that a lad's +private business became public property, and no secret was made of +matters which were a subject for grief and scorn. Hundreds of grown men +stood by and saw that boy lose a fortune in two hours, and some forty +paragraphs might have been collected in which the transaction was +described in various terms as a gross swindle. A good shot was killing +pigeons--gallant sport--and the wealthy schoolboy was betting. When a +sign was given by a bookmaker the shooting-man obeyed, and won or lost +according to orders; and every man in the assembly knew what foul work +was being carried on. Did one man warn the victim? The next day the +whole country knew what had happened, and the names of the thieves were +given in almost every sporting print; but the mischief was done, and the +lookers-on contented themselves with cheap wrath. A few brief months +flew by, and every day saw the usual flock of tributes to the mad boy's +vanity; and now the end has come--a colossal fortune, amassed by half a +century's toil, has gone into the pockets of all sorts of knaves, and +the fatal _Gazette_ showed the end. The princely fortune that might have +done so much good in the world has gone to fatten the foulest flock of +predatory birds that ever cumbered the earth. Where are the glib +parasites who came to fawn on the poor dolt? Where are the swarms of +begging dandies who clustered around him? Where are the persons who sold +him useless horses? Any one who has eyes can see that they point their +fingers and shrug. Another victim gone--that is all. + +And now our daily moralizers declare that bad company alone brought our +unhappy subject down. Yes, bad company! The boy might have grown up into +beneficent manhood; he might have helped to spread comfort and culture +and solid happiness among the people; but he fell into bad company, and +he is now pitied and scorned by the most despicable of the human race; +and I observe that one of his humorous Press patrons advises him to +drive a cab. Think of Gordon nobly spending his pittance among the poor +mudlarks; think of the good Lord Shaftesbury ekeing out his scanty means +among the poor; think of all the gallant souls that made the most of +poverty; and then think of that precious half-million gone to light +fresh fuel under the hotbeds of vice and villainy! Should I be wrong if +I said that the contrast rouses me to indignation and even horror? And +now let us consider what bad company means. Paradoxical as it may seem, +I do not by any means think that bad company is necessarily made up of +bad men. I say that any company is bad for a man if it does not tempt +him to exert his higher faculties. It is as certain as death that a +bodily member which is left unused shrinks and becomes aborted. If one +arm is hung for a long time in a sling, the muscles gradually fade until +the skin clings closely round the bone. The wing of the huge penguin +still exists, but it is no bigger than that of a wren, and it is hidden +away under the skin. The instances might be multiplied a thousandfold. +In the same way then any mental faculty becomes atrophied if it is +unused. Bad company is that which produces this atrophy of the finer +powers; and it is strange to see how soon the deadly process of +shrinkage sets in. The awful thing to think of is that the cramp may +insensibly be set in action by a company which, as I have said, is +composed of rather estimable people. Who can forget Lydgate in +"Middlemarch"? There is a type drawn by a woman of transcendent genius; +and the type represents only too many human wrecks. Lydgate was thrown +into a respectable provincial society; he was mastered by high ambition, +he possessed great powers, and he felt as though he could move the +mocking solidities of the world. Watch the evolution of his long +history; to me it is truly awful in spite of its gleams of brightness. +The powerful young doctor, equipped in frock-coat and modern hat, plays +a part in a tragedy which is as moving as any ever imagined by a +brooding, sombre Greek. As you read the book and watch the steady, +inexorable decline of the strong man, you feel minded to cry out for +some one to save him--he is alive to you, and you want to call out and +warn him. When the bitter end comes, you cannot sneer as Lydgate +does--you can hardly keep back the tears. And what is it all about? It +simply comes to this, that a good strong man falls into the bad company +of a number of fairly good but dull people, and the result is a tragedy. +Rosamund Vincy is a pattern of propriety; Mrs. Vincy is a fat, kindly +soul; Mr. Vincy is a blustering good-natured middle-class man. There is +no particular harm among the whole set, yet they contrive to ruin a +great man; they lower him from a great career, and convert him into a +mere prosperous gout-doctor. Every high aspiration of the man dies away. +His wife is essentially a commonplace pretty being, and she cannot +understand the great heart and brain that are sacrificed to her; so the +genius is forced to break his heart about furniture and carpets and +respectability, while the prim pretty young woman who causes the ghastly +death of a soul goes on fancying herself a model of good sense and +virtue and all the rest. "Of course I should like you to make +discoveries," she says; but she only shudders at the microscopic work. +When the financial catastrophe comes, she has the great soul at her +mercy, and she stabs him--stabs him through and through--while he is too +noble and tender to make reply. Ah, it is pitiful! Lydgate is like too +many others who are stifling in the mud of respectable dullness. The +fate of those men proves what we have asserted, that bad company is that +which does not permit the healthful and fruitful development of a soul. +Take the case of a brilliant young man who leaves the University and +dives into the great whirlpool of London. Perhaps he goes to the Bar, +and earns money meantime by writing for the Press. The young fellows who +swarm in the London centres--that is, the higher centres--are gentlemen, +polished in manner and strict as to the code of honour, save perhaps as +regards tradesmen's bills; no coarse word or accent escapes them, and +there is something attractive about their merry stoicism. But they make +bad company for a young and high-souled man, and you may see your young +enthusiast, after a year of town-life, converted into a cynic who tries +to make game of everything. He talks lightly of women, because that is +considered as showing a spirit of superiority; he is humorous regarding +the state of his head on the morning after a late supper; he can give +you slangy little details about any one and every one whom you may meet +at a theatre or any other public place; he is somewhat proud when some +bellowing, foul-mouthed bookmaker smiles suavely and inquires, "Doing +anything to-day, sir?" Mark you, he is still a charming young fellow; +but the bloom has gone from his character. He has been in bad company. + +Let it be remembered that bad company may be pleasant at first; and I +can easily give the reason for that, although the process of thinking +out the problem is a little complicated. The natural tendency of our +lower nature is toward idleness; our higher nature drives us to work. +But no man ever attained the habit of work without an effort. If once +that effort is slackened, then the lower nature gains sway by degrees +and idleness creeps in. Idleness is the beginning of almost every form +of ill, and the idlest man dashes down the steep to ruin either of body +or soul, perhaps of both. Now the best of us--until our habits are +formed--find something seductive in the notion of idleness; and it is +most marvellous to observe how strongly we are apt to be drawn by a +fascinating idle man. By-the-way, no one would accuse the resident +Cambridge professors of being slothful, yet one brilliant idle man of +genius said, "When I go to Cambridge, I affect them all with a murrain +of idleness. I should paralyze the work of the place if I were +resident." To return--it appears that the best of men, especially of +youthful men, feel the subtle charm of an invitation to laziness. The +man who says, "It's a sin to be indoors to-day; let us row up to the +backwater and try a smoke among the willows;" or the one who says, +"Never mind mathematics to-night; come and have a talk with me," is much +more pleasing than the stern moralist. Well, it happens that the most +dangerous species of bad company is the species Idler. Look round over +the ranks of the hurtful creatures who spoil the State, corrupt and sap +the better nature of young men, and disgrace the name of our race. What +are they all but idlers pure and simple? Idleness, idleness, the +tap-root of misery, sin, villainy! Note the gambler at Monte Carlo, +watching with tense but impassive face as the red and the black take the +advantage by turns--he is an idler. The roaring bookmaker who +contaminates the air with his cries, and who grows wealthy on the spoil +of fools--he is an idler. The silly beings who crowd into the +betting-shops and lounge till morning in the hot air; the stout florid +person who passes from bar to bar in a commercial town; the greasy +scoundrel who congregates with his mates at street corners; the +unspeakable dogs who prowl at night in London and snatch their prey in +lonely thoroughfares; the "jolly" gangs of young men who play cards till +dawn in provincial club-rooms; even the slouching poacher who passes his +afternoons in humorous converse at the ale-house--they are all idlers, +and they all form bad company for anybody who comes within range of +their influences. We are nearing the point of our demonstration. The +youth is at first attracted by the charm of mere laziness, but he does +not quite know it. Look at the case of the lad who goes fresh from +school to the city, and starts life at seventeen years of age. We will +say that he lives in a suburb of some great town. At first he returns +home at night full of quite admirable resolves; he intends to improve +himself and advance himself in the world. But on one fine evening a +companion suggests a stroll, and it happens that billiards are +suggested. Away goes the youngster into that flash atmosphere through +which sharp, prematurely-aged features loom so curiously; he hears the +low hum, he sees the intense eagerness and suspense of the strikers, and +he learns to like the place. After a while he is found there nightly; +his general style is low, his talk is that of the music-hall--the +ineffable flash air has taken the place of his natural repose. He ought +to be studying as many languages as possible, he ought to be watching +the markets abroad, or he should be reading the latest science if he is +engaged in practical work. But no--he is in bad company, and we find him +at eight-and-twenty a disappointed, semi-competent man who grumbles +very much about the Germans. + +If we go to the lower classes, we observe the same set of phenomena. A +young workman is chatting with his friends in a public-house on Saturday +night; he rises to go at half-past nine, but his comrades pull him down. +"Make it eleven o'clock," they say. He drinks fast in the last hour, and +is then so exhilarated that he probably conveys a supply of beer home. +On Sunday morning he feels muddled, heavy, a little troubled with +nausea; his mates hail him joyously, and then the company wait with +anxiety until the public-houses are open; then the dry throats are eased +and the low spirits raised, and the game goes on till three. In the +afternoon the young workman sleeps, and when he wakes up he is so +depressed that he goes out and meets his mates again. Once more he is +persuaded to exceed, but he reckons on having a good long sleep. With +aching head and fevered hands he makes a wild rush next morning, and +arrives at the shop only to find himself shut out. He is horrified and +doleful, when up come a few of his friends. They laugh the matter off. +"It's only a quarter lost! There's time for a pint before we go in." So +the drinking is begun again, and the men have none of the delicacy and +steadiness of hand that are needed. Is it not an old story? The loss of +"quarters," half-days, and days goes on; then Saint Monday comes to be +observed; then the spoiled young man and his merry crew begin to draw +very short wages on Saturdays; then the foreman begins to look askance +as the blinking uneasy laggard enters; and last comes the fatal quiet +speech, "You won't be required on Monday." Bad company! As for the +heartbreaking cases of young men who go up to the Universities full of +bright hope and equipped at all points splendidly, they are almost too +pitiful. Very often the lads who have done so well that subscriptions +are raised for them are the ones who go wrong soonest. A smart student +wins a scholarship or two, and his parents or relatives make a dead-lift +effort to scrape money so that the clever fellow may go well through his +course. At the end of a year the youth fails to present any trophies of +distinction; he comes home as a lounger; this is "slow" and the other is +"slow," and the old folk are treated with easy contempt. Still there is +hope--so very brilliant a young gentleman must succeed in the end. But +the brilliant one has taken up with rich young cads who affect +bull-terriers and boxing-gloves; he is not averse from a street-brawl in +the foggy November days; he can take his part in questionable choruses; +he yells on the tow-path or in the pit of the theatre, and he is often +shaky in the morning after a dose of very bad wine. All the idleness and +rowdyism do not matter to Brown and Tomkins and the rest of the raffish +company, for they only read for the pass degree or take the poll; but +the fortunes--almost the lives--of many folk depend on our young +hopeful's securing his Class, and yet he fritters away time among bad +talk, bad habits, bad drink, and bad tobacco. Then come rumours of +bills, then the crash, and the brilliant youth goes down, while Brown +and Tomkins and all the rowdies say, "What a fool he was to try going +our pace!" Bad company! + +I should therefore say to any youth--"Always be doing something--bad +company never do anything; and thus, if you are resolved to be always +doing something useful, it follows that you will not be among the bad +company." This seems to me to be conclusive; and many a broken heart and +broken life might have been kept sound if inexperienced youths were only +taught thus much continually. + +_October, 1888._ + + + + +_GOOD COMPANY_. + + +Let it be understood that I do not intend to speak very much about the +excellent people who are kind enough to label themselves as "Society," +for I have had quite enough experience of them at one time and another, +and my impressions are not of a peculiarly reverential kind. "Company" +among the set who regard themselves as the cream of England's--and +consequently of the world's--population is something so laborious, so +useless, so exhausting that I cannot imagine any really rational person +attending a "function" (that is the proper name) if Providence had left +open the remotest chance of running away; at any rate, the rational +person would not endure more than one experience. For, when the +clear-seeing outsider looks into "Society," and studies the members who +make up the little clique, he is smitten with thoughts that lie too deep +for tears--or laughter. A perfectly fresh mind, when brought to bear on +the "Society" phenomenon, asks, "What are these people? What have they +done? What are they particularly fitted for? Is there anything noble +about them? Is their conversation at all charming? Are any of them +really happy?" And to all of these queries the most disappointing +answers must be returned. Take the men. Here is a marquis who is a +Knight of the Garter. He has held offices in several Cabinets; he can +control the votes spread over a very large slice of a county, and his +income amounts to some trifle like one hundred and eighty thousand +pounds per year. We may surely expect something of the superb +aristocratic grace here, and surely a chance word of wit may drop from a +man who has been in the most influential of European assemblies! Alas! +The potentate crosses his hand over his comfortable stomach, and his +contributions to the entertainment of the evening amount to occasional +ejaculations of "Ugh! Ugh!" "Hah!" "Hey!" "Exactly!" "Ugh! Ugh!" In the +higher spheres of intellect and breeding I have no doubt but that "Ugh! +Ugh!" "Hah!" "Hey!" may have some profound significance; but, to say the +least, it is not obviously weighty. The marchioness is sweet in manner, +grave, reposeful, and with a flash of wit at disposal--not too obvious +wit--that would offend against the canon which ordains restraint; but +she might, one thinks, become tiresome in an hour. No one could say that +her manners were anything but absolutely simple, yet the very simplicity +is so obviously maintained as a sort of gymnastic effort that it tires +us only to study it. Then here is a viscount, graceful, well-set, easy +in his pose, talking with a deep voice, and lisping to the faintest +degree. He has owned some horses, caused some scandals, waltzed some +waltzes, and eaten a very large number of good dinners: he has been +admired by many, hated by many, threatened by many, and he would not be +admitted to any refined middle-class home; yet here he is in his +element, and no one would think of questioning his presence. He never +uttered a really wise or helpful word in his life, he never did anything +save pamper himself--his precious self--and yet he is in "Society," and +reckoned as rather an authority too! These are only types, but, if you +run through them all, you must discover that only the sweet and splendid +girls who have not had time to be spoilt and soured are worth thinking +about. If there is dancing, it is of course carried out with perfect +grace and composure; if there is merely an assembly, every one looks as +well as possible, and every one stares at every one else with an air as +indifferent as possible. But the child of nature asks in wild +bewilderment, "Where on earth does the human companionship come in?" +Young girls are nowadays beginning to expect bright talk from their +partners, and the ladies have a singularly pretty way of saying the most +biting things in a smooth and unconcerned fashion when they find a dunce +beginning to talk platitudes or to patronize his partner; but the middle +generation are unspeakably inane; and the worst is that they regard +their inanity as a decided sign of distinction. A grave man who adds a +sense of humour to his gravity may find a sort of melancholy +entertainment if he listens to a pair of thorough-paced "Society" +gentry. He will learn that you do not go to a "function" to please +others or to be pleased yourself; you must not be witty--that is bad +form; you must not be quietly in earnest--that is left to literary +people; you must not speak plain, direct truth even in the most +restrained fashion--that is to render yourself liable to be classified +as a savage. No. You go to a "function" in order, firstly, to see who +else is there; secondly, to let others see you; thirdly, to be able to +say to absentees that you saw they were not there; fourthly, to say, +with a liquid roll on the "ll," "She's looking remarkably wellll." +These are the great and glorious duties of the Society person. A little +funny creature was once talking to a writer of some distinction. The +little funny man would have been like a footman if he had been eight +inches taller, for his manners savoured of the pantry. As it was, he +succeeded in resembling a somewhat diminutive valet who had learnt his +style and accent from a cook. The writer, out of common politeness, +spoke of some ordinary topic, and the valet observed with honest pride, +"_We_ don't talk about that sort of thing." The writer smiled grimly +from under his jutting brows, and he repeated that valet's terrific +repartee for many days. The actual talk which goes on runs in this way, +"Quite charming weather!" "Yes, very." "I didn't see you at Lady Blank's +on Tuesday?" "No; we could hardly arrange to suit times at all." "She +was looking uncommonly well. The new North-Country girl has come out." +"So I've heard." "Going to Goodwood?" "Yes. We take Brighton this time +with the Sendalls." And so on. It dribbles for the regulation time, and, +after a sufficient period of mortal endurance, the crowd disperse, and +proceed to scandalize each other or to carry news elsewhere about the +ladies who were looking "remarkably well-l-l." + +As for the dreadful crushes, what can one say? The absurd rooms where +six hundred people try to move about in a space meant for three hundred; +the staircase a Black-Hole tempered by flowers; the tired smile of the +hostess; the set simper of long-recked shaven young men; the patient, +tortured hypocrisy of hustled and heated ladies; the babble of scrappy +nothings; the envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness; the +magnificence turned into meanness; the lack of all feeling of home, and +the discontented dispersal of ungrateful people--are these the things to +occupy life? Are these the things to interest any manly man who is free +to act for himself? Hardly. + +But our "company" refers to the meeting of human souls and hearts, and +not to the meeting of a fortuitous concourse of male and female +evening-dresses. I have now before me a very brilliant published account +of a reception at George Eliot's house. Those assemblies were company, +and company of the finest kind. The exaggerated fuss made by the sibyl's +husband in order to secure silence while she was speaking sometimes +became a little embarrassing when men of a humorous turn were there; but +nevertheless the best in England met in that drawing-room, and all that +was highest in literature, science, and art was talked over in graceful +fashion. The sniffing drawl of Society and the impudent affectation of +cynicism were not to be found; and grave men and women--some of them +mournful enough, it may be--agreed to make the useful hours fleet to +some profit. No man or woman in England--or in Europe for that +matter--was unwilling to enter that modest but brilliant assemblage, and +I wish some one could have taken minute notes, though that of course +would have been too entirely shocking. When I think of that little +deep-voiced lady gathering the choicest spirits of her day together, and +keeping so many notes in tuneful chime, I hardly know whether to use +superlatives of admiration about her or superlatives of contempt about +the fribbles who crush each other on staircases and babble like parrots +in an aviary. If we cast back a little, we have another example of an +almost perfect company. People have talked of Johnson, Burke, Boswell, +Beauclerc, and Goldsmith until the subject is growing a thought stale; +but, unless a reader takes Boswell and reads the book attentively after +he has come to maturity, he can hardly imagine how fine was that +admirable company. They were men of high aims and strong sense; they +talked at their very best, and they talked because they wished to attain +clear views of life and fate. The old gladiator sometimes argued for +victory, but that was only in moments of whim, and he was always ready +to acknowledge when he was in error. Those men may sometimes have drunk +too much wine; they may have spoken platitudes on occasion; but they +were good company for each other, and the hearty, manly friendship which +all but poor Goldsmith and Boswell felt for every one else was certainly +excellent. Assemblies like the Club are impossible nowadays; but surely +we might find some modification suited even to our gigantic intellects +and our exaggerated cleverness! I have defined bad company; I may define +good company as that social intercourse which tends to bring out all +that is best in man. I have said my bitter word about the artificial +society of the capital; but I never forget the lovely quiet circles +which meet in places far away from the blare of the city. In especial I +may refer to the beautiful family assemblies which are almost +self-centred. The girls are all at home, but the boys are scattered. +Harry writes from India, with all sorts of gossip from Simla, and many +longings for home; a neighbour calls, and the Indian letter gives matter +for pleasant half-melancholy chat. Then the quiet evening passes with +books and placid casual talk; the nerves from the family stretch perhaps +all over the world, but all the threads converge on one centre. This +life is led in many places, and the folk who so live are good company +among themselves, and good company for all who meet them. + +The very thought of the men who are usually described in set slang +phrases is enough to arouse a shudder. The loud wit who cracks his +prepared witticisms either at the head of a tavern-table or in private +society is a mere horror. The tavern men of the commercial traveller +class are very bad, for their mirth is prepared; their jokes have run +the length and breadth of the United Kingdom, and they are not always +prepared to sacrifice the privilege of being coarse which used to be +regarded as the joker's prerogative. In moving about the world I have +always found that the society of the great commercial room set up for +being jolly, but I could never exactly perceive where the jollity +entered. Noise, sham gentility, the cackle of false laughter were there; +but the strong, sincere cheerfulness of friendly men--never! Yet the +tavern humourist, or even the club joker, is as nothing compared with +the true professional wit. Who can remember that story about Theodore +Hook and the orange? Hook wrote a note to the hostess, saying, "Ask me +at dinner if I will venture on an orange." The lady did so, and then the +brilliant wit promptly made answer, "I'm afraid I should tumble off." A +whole volume of biography is implied in that one gruesome and vulgar +anecdote. In truth, the professional wit is no company at all; he has +the effect of a performing monkey suddenly planted on the table, and +his efforts are usually quite on a level with the monkey's. + +Among the higher Bohemian sets--Bohemian they call themselves, as if +there ever was a Bohemian with five hundred a year!--good company is +common. I may say, with fear and much trembling, that the man of +letters, the man who can name you all the Restoration comedies or tell +you the styles of the contemporaries of Alan Chartier is a most terrible +being, and I should risk sharks rather than remain with him on a +desolate island; but a mixed set of artists, musicians, verse-makers, +novelists, critics--yea, even critics--contrive usually to make an +unusually pleasant company. They are all so clever that the professional +wit dares not raise his voice lest some wielder of the bludgeon should +smite him; no long-winded talk is allowed, and, though a bore may once +be admitted to the company, he certainly will never be admitted more +than once. The talk ranges loosely from point to point, and yet a +certain sequence is always observed; the men are freed from conventions; +they like each other and know each other's measure pretty well; so the +hours fly in merry fashion, and the brethren who carried on the +symposium go away well pleased with themselves and with each other. +There can be no good company where the capacity for general agreement is +carried too far in any quarter. Unity of aim, difference of +opinion--those are the elements that make men's conversations valuable. +Last of all, I must declare that there can be no good company unless +women are present. The artists and authors and the rest are all very +well in their way, but the dexterous unseen touch of the lady is +needed; and no man can reckon himself fit to converse at all unless he +has been taught by women's care, and gently reproved by women's +impalpable skill. Young men of our day are beginning to think it +childish or tedious to mix much in women's society; the consequence is +that, though many of them go a long way toward being gentlemen, too many +are the merest cubs that ever exhibited pure loutishness in +conversation. The subtle blending, the light give-and-take of chat +between men and women is the true training which makes men graceful of +tongue, kindly in the use of phrases, and, I believe, pure in heart. + +_October, 1888._ + + + + +_GOING A-WALKING._ + + +One of the most pestilent of all social nuisances is the athlete who +must be eternally performing "feats," and then talking about them. He +goes to the Alps, and, instead of looking at the riot of sunset colour +or the immortal calm of the slumbering peaks, he attempts performances +which might be amusing in a circus of unlimited size, but which are not +in the least interesting when brought off on the mighty declivities of +the great hills. One of these gentlemen takes up a quarter of a volume +in telling us how he first of all climbed up a terrible peak, then fell +backwards and slid down a slope of eight hundred feet, cutting his head +to the bone, and losing enough blood to make him feel faint The same +gentleman had seen two of his companions fly into eternity down the grim +sides of the same mountain; but he must needs climb to the top, not in +order to serve any scientific purpose, or even to secure a striking +view, but merely to say he had been there. After an hour on the summit +of the enormous mass of stone, he came down; and I should have liked to +ask him what he reckoned to be the net profit accruing to him for his +little exploit. Wise men do not want to clamber up immense and dangerous +Alps; there is a kind of heroic lunacy about the business, but it is not +useful, and it certainly is not inviting. If a thoughtful man goes even +in winter among the mountains, their vast repose sinks on his soul; his +love of them never slackens, and he returns again and again to his +haunts until time has stiffened his joints and dulled his eyes, and he +prepares to go down into the dust of death. But the wise man has a +salutary dislike of break-neck situations; he cannot let his sweet or +melancholy fancies free while he is hanging on for dear life to some +inhospitable crag, so he prefers a little moderate exercise of the +muscles, and a good deal of placid gazing on scenes that ennoble his +thoughts and make his imagination more lofty. One of the +mountain-climbing enthusiasts could not contrive to break his neck in +Europe, so, with a gallantry worthy of a better cause, he went to South +America and scaled Chimborazo. He could not quite break his neck even in +the Andes, but he no doubt turned many athletic friends yellow with +envy. Yet another went to the Caucasus, and found so many charming and +almost deadly perils there that he wants numbers of people to go out and +share his raptures. + +The same barren competitive spirit breaks out in other directions. Men +will run across the North Sea in a five-ton boat, though there are +scores of big and comfortable steamers to carry them: they are cramped +in their tiny craft; they can get no exercise; their limbs are pained; +they undergo a few days of cruel privation--and all in order that they +may tell how they bore a drenching in a cockboat. On the roads in our +own England we see the same disposition made manifest. The bicyclist +tears along with his head low and his eyes fixed just ahead of the tyre +of his front wheel; he does not enjoy the lovely panorama that flits +past him, he has no definite thought, he only wants to cover so many +miles before dark; save for the fresh air that will whistle past him, +thrilling his blood, he might as well be rolling round on a cinder track +in some running-ground. But the walker--the long-distance walker--is the +most trying of all to the average leisurely and meditative citizen. He +fits himself out with elaborate boots and ribbed stockings; he carries +resin and other medicaments for use in case his feet should give way; +his knapsack is unspeakably stylish, and he posts off like a spirited +thoroughbred running a trial. His one thought is of distances; he gloats +over a milestone which informs him that he is going well up to five and +a half miles per hour, and he fills up his evening by giving spirited +but somewhat trying accounts of the pace at which he did each stage of +his pilgrimage. In the early morning he is astir, not because he likes +to see the diamond dew on the lovely trees or hear the chant of the +birds as they sing of love and thanksgiving--he wants to make a good +start, so that he may devour even more of the way than he did the day +before. In any one lane that he passes through there are scores of +sights that offer a harvest to the quiet eye; but our insatiable athlete +does not want to see anything in particular until the sight of his +evening steak fills him with rapture. If the most patient and urbane of +men were shut up with one of these tremendous fellows during a storm of +rain, he would pray for deliverance before a couple of hours went by; +for the competitive athlete's intelligence seems to settle in his +calves, and he refers to his legs for all topics which he kindly +conceives to possess human interest. Of course the swift walker may +become a useful citizen should we ever have war; he will display the +same qualities that were shown by the sturdy Bavarians and +Brandenburgers who bore those terrible marches in 1870 and swept +MacMahon into a deadly trap by sheer endurance and speed of foot; but he +is not the ideal companion. + +Persons who are wise proceed on a different plan; they wish to make the +most of every moment, and, while they value exercise, they like to make +the quickened currents of their blood feed a receptive and perhaps +somewhat epicurean brain. To the judicious man our lovely country +affords a veritable harvest of delights--and the delights can be gained +with very little trouble. I let the swift muscular men hurry away to the +Tyrol or the Caucasus or the Rocky Mountains, or whithersoever else they +care to go, and I turn to our own windy seashore or quiet lanes or +flushed purple moorlands. I do not much care for the babble of talk at +my elbow; but one good companion who has cultivated the art of keeping +silent is a boon. Suppose that you follow me on a roundabout journey. +Say we run northward in the train and resolve to work to the south on +foot; we start by the sea, and foot it on some fine gaudy morning over +the springy links where the grass grows gaily and the steel-coloured +bent-grass gleams like the bayonets of some vast host. The fresh wind +sings from the sea and flies through the lungs and into the pores with +an exhilarating effect like that of wine; the waves dance shoreward, +glittering as if diamonds were being pelted down from the blue arch +above; the sea-swallows sweep over the bubbling crests like flights of +silver arrows. It is very joyous. You have set off early, of course, and +the rabbits have not yet turned into their holes for their day-long +snooze. Watch quietly, and you may perhaps see how they make their fairy +rings on the grass. One frolicsome brown rogue whisks up his white tail, +and begins careering round and round; another is fired by emulation and +joins; another and another follow, and soon there is a flying ring of +merry little creatures who seem quite demented with the very pleasure of +living. One bounds into the air with a comic curvet, and comes down with +a thud; the others copy him, and there is a wild maze of coiling bodies +and gleaming white tails. But let the treacherous wind carry the scent +of you down on the little rascals and you will see a change. An old +fellow sits up like a kangaroo for an instant, looking extremely wise +and vigilant; he drops and kicks the ground with a sharp thud that can +be heard a long way off; the terror of man asserts itself in the midst +of that pure, peaceful beauty, and the whole flock dart off in agitated +fashion till they reach their holes; then they seem to look round with a +sarcastic air, for they know that you could not even raise a gun to your +shoulder in time to catch one of them before he made his lightning dive +into the darksome depths of the sand-hill. How strange it is that +meditative men like to watch the ways of wild things! White of Selborne +did not care much for killing anything in particular; he enjoyed himself +in a beautiful way for years, merely because he had learned to love the +pretty creatures of fen and meadow and woodland. Mr. Russell Lowell can +spend a happy day in watching through his glass the habits of the birds +that haunt his great garden; he does not want a gun; he only cares to +observe the instincts which God has implanted in the harmless children +of the air. On our walking tour we have hundreds of chances to see the +mystic mode of life pursued by the creatures that swarm even in our +crowded England; and if we use our eyes we may see a score of genuine +miracles every day. + +On the pleasant "links" there is always something new to draw the eye. +Out on the flashing sea a ship rolls bravely away to north or south; her +sails are snowy in certain lights, and then in an instant she stands up +in raiment of sooty black. You may make up a story about her if you are +fanciful. Perhaps she is trailing her way into the deep quiet harbour +which you have just left, and the women are waiting until the rough +bearded fellows come lumbering up the quay. Perhaps she was careering +over the rushing mountain waves to the southward of the desolate Horn +only a few weeks ago, and the men were counting the days wearily, while +the lasses and wives at home sighed as the wind scourged the sea in the +dreary night and set all the rocks thundering with the charges of mad +surges. A little indulgence of the fancy does you no harm even though +you may be all wrong; very likely the skipper of the glad-looking vessel +is tipsy, maybe he has just been rope's-ending his cabin-boy or engaging +in some equally unpoetic pursuit; still no one is harmed by idealizing a +little, and so, by your leave, we will not alter our crude romance of +the sailor-men. Meantime, as you go on framing poetic fancies, there is +a school of other poets up above you, and they are composing their +fantasies at a pretty rate. The modest brown lark sits quietly amid the +sheltering grass, and will hardly stir, no matter how near her you may +go; but her mate, the glorious singer, is far away up toward the sun, +and he shouts in his joyous ecstasy until the heaven is full of his +exquisite joyance. Imagine how he puts his heart into his carol! He is +at least a mile above you, and you can hear him over a radius of half a +mile, measured from the place where he will drop. The little poets chant +one against the other, and yet there is no discord, for the magic of +distance seems to harmonize song with song, and the tumult soothes +instead of exciting you. Who is the poet who talks of "drawing a thread +of honey through your heart"? It is a quaint, conceited phrase, and yet +somehow it gives with absurd felicity some idea of the lark's song. They +massacre these innocents of the holy choir by thousands, and put them in +puddings for Cockneys to eat. The mere memory of one of those beatified +mornings makes you want to take the blood of the first poulterer whom +you find exposing a piteous string of the exquisite darlings. But we +must not think of blood, or taxes, or German bands, or political +speeches, or any other abomination, for our walk takes us through +flowery regions of peace. + +Your muscles tighten rarely as you stump on over the elastic herbage; +two miles an hour is quite enough for your modest desires, especially as +you know you can quicken to four or five whenever you choose. As the day +wears on, the glorious open-air confusion takes possession of your +senses, your pulses beat with spirit, and you pass amid floating visions +of keen colour, soft greenery, comforting shades. The corn rustles on +the margin where the sandy soil ceases; the sleepy farmhouses seem to +'give you a lazy greeting, and the figures of the labourers are like +natural features of the landscape. Everything appears friendly; it may +be that the feeling of kindness and security arises from your physical +well-being, but it is there all the same, and what can you do more than +enjoy? Perhaps in the midst of your confused happiness your mind begins +acting on its own account, and quite disregards its humble companion, +the body. Xavier de Maistre's mind always did so, and left what Xavier +called the poor _bete_ of a carcass to take care of itself; and all of +us have to experience this double existence at times. Then you find the +advantages of knowing a great deal of poetry. I would not give a rush +for a man who merely pores over his poets in order to make notes or +comments on them; you ought to have them as beloved companions to be +near you night and day, to take up the parable when your own independent +thought is hazy with delight or even with sorrow. As you tramp along the +whistling stretches amid the blaze of the ragworts and the tender +passing glances of the wild veronica, you can take in all their +loveliness with the eye, while the brain goes on adding to your pleasure +by recalling the music of the poets. Perhaps you fall into step with the +quiver and beat of our British Homer's rushing rhymes, and Marmion +thunders over the brown hills of the Border, or Clara lingers where +mingles war's rattle with groans of the dying. Perhaps the wilful brain +persists in crooning over the "Belle Dame Sans Merci;" your mood +flutters and changes with every minute, and you derive equal +satisfaction from the organ-roll of Milton or the silvery flageolet +tones of Thomas Moore. If culture consists in learning the grammar an +etymologies of a poet's song, then no cultured man will ever get any +pleasure from poetry while he is on a walking tour; but, if you absorb +your poets into your being, you have spells of rare and unexpected +delight. + +The halt is always pleasant. On our sand-hills the brackens grow to an +immense height, and, if you lie down among them, you are surrounded by a +pale green gleam, as if you had dived beneath some lucent sun-smitten +water. The ground-lark sways on a frond above you; the stonechat lights +for an instant, utters his cracking cry, and is off with a whisk; you +have fair, quiet, and sweet rest, and you start up ready to jog along +again. You come to a slow clear stream that winds seaward, lilting to +itself in low whispered cadences. Over some broad shallow pool paven +with brown stones the little trout fly hither and thither, making a weft +and woof of dark streaks as they travel; the minnows poise themselves, +and shiver and dart convulsively; the leisurely eel undulates along, and +perhaps gives you a glint of his wicked eye; you begin to understand the +angler's fascination, for the most restive of men might be lulled by the +light moan of that wimpling current. Cruel? Alas, yes! + + That quaint old cruel coxcomb in his gullet + Should have a hook, with a small trout to pull it. + +That was the little punishment which Byron devised for Izaak Walton. But +of course, if you once begin to be supersensitive about cruelty, you +find your way blocked at every cross-road of life, and existence ceases +to be worth having. + +On, as the sun slopes, and his beams fall slant over solemn mounds of +cool gray hue and woody fields all pranked in gold. Look to the north, +and you see the far-away hills in their sunset livery of white and +purple and rose. On the clear summits the snow sometimes lies; and, as +the royal orb sinks, you will see the snow blush for a minute with +throbbing carnation tints that shift and faint off slowly into cold +pallid green. The heart is too full of ecstasy to allow even of thought. +You live--that is all! You may continue your wanderings among all the +mystic sounds and sights of the night, but it is better to rest long and +well when you can. Let the village innkeeper put down for you the +coarsest fare that can be conceived, and you will be content; for, as a +matter of fact, any food and drink appeal gratefully to the palate of a +man who has been inhaling the raciest air at every pore for eight or ten +hours. If the fare does not happen to be coarse--if, for example, the +landlord has a dish of trout--so much the better; you do not envy any +crowned personage in Christendom or elsewhere. And how much does your +day of Paradise cost you? At the utmost, half-a-crown. Had you been away +on the Rhine or in Switzerland or in some German home of brigands, you +would have been bleeding at the purse all day, while in our own +matchless land you have had merriment, wild nature, air that is like the +essence of life--and all for thirty pence. When night falls heavily, you +pass your last hour in listening to the under-song of the sea and the +whisper of the roaming winds among the grass. Then, if you are wise and +grateful, you thank the Giver of all, and go to sleep. + +In the jolly greenwoods of the Midlands you may have enjoyment of +another kind. Some men prefer the sleepy settled villages, the sweeping +fens with their bickering windmills, the hush and placidity of old +market-towns that brood under the looming majesty of the castle. The +truth is that you cannot go anywhere in England outside of the blighted +hideous manufacturing districts without finding beauty and peace. In the +first instance you seek health and physical well-being--that goes +without saying; but the walking epicure must also have dainty thoughts, +full banquets of the mind, quiet hours wherein resolutions may be framed +in solitude and left in the soul to ripen. When the epicure returns to +the din of towns, he has a safeguard in his own breast which tends to +keep him alike from folly and melancholy. Furthermore, as he passes the +reeking dens where human beings crowd who never see flower or tree, he +feels all churlishness depart from him, and he is ready to pity and help +his less happy brethren. After he has settled to labour again, his hours +of rest are made calmly contented by the chance visions that come to him +and show him the blown sea, the rustling whiteness of fretted surges, +the painted meadows, and the solemn colours of the dying day. And all +this talk we have got only through letting our minds go wandering away +on the subject of going a-walking. I have always said that the sweetest +pleasures are almost costless. The placid "look of the bay mare" took +all the silliness out of Walt Whitman; and there is more in his queer +phrase than meets the eye. One word. When you go a-walking, do not try +to be obtrusively merry. Meet a group of tramping gentlemen who have +been beer-drinking at noon; they are surprisingly vivacious until the +gaze of the sun becomes importunate; they even sing as they go, and +their hearty laughter resounds far and near. See them in the afternoon, +and ask where the merriment is; their eyes are glazed, their nerves +crave slumber, their steps are by no mean sprightly, and they probably +form a doleful company, ready to quarrel or think pessimistic thoughts. +Be calm, placid, even; do not expect too much, and your reward will be +rich. + +_June, 1888._ + + + + +_"SPORT."_ + + +Simple folk fancy that "sport" must be a joyous pursuit, and that a +sportsman is a jovial, light-hearted, and rather innocent person. It may +be useful to many parents, and perhaps to some young people, if I let +them know what "sport" really means nowadays. Those who have their +imaginations filled with pictures of merry red-coated riders, or of +sturdy gaitered squires tramping through stubble behind their dogs, are +quite welcome to their agreeable visions. The hounds of course meet in +hundreds of places in winter-time, and the bold riders charge gaily +across meadows and over fences. It is a splendid, exhilarating sight; +and no one can find much fault with the pursuit, for it gives health to +thousands. The foxes may perhaps object a little; but, if a philosopher +could explain to them that, if they were not preserved for hunting +purposes, they would soon be exterminated, we have no doubt that they +would choose the alternative which gives them a chance. Shooting is +engaged in with more enthusiasm now than ever it was before; and +doubtless the gentlemen who sit in snug corners and knock down tame +pheasants derive benefit--physical and moral--from the lively exercise. +But the word "sport" in England does not now refer to hunting and +shooting; it has a wide application, and it describes in a generic way +a number of pursuits which are, to say the least, not improving to those +who engage in them. + +The royal sport is of course horse-racing; and about that amusement--in +its present aspect--I may have something profitable to say. The +advocates of racing inform us that the noble sport improves the breed of +horses, and affords wholesome relaxation to men; they grow quite +indignant with the narrow Puritans who talk "stuff" about +demoralization, and they have numerous fine phrases referring to old +England and the spirit of our fathers. All the talk concerning the +improving influence of the Turf on horses and men is pernicious +nonsense, and there is an end of the matter. The English thoroughbred is +a beautiful creature, and it is pleasant enough to see him make his +splendid rush from start to finish; amusing also is it to watch the +skill of the wiry manikins who ride; the jockeys measure every second +and every yard, and their cleverness in extracting the last ounce of +strength from their horses is quite curious. The merest novice may enjoy +the sight of the gay colours, and he cannot help feeling a thrill of +excitement when the thud, thud of the hoofs sounds near him as the +exquisite slender animals fly past. But the persons who take most +interest in races are those who hardly know a horse from a mule. They +may make a chance visit to a racecourse, but the speed and beauty of the +animals do not interest them in any way; they cannot judge the skill of +a rider; they have no eye for anything but money. To them a horse is +merely a name; and, so far from their racing pursuits bringing them +health, they prefer staying in a low club or lower public-house, where +they may gamble without being obliged to trouble themselves about the +nobler animals on which they bet. + +The crowd on a racecourse is always a hideous spectacle. The class of +men who swarm there are amongst the worst specimens of the human race, +and, when a stranger has wandered among them for an hour or so, he feels +as though he had been gazing at one huge, gross, distorted face. Their +language is many degrees below vulgarity; in fact, their coarseness can +be understood only by people who have been forced to go much amongst +them--and that perhaps is fortunate. The quiet stoical aristocrats in +the special enclosures are in all ways inoffensive; they gamble and +gossip, but their betting is carried on with still self-restraint, and +their gossip is the ordinary polished triviality of the country-house +and drawing-room. But what can be said of the beings who crowd the +betting-ring? They are indeed awful types of humanity, fitted to make +sensitive men shudder. Their yells, their profanity, their low cunning, +their noisy eagerness to pounce upon a simpleton, their infamous +obscenity, all combine to make them the most loathsome collection of +human beings to be found on the face of the broad earth. + +Observe that all of this betting crew appear to be what is called +rolling in money. They never do a stroke of useful work; they merely +howl and make bets--that is their contribution to the prosperity of the +State. Yet they are dressed with vulgar richness, they fare sumptuously, +and they would not condescend to taste any wine save the finest +vintages; they have servants and good horses, and in all ways they +resemble some rank luxurious growth that has sprung from a putrid soil. +Mark that these bookmakers, as they are called, are not gentlemen in +any sense of the word; some of them are publicans, some look like +prize-fighters, some like promoted costermongers, some like common +thieves. There is not a man in the company who speaks with a decently +refined accent--in short, to use plain terms, they are the scum of the +earth. Whence then comes the money which enables them to live in riotous +profusion? The explanation is a sad one, and I trust that these words +may warn many young people in time. Here is the point to be weighed +upon--these foul-mouthed persons in the betting-ring are able to travel +about all spring, summer, and autumn, staying in the best hotels and +lacking nothing; in winter they can loll away their time in +billiard-rooms. Once more, who supplies the means? It is the senseless +outside public who imagine they know something about "sport." + +Every town in England contains some centre--generally a public-house or +a barber's shop--where men meet to make wagers; the evil influence of +the Turf is almost everywhere apparent, for it is probable that at least +two millions of men are interested in betting. London swarms with vile +clubs which are merely gambling saloons; professional men, tradesmen, +clerks, and even artizans crowd into these horrid holes, and do business +with the professional gamblers. In London alone there are some +half-dozen papers published daily which are entirely devoted to "sport," +and these journals are of course bought by the gudgeons who seek +destruction in the betting-rooms. In the provinces there are several +towns which easily support a daily sporting journal; and no ordinary +paper in the North of England could possibly survive unless at least +one-eighth of its space were devoted to racing matters of various sorts. +There are hundreds of thousands of our population who read absolutely +nothing save lists of weights and entries, quotations which give the +odds against horses, and reports of races. Not 5 per cent, of these +individuals ever see a horse from year's end to year's end, yet they +talk of nothing else but horses, horses, horses, and every effort of +their intellects is devoted to the task of picking out winners. +Incredible as it may seem, these poor souls call themselves sportsmen, +and they undoubtedly think that their grubbing about in malodorous +tap-rooms is a form of "sport"; it is their hopeless folly and greed +that fill the pockets of the loud-mouthed tenants of the Ring. Some one +must supply the bookmakers' wealth, and the "some one" is the senseless +amateur who takes his ideas from newspapers. The amateur of the tap-room +or the club looks down a list of horses and chooses one which he +fancies; perhaps he has received private advice from one of the beings +who haunt the training-grounds and watch the thoroughbreds at exercise; +perhaps he is influenced by some enthusiast who bids him risk all he has +on certain private information. The fly enters the den and asks the +spider, "What price Flora?"--that means, "What odds are you prepared to +lay against the mare named Flora?" The spider answers--say seven to one; +the fly hands one pound to the spider, and the bet is made. The +peculiarity of this transaction is that one of the parties to it is +always careful to arrange so that he cannot lose. Supposing that there +are seven horses entered in a race, it is certain that six must be +losers. The bookmaker so makes his wagers that no matter which of the +seven wins he at least loses nothing; the miserable amateur has only one +chance. He may possibly be lucky; but the chances in the long run are +dead against him, for he is quite at the mercy of the sharp capitalist +who bets with him. The money which the rowdies of the Ring spend so +lavishly all comes from the pockets of dupes who persist in pursuing a +kind of _ignis fatuus_ which too often leads them into a bog of ruin. + +This deplorable business of wagering has become universal. We talk of +the Italians as a gambling nation, but they are not to be compared with +the English for recklessness and purblind persistence. I know almost +every town in England, and I say without fear that the main topic of +conversation in every place of entertainment where the traveller stays +is betting. A tourist must of course make for hotel after hotel where +the natives of each place congregate; and, if he keeps his ears open, he +will find the gambling venom has tainted the life-blood of the people in +every town from Berwick to Hastings. It may be asked, "How do these +silly creatures who bet manage to obtain any idea of a horse?" They have +not the faintest notion of what any given horse is like, but they +usually follow the advice of some sharper who pretends to know what is +going to win. There are some hundreds of persons who carry on a kind of +secret trade in information, and these persons profess their ability to +enable any one to win a fortune. The dupes write for advice, enclosing a +fee, and they receive the name of a horse; then they risk their money, +and so the shocking game goes on. + +I receive only too many letters from wives, mothers, and sisters whose +loved ones are being drawn into the vortex of destruction. Let me give +some rough colloquial advice to the gamblers--"You bet on horses +according to the advice of men who watch them. Observe how foolish you +are! The horse A is trained in Yorkshire; the horse B at Newmarket. The +man who watches A thinks that the animal can gallop very fast, and you +risk your money according to his report. But what means has he of +knowing the speed of B? If two horses gallop towards the winning-post +locked together, it often happens that one wins by about six inches. +There is no real difference in their speed, but the winner happens to +have a neck slightly longer than the other. Observe that one +race-horse--Buccaneer--has been known to cover a mile at the rate of +fifty-four feet per second; it is therefore pretty certain that at his +very highest speed he could move at sixty feet per second. Very good; it +happens then that a horse which wins a race by one foot is about +one-sixtieth of a second faster, than the beaten animal. What a dolt you +must be to imagine that any man in the world could possibly tell you +which of those two brutes was likely to be the winner! It is the merest +guess-work; you have all the chances against you and you might as well +bet on the tossing of halfpence. The bookmaker does not need to care, +for he is safe whatever may win; but you are defying all the laws of +chance; and, although you may make one lucky hit, you must fare ill in +the end." But no commonsensical talk seems to have any effect on the +insensate fellows who are the betting-man's prey, and thus this precious +sport has become a source of idleness, theft, and vast misery. One +wretch goes under, but the stock of human folly is unlimited, and the +shoal of gudgeons moves steadily into the bookmaker's net. One +betting-agent in France receives some five thousand letters and +telegrams per day, and all this huge correspondence comes from persons +who never take the trouble to see a race, but who are bitten with the +gambler's fever. No warning suffices--man after man goes headlong to +ruin, and still the doomed host musters in club and tavern. They lose +all semblance of gentle humanity; they become mere blockheads--for +cupidity and stupidity are usually allied--and they form a demoralizing +leaven that is permeating the nation and sapping our manhood. + +We have only to consider the position of the various dwarfs who bestride +the racehorses in order to see how hard a hold this iniquity has on us. +A jockey is merely a stable-boy after all; yet a successful jockey +receives more adulation than does the greatest of statesmen. A +theatrical manager has been known to prepare the royal box for the +reception of one of these celebrities; some of the manikins earn five +thousand a year, one of them has been known to make twenty thousand +pounds in a year; and that same youth received three thousand pounds for +riding in one race. As to the flattery--the detestable flattery--which +the mob bestows on good horsemen, it cannot be mentioned with patience. +In sum, then, a form of insanity has attacked England, and we shall pay +bitterly for the fit. The idle host who gather on the racecourse add +nothing to the nation's wealth; they are poisonous parasites whose +influence destroys industry, honesty, and common manliness. And yet the +whole hapless crew, winners and losers, call themselves "sportsmen." I +have said plainly enough that every villainous human being seems to take +naturally to the Turf; but unfortunately the fools follow on the same +track as that trodden by the villains, and thus the honest gentlemen who +still support a vile institution have all their work set out in order to +prevent the hawks from making a meal of the pigeons. One of the honest +guardians of racing morality resigned in bitter despair some time ago, +giving as his reason the assertion that he could trust nobody. Nobody! +The man was a great lord, he was totally disinterested and utterly +generous, he never betted a penny, and he only preferred to see the +superb thoroughbreds gallop. Lavish he was to all about him--and he +could trust nobody. It seems that this despairful nobleman had tolerably +good reasons for his hasty departure, for we have had such a crop of +villainies to reap this year as never was gathered before in the same +time, and it appears plain that no animal will be allowed to win any +prize unless the foul crew of betting-men accord their kind approval, +and refrain from poisoning the brute. + +I address myself directly, and with all the earnestness of which I am +capable, to those young simpletons who think that it is a fine and +knowing thing to stake money on a horse. Some poor silly creatures +cannot be taught that they are not even backing a good chance; they will +not learn that the success or failure of horses in important races is +regulated by a clique of rapscallions whose existence sullies the very +light of day. Even if the simpleton chooses the very best horse in a +race, it by no means follows that the creature will win--nay, the very +excellence of an animal is all against its chances of success. The +Ring--which is largely composed of well-to-do black-legs--will not let +any man win too much. What earthly chance can a clerk or shopman or +tradesman in Manchester or Derby have of knowing what passes in the +hotels of Newmarket, the homes of trainers, the London betting-clubs? +The information supplied so copiously by the sporting journals is as +good as money can buy, but the writers on those papers are just as +easily deceived as other people. Men are out every morning watching the +horses take their exercise, and an animal cannot sneeze without the fact +being telegraphed to the remotest corners of the country; but all this +vigilance is useless when roguery comes into the field. Observe that for +the moment I am not speaking about the morality of betting at all. I +have my own opinion as to the mental tone of a man who is continually +eyeing his neighbour's pocket and wondering what he can abstract +therefrom. There is, and can be, no friendship save bottle friendship +among the animals of prey who spend their time and energy on betting; +and I know how callously they let a victim sink to ruin after they have +sucked his substance to the last drop. The very face of a betting-man is +enough to let you know what his soul is like; it is a face such as can +be seen nowhere but on the racecourse or in the betting-club: the last +trace of high thought has vanished, and, though the men may laugh and +indulge in verbal horse-play, there is always something carnivorous +about their aspect. They are sharp in a certain line, but true +intelligence is rarely found among them. Strange to say, they are often +generous with money if their sentimental side is fairly touched, but +their very generosity is the lavishness of ostentation, and they seem to +have no true kindness in them, nor do they appear capable of even +shamming to possess the genuine helpful nature. Eternally on the watch +for prey, they assume the essential nature of predatory animals; their +notion of cleverness is to get the better of somebody, and their idea of +intellectual effort is to lay cunning traps for fools to enter. Yes; the +betting-ring is a bad school of morality, and the man who goes there as +a fool and a victim too, often blossoms into a rogue and a plunderer. + +With all this in my mind, I press my readers to understand that I leave +the ethics of wagering alone for the present, and confine my attention +strictly to the question of expediency. What is the use of wearing out +nerve and brain on pondering an infinite maze of uncertainties? The +rogues who command jockeys and even trainers on occasion can act with +certainty, for they have their eye on the very tap-root of the Turf +upas-tree. The noodles who read sporting prints and try to look knowing +can only fumble about among uncertainties; they and their pitiful money +help to swell the triumphs and the purses of rascals, and they fritter +away good brain-power on calculations which have no sound basis +whatever. Let us get to some facts, and let us all hope in the name of +everything that is righteous and of good report that, when this article +is read, some blind feather-brains may be induced to stop ere the +inevitable final ruin descends upon them. What has happened in the +doleful spring of this year? In 1887 a colt was brought out for the +first time to run for the greatest of all Turf prizes. As usual, some +bagatelle of a million or thereabouts had been betted on a horse which +had won several races, and this animal was reckoned to be incapable of +losing: but the untried animal shot out and galloped home an easy +winner. So little was the successful brute distressed by his race that +he began to caper out of sheer light-heartedness when he was led back to +the enclosure, and he very soon cleared the place in his gambols--in +fact, he could have run another race within half an hour after the first +one. In the autumn this same winner strained a ligament; but in spite of +the accident he ran for another important prize, and his lightning speed +served him in good stead, for he came in second for the St. Leger. Well, +in the spring this animal was entered in a handicap race, and the weight +which he had to carry seemed so trifling that good judges thought he +must romp over the course and win with ease. Hundreds of thousands of +dolts rushed to wager their money on this chance, and the horse's owner, +who is anything but a fool, proceeded to back his own property lavishly. +Now a certain number of the betting-rogues appeared to know +something--if I may be pardoned for using their repulsive +phraseology--and, so long as any one was willing to bet on the horse, +they were ready to lay against him. Still the pigeons would not take +warning by this ominous symptom; they had chances enough to keep clear +of danger, but they flocked into the snare in their confused fashion. A +grain of common sense would have made them ask, "Why do these shrewd, +hard men seem so certain that our favourite must lose? Are they the kind +of persons who risk thousands in hard cash unless they know particularly +well what they are doing? They bet with an air of certainty, though some +of them must be almost ruined if they have made a miscalculation; they +defy even the owner of the animal, and they cheerfully give him the +opportunity of putting down thousands if he wishes to do so. There must +be some reason for this assurance which at first sight looks so very +overweening. Better have a care!" + +Thus would common sense have counselled the victims; but, alas, common +sense is usually left out of the composition of the betting-man's +victim, and the flood of honest money rolled into the keeping of men who +are certainly no more than indifferent honest. The day of the race came; +the great gaping public dipped their hands in their pockets and accepted +short odds about their precious certainty. When the flag fell for the +start, the most wildly extravagant odds were offered against the +favourite by the men who had been betting against him all along, for +they saw very soon that they were safe. The poor brute on whose success +so many thousands depended could not even gallop; he trailed on wearily +for a little, without showing any sign of his old gallant fire and +speed, and at last his hopeless rider stopped him. This story is in the +mouths of all men; and now perhaps our simpletons maybe surprised to +hear that the wretched animal which was the innocent cause of loss and +misery was poisoned by a narcotic. In his efforts to move freely he +strained himself, for the subtle drug deprived him of the power of using +his limbs, and he could only sprawl and wrench his sinews. This is the +fourth case of the kind which has recently occurred; and now clever +judges have hit upon the cause which has disabled so many good horses, +after the rascals of the Ring have succeeded in laying colossal amounts +against them. Too many people know the dire effects of the morphia +injections which are now so commonly used by weak individuals who fear +pain and _ennui_; the same deadly drug is used to poison the horses. One +touch with the sharp needle-point under the horse's elbow, and the +subtle, numbing poison speeds through the arteries and paralyzes the +nerves; a beautiful creature that comes out full of fire and courage is +converted in a very few minutes into a dull helpless mass that has no +more conscious volition than a machine. The animal remains on its feet, +but exertion is impossible, and neither rein, whip, nor spur serves to +stimulate the cunning poisoner's victim. About the facts there can now +be no dispute: and this last wretched story supplies a copestone to a +pile of similar tales which has been in course of building during the +past three or four years. Enraged men have become outspoken, and things +are now boldly printed and circulated which were mentioned only in +whispers long ago. The days of clumsy poisoning have gone by; the +prowling villain no longer obtains entrance to a stable for the purpose +of battering a horse's leg or driving a nail into the frog of the foot; +the ancient crude devices are used no more, for science has become the +handmaid of scoundrelism. When in 1811 a bad fellow squirted a solution +of arsenic into a locked horse-trough, the evil trick was too clumsy to +escape detection, and the cruel rogue was promptly caught and sent to +the gallows; but we now have horse-poisoners who hold a secret similar +to that which Palmer of Rugeley kept so long. I say "a secret," though +every skilled veterinary surgeon knows how to administer morphia, and +knows its effects; but the new practitioners contrive to send in the +deadly injection of the drug in spite of the ceaseless vigilance of +trainers, stablemen, detectives, and all other guards. Now I ask any +rational man who may have been tempted to bet, Is it worth while? Leave +out the morality for the present, and tell us whether you think it +business-like to risk your money when you know that neither a horse's +speed nor a trainer's skill will avail you when once an acute crew of +sharpers have settled that a race must not be won by a certain animal. +The miserable creature whose case has served me for a text was tried at +home during the second week of April; he carried four stone more than +the very useful and fast horse which ran against him, and he merely +amused himself by romping alongside of his opponent. Again, when he took +a preliminary canter before the drug had time to act, he moved with +great strength and with the freedom of a greyhound; yet within three +minutes he was no more than an inert mass of flesh and bone. I say to +the inexperienced gambler, "Draw your own conclusions, and if, after +studying my words, you choose to tempt fortune any more, your fate--your +evil fate--be on your own head, for nothing that I or any one else can +do will save you." + +Not long before the melancholy and sordid case which I have described, +and which is now gaining attention and rousing curiosity everywhere, a +certain splendid steeplechaser was brought out to run for the most +important of cross-country races. He was a famous horse, and, like our +Derby winner, he bore the fortunes of a good many people. To the +confusion and dismay of the men who made sure of his success, he was +found to be stupified, and suffering from all the symptoms of +morphia-poisoning! Not long ago an exquisite mare was brought out to run +for the Liverpool Steeplechase, and, like the two I have already named, +she was deemed to be absolutely certain of success. She came out merrily +from her box; but soon she appeared to become dazed and silly; she +could not move properly, and in trying to clear her first fence she +staggered like a soddened drunkard and fell. The rascals had not become +artistic poisoners at that date, and it was found that the poor mare had +received the drug through a rather large puncture in her nostril. + +The men whom I seek to cure are not worthy of much care; but they have +dependants; and it is of the women and children that I think. Here is +another pitfall into which the eager novice stumbles; and once more on +grounds of expediency I ask the novice to consider his position. +According to the decision of the peculiarly-constituted senate which +rules racing affairs, I understand that, even if a horse starts in a +race with health and training all in its favour, it by no means follows +that he will win, or even run well. Cunning touches of the bridle, +dexterous movements of body and limbs on the jockey's part, subtle +checks applied so as to cramp the animal's stride--all these things tend +to bring about surprising results. The horse that fails dismally in one +race comes out soon afterwards and wins easily in more adverse +circumstances. I grow tired of the unlucky catalogue of mean swindles, +and I should be glad if I never heard of the Turf again; though, alas, I +have little hope of that so long as betting-shops are open, and so long +as miserable women have the power to address letters to me! I can only +implore those who are not stricken with the gambler's fever to come away +from danger while yet there is time. A great nobleman like Lord +Hartington or Lord Rodney may amuse himself by keeping racers; he gains +relaxation by running out from London to see his pretty colts and +fillies gallop, and he needs not to care very much whether they win or +lose, for it is only the mild excitement and the change of scene that he +wants. The wealthy people who go to Newmarket seek pleasant company as +much as anything, and the loss of a few hundreds hardly counts in their +year's expenses. But the poor noodle who can hardly afford to pay his +fare and hotel bill--why should he meddle with horses? If an animal is +poisoned, the betting millionaire who backs it swallows his chagrin and +thinks no more of the matter, but the wretched clerk who has risked a +quarter's salary cannot take matters so easily. Racing is the rich man's +diversion, and men of poor or moderate means cannot afford to think +about it. The beautiful world is full of entertainment for those who +search wisely; then why should any man vex heart and brain by meddling +with a pursuit which gives him no pleasure, and which cannot by any +chance bring him profit? I have no pity for a man who ascribes his ruin +to betting, and I contemn those paltry weaklings whose cases I study and +collect from the newspapers. Certainly there are enough of them! A man +who bets wants to make money without work, and that on the face of it is +a dishonourable aspiration; if he robs some one, I do not in the +faintest degree try to palliate his crime--he is a responsible being, or +ought to be one, and he has no excuse for pilfering. I should never aid +any man who suffered through betting, and I would not advise any one +else to do so. My appeal to the selfish instincts of the gudgeons who +are hooked by the bookmakers is made only for the sake of the helpless +creatures who suffer for the follies and blundering cupidity of the +would-be sharper. I abhor the bookmakers, but I do not blame them +alone; the sight of means to do ill deeds makes ill deeds done, and they +are doubtless tempted to roguery by the very simpletons who complain +when they meet the reward of their folly. I am solely concerned with the +innocents who fare hardly because of their selfish relatives' reckless +want of judgment, and for them, and them alone, my efforts are engaged. + +_May, 1888_ + + + + +_DEGRADED MEN_. + + +The man of science derives suggestive knowledge from the study of mere +putrefaction; he places an infusion of common hay-seeds or meat or fruit +in his phials, and awaits events; presently a drop from one of the +infusions is laid on the field of the microscope, and straightly the +economy of a new and strange kingdom is seen by the observer. The +microscopist takes any kind of garbage; he watches the bacteria and +their mysterious development, and he reaches at last the most +significant conclusions regarding the health and growth and diseases of +the highest organizations. The student of human nature must also bestow +his attention on disease of mind if he would attain to any real +knowledge of the strange race to which he belongs. We develop, it is +true, but there are modes and modes of development. I have often pointed +out that a steady process of degeneration goes on side by side with the +unfolding of new and healthy powers in the animal and vegetable +kingdoms. The great South American lizards grow strong and splendid in +hue amid the rank freedom of pampas or forest; but their poor relatives +in the sunless caves of Transylvania grow milky white, flabby, and +stone-blind. The creatures in the Kentucky caves are all aborted in some +way or other; the birds in far-off islands lose the power of flight, and +the shrivelled wings gradually sink under the skin, and show us only a +tiny network of delicate bones when the creature is stripped to the +skeleton. The condor soars magnificently in the thin air over the +Andes--it can rise like a kite or drop like a thunderbolt: the weeka of +New Zealand can hardly get out of the way of a stick aimed by an active +man. The proud forest giant sucks up the pouring moisture from the great +Brazilian river; the shoots that rise under the shadow of the monster +tree are weakened and blighted by lack of light and free air. The same +astounding work goes on among the beings who are so haughty in their +assumption of the post of creation's lords. The healthy child born of +healthy parents grows up amid pure air and pure surroundings; his +tissues are nourished by strength-giving food, he lives according to +sane rules, and he becomes round-limbed, full-chested, and vigorous. The +poor little victim who first sees the light in the Borough or Shadwell, +or in the noxious alleys of our reeking industrial towns, receives foul +air, mere atmospheric garbage, into his lungs; he becomes thin-blooded, +his unwholesome pallor witnesses to his weakness of vitality, his +muscles are atrophied, and even his hair is ragged, lustreless, +ill-nurtured. In time he transmits his feebleness to his successors; and +we have the creatures who stock our workhouses, hospitals, and our +gaols--for moral degradation always accompanies radical degradation of +the physique. + +So, if we study the larger aspects of society, we find that in all +grades we have large numbers of individuals who fall out of the line +that is steadfastly progressing, and become stragglers, +camp-followers--anything you will. Let a cool and an unsentimental +observer bend himself to the study of degraded human types, and he will +learn things that will sicken his heart if he is weak, and strengthen +him in his resolve to work gallantly during his span of life if he is +strong. Has any one ever fairly tried to face the problem of +degradation? Has any one ever learned how it is that a distinct form of +mental disease seems to lurk in all sorts of unexpected fastnesses, +ready to breathe a numbing and poisonous vapour on those who are not +fortified against the moral malaria? I am not without experience of the +fell chances and changes of life; I venture therefore to use some +portion of the knowledge that I have gathered in order to help to +fortify the weak and make the strong wary. + +If you wander on the roads in our country, you are almost sure to meet +men whom you instinctively recognize as fallen beings. What their +previous estate in life may have been you cannot tell, but you know that +there has been a fall, and that you are looking on a moral wreck. The +types are superficially varied, but an essential sameness, not always +visible at first sight, connects them and enables you to class them as +you would class the specimens in a gallery of the British Museum. As you +walk along on a lonely highway, you meet a man who carries himself with +a kind of jaunty air. His woeful boots show glimpses of bare feet, his +clothes have a bright gloss in places, and they hang untidily; but his +coat is buttoned with an attempt at smartness, and his ill-used hat is +set on rakishly. You note that the man wears a moustache, and you learn +in some mysterious way that he was once accustomed to be very trim and +spruce in person. When he speaks, you find that you have a hint of a +cultivated accent; he sounds the termination "ing" with precision, and +you also notice that such words as "here," "there," "over," are +pronounced with a peculiar broad vowel sound at the end. He cannot look +you boldly in the face, and it is hard to catch a sight of his eyes, but +you may take for granted that the eyes are bad and shifty. The cheeks +are probably a little pendulous, and the jaw hangs with a certain +slackness. The whole visage looks as if it had been cast in a tolerably +good mould and had somehow run out of shape a little. Your man is fluent +and communicative; he mouths his sentences with a genteel roll in his +voice, and he punctuates his talk with a stealthy, insincere laugh which +hardly rises above the dignity of a snigger. + +Now how does such a man come to be tramping aimlessly on a public road? +He does not know that he is going to any place in particular; he is +certainly not walking for the sake of health, though he needs health +rather badly. Why is he in this plight? You do not need to wait long for +a solution, if the book of human experience has been your study. That +man is absolutely certain to begin bewailing his luck--it is always +"luck." Then he has a choice selection of abuse to bestow on large +numbers of people who have trodden him down--he is always down-trodden; +and he proves to you that, but for the ingratitude of A, the roguery of +B, the jealousy of C, the undeserved credit obtained by the despicable +D, he would be in "a far different position to-day, sir." If he is an +old officer--and a few gentlemen who once bore Her Majesty's commission +are now to be found on the roads, or in casual wards, or lounging about +low skittle-alleys and bagatelle or billiard tables--he will allude to +the gambling that went on in the regiment. "How could a youngster keep +out of the swim?" All went well with him until he took to late hours and +devilled bones; "then in the mornings we were all ready for a peg; and I +should like to see the man who could get ready for parade after a hard +night unless he had something in the shape of a reviver." So he prates +on. He curses the colonel, the commander-in-chief, and the Army +organization in general; he gives leering reminiscences of garrison +belles--reminiscences that make a pure minded man long to inflict some +sort of chastisement on him; and thus, while he thinks he is impressing +you with an overpowering sense of his bygone rank and fashion, he really +unfolds the history of a feeble unworthy fellow who carries a strong +tinge of rascality about him. He is always a victim, and he illustrates +the unvarying truth of the maxim that a dupe is a rogue minus +cleverness. The final crash which overwhelmed him was of course a +horse-racing blunder. He would have recovered his winter's losses had +not a gang of thieves tampered with the favourite for the City and +Suburban. "Do you think, sir, that Highflyer could not have given +Stonemason three stone and a beating?" You modestly own your want of +acquaintance with the powers of the famous quadrupeds, and the +infatuated dupe goes on, "I saw how Bill Whipcord was riding; he eased +at the corner, when I wouldn't have taken two thousand for my bets, and +you could see that he let Stonemason up. I had taken seven to four eight +times in hundreds, and that broke me." The ragged raffish man never +thinks that he was quite ready to plunder other people; he grows +inarticulate with rage only when he remembers how he was bitten instead +of being the biter. His watery eyes slant as you near a roadside inn, +and he is certain to issue an invitation. Then you see what really +brought him low. It may be a lovely warm day, when the acrid reek of +alcohol is more than usually abhorrent; but he must take something +strong that will presently inflame the flabby bulge of his cheeks and +set his evil eyes watering more freely than ever. Gin is his favourite +refreshment, because it is cheap, and produces stupefaction more rapidly +than any other liquid. Very probably he will mix gin and ale in one +horrid draught--and in that case you know that he is very far gone +indeed on the downward road. If he can possibly coax the change out of +you when the waiter puts it down he will do so, for he cannot resist the +gleam of the coins, and he will improvise the most courageous lies with +an ease which inspires awe. He thanks you for nothing; he hovers between +cringing familiarity and patronage; and, when you gladly part with him, +he probably solaces himself by muttering curses on your meanness or your +insolence. Once more--how does the faded military person come to be on +the roads? We shall come to that presently. + +Observe the temporary lord of the tap-room when you halt on the dusty +roads and search for tea or lunch. He is in black, and a soiled +handkerchief is wound round his throat like an eel. He wears a soft felt +hat which has evidently done duty as a night-cap many times, and he +tries to bear himself as though the linen beneath his pinned-up coat +were of priceless quality. You know well enough that he has no shirt on, +for he would sell one within half an hour if any Samaritan fitted him +out. His boots are carefully tucked away under the bench, and his sharp +knees seem likely to start through their greasy casing. As soon as he +sees you he determines to create an impression, and he at once draws you +into the conversation. "Now, sir, you and I are scholars--I am an old +Balliol man myself--and I was explaining to these good lads the meaning +of the phrase which had puzzled them, as it has puzzled many more. +_Casus belli_, sir--that is what we find in this local rag of a journal; +and _status quo ante bellum_. Now, sir, these ignorant souls couldn't +tell what was meant, so I have been enlightening them. I relax my mind +in this way, though you would hardly think it the proper place for a +Balliol man, while that overfed brute up at the Hall can drive out with +a pair of two-hundred-guinea bays, sir. Fancy a gentleman and a scholar +being in this company, sir! Now Jones, the landlord there, is a good man +in his way--oh, no thanks Jones; it is not a compliment!--and I'd like +to see the man who dared say that I'm not speaking the truth, for I used +to put my hands up like a good one when we were boys at the old +'varsity, sir. Jones, this gentleman would like something; and I don't +mind taking a double dose of Glenlivat with a brother-scholar and a +gentleman like myself." So the mawkish creature maunders on until one's +gorge rises; but the stolid carters, the idle labourers, the shoemaker +from the shop round the corner, admire his eloquence, and enjoy the +luxury of pitying a parson and an aristocrat. How very numerous are the +representatives of this type, and how unspeakably odious they are! This +foul weed in dirty clothing assumes the pose of a bishop; he swears at +the landlord, he patronizes the shoemaker--who is his superior in all +ways--he airs the feeble remnants of his Latin grammar and his stock +quotations. He will curse you if you refuse him drink, and he will +describe you as an impostor or a cad; while, if you are weak enough to +gratify his taste for spirits, he will glower at you over his glass, and +sicken you with fulsome flattery or clumsy attempts at festive wit. +Enough of this ugly creature, whose baseness insults the light of God's +day! We know how he will end; we know how he has been a fraud throughout +his evil life, and we can hardly spare even pity for him. It is well if +the fellow has no lady-wife in some remote quarter--wife whom he can rob +or beg from, or even thrash, when he searches her out after one of his +rambles from casual ward to casual ward. + +In the wastes of the great cities the army of the degraded swarm. Here +is the loose-lipped rakish wit, who tells stories in the common +lodging-house kitchen. He has a certain brilliancy about him which lasts +until the glassy gleam comes over his eyes, and then he becomes merely +blasphemous and offensive. He might be an influential writer or +politician, but he never gets beyond spouting in a pot-house debating +club, and even that chance of distinction does not come unless he has +written an unusually successful begging-letter. Here too is the broken +professional man. His horrid face is pustuled, his hands are like +unclean dough, he is like a creature falling to pieces; yet he can show +you pretty specimens of handwriting, and, if you will steady him by +giving him a drink of ale, he will write your name on the edge of a +newspaper in copper-plate characters or perform some analogous feat. All +the degraded like to show off the remains of their accomplishments, and +you may hear some odious being warbling. "_Ah, che la morte!_" with +quite the air of a leading tenor. In the dreadful purlieus lurk the poor +submissive ne'er-do-well, the clerk who has been imprisoned for +embezzlement, the City merchant's son who is reduced to being the tout +of a low bookmaker, the preacher who began as a youthful phenomenon and +ended by embezzling the Christmas dinner fund, the forlorn brute whose +wife and children have fled from him, and who spends his time between +the police-cells and the resorts of the vilest. If you could know the +names of the tramps who yell and make merry over their supper in the +murky kitchen, you would find that people of high consideration would be +touched very painfully could they be reminded of the existence of +certain relatives. Degraded, degraded are they all! And why? + +The answer is brief, and I have left it until last, for no particular +elaboration is needed. From most painful study I have come to the +conclusion that nearly all of our degraded men come to ruin through +idleness in the first instance; drink, gambling, and other forms of +debauch follow, but idleness is the root-evil. The man who begins by +saying, "It's a poor heart that never rejoices," or who refers to the +danger of making Jack a dull boy, is on a bad road. Who ever heard of a +worker--a real toiler--becoming degraded? Worn he may be, and perhaps +dull to the influence of beauty and refinement; but there is always some +nobleness about him. The man who gives way to idleness at once prepares +his mind as a soil for evil seeds; the universe grows tiresome to him; +the life-weariness of the old Romans attacks him in an ignoble form, +and he begins to look about for distractions. Then his idleness, from +being perhaps merely amusing, becomes offensive and suspicious; drink +takes hold upon him; his moral sense perishes; only the husks of his +refinement remain; and by and by you have the slouching wanderer who is +good for nothing on earth. He is despised of men, and, were it not that +we know the inexhaustible bounty of the Everlasting Pity, we might +almost think that he was forgotten of Heaven. Stand against idleness. +Anything that age, aches, penury, hard trial may inflict on the soul is +trifling. Idleness is the great evil which leads to all others. +Therefore work while it is day. + +_September, 1888._ + + + + +_A REFINEMENT OF "SPORTING" CRUELTY._ + + +I firmly believe in the sound manhood of the English people, and I know +that in any great emergency they would rise and prove themselves true +and gallant of soul; but we happen for the time to have amongst us a +very large class of idlers, and these idlers are steadily introducing +habits and customs which no wise observer can regard without solemn +apprehensions. The simple Southampton poet has told us what "idle hands" +are apt to do under certain guidance, and his saying--truism as it +appears--should be studied with more regard to its vital meaning. The +idlers crave for novelties; they seek for new forms of distraction; they +seem really to live only when they are in the midst of delirious +excitement. Unhappily their feverish unrest is apt to communicate itself +to men who are not naturally idlers, and thus their influence moves +outwards like some vast hurtful wind blown from a pestilent region. +During the past few years the idlers have invented a form of amusement +which for sheer atrocity and wanton cruelty is unparalleled in the +history of England. I shall say some words about this remarkable +amusement, and I trust that gentle women who have in them the heart of +compassion, mothers who have sons to be ruined, fathers who have purses +to bleed, may aid in putting down an evil that gathers strength every +day. + +Most of my readers know what the "sport" of coursing is; but, for the +benefit of strictly town-bred folk, I may roughly indicate the nature of +the pursuit as it was practised in bygone times. A brace of greyhounds +were placed together in the slips--that is, in collars which fly open +when the man who holds the dogs releases a knot; and then a line of men +moved slowly over the fields. When a hare rose and ran for her life, the +slipper allowed her a fair start, and then he released the dogs. The +mode of reckoning the merits of the hounds is perhaps a little too +complicated for the understanding of non-"sporting" people; but I may +broadly put it that the dog which gives the hare most trouble, the dog +that causes her to dodge and turn the oftenest in order to save her +life, is reckoned the winner. Thus the greyhound which reaches the hare +first receives two points; poor pussy then makes an agonized rush to +right or left, and, if the second dog succeeds in passing his opponent +and turning the hare again, he receives a point, and so on. The +old-fashioned open-air sport was cruel enough, for it often happened +that the hare ran for two or three miles with her ferocious pursuers +hard on her track, and every muscle of her body was strained with +poignant agony; but there is this to be said--the men had healthy, +matchless exercise on breezy plains and joyous uplands, they tramped all +day until their limbs were thoroughly exercised, and they earned sound +repose by their wholesome exertions. Moreover, the element of fair-play +enters into coursing when pursued in the open spaces. Pussy knows every +foot of the ground; nightly she steals gently to the fields where her +succulent food is found, and in the morning she steals back again to her +tiny nest, or form, amid the soft grass. All day she lies chewing the +cud in her fashion, and moving her delicate ears hither and thither, +lest fox or stoat or dog should come upon her unawares; and at nightfall +she steals away once more. Every run, every tuft of grass, every rising +of the ground is known to her; and, when at last the tramp of the +approaching beaters rouses her, she rushes away with a distinct +advantage over the dogs. She knows exactly whither to go; the other +animals do not, and usually, on open ground, the quarry escapes. I do +not think that any greyhound living could catch one of the hares now +left on the Suffolk marshes; and there are many on the great Wiltshire +plains which are quite capable of rushing at top speed for three miles +and more. The chase in the open is cruel--there is no denying it--for +poor puss dies many deaths ere she bids her enemies good-bye; but still +she has a chance for life, and thus the sport, inhuman as it is, has a +praiseworthy element of fairness in it. + +But the betting-man, the foul product of civilization's depravity, cast +his eye on the old-fashioned sport and invaded the field. He found the +process of walking up the game not much to his taste, for he cares only +to exercise his leathern lungs; moreover, the courses were few and far +between and the chances of making wagers were scanty. He set himself to +meditate, and it struck him that, if a good big collection of hares +could be got together, it would be possible to turn them out one by one, +so that betting might go on as fast and as merrily on the +coursing-ground as at the roulette-table. Thus arose a "sport" which is +educating many, many thousands in callousness and brutality. Here and +there over England are dotted great enclosed parks, and the visitor is +shown wide and mazy coverts where hares swarm. Plenty of food is strewn +over the grass, and in the wildest of winters pussy has nothing to +fear--until the date of her execution arrives. The animals are not +natives of those enclosures; they are netted in droves on the Wiltshire +plains or on the Lancashire moors, and packed off like poultry to the +coursing-ground. There their life is calm for a long time; no poachers +or lurchers or vermin molest them; stillness is maintained, and the +hares live in peace. But one day there comes a roaring crowd to the +park, and, though pussy does not know it, her good days are passed. Look +at the mob that surges and bellows on the stands and in the enclosures. +They are well dressed and comfortable, but a more unpleasant gang could +not be seen. Try to distinguish a single face that shows kindness or +goodness--you fail; this rank roaring crowd is made up of betting-men +and dupes, and it is hard to say which are the worse. There is no +horse-racing in the winter, and so these people have come out to see a +succession of innocent creatures die, and to bet on the event. The slow +coursing of the old style would not do for the fiery betting-man; but we +shall have fun fast and furious presently. The assembly seems frantic; +flashy men with eccentric coats and gaudy hats of various patterns stand +about and bellow their offers to bet; feverish dupes move hither and +thither, waiting for chances; the rustle of notes, the chink of money, +sound here and there, and the immense clamour swells and swells, till a +stunning roar dulls the senses, and to an imaginative gazer it seems as +though a horde of fiends had been let loose to make day hideous. A +broad smooth stretch of grass lies opposite to the stands, and at one +end of this half-mile stretch there runs a barrier, the bottom of which +is fringed with straw and furze. If you examined that barrier, you would +find that it really opens into a wide dense copse, and that a hare or +rabbit which whisks under it is safe on the far side. At the other side +of this field a long fenced lane opens, and seems to be closed at the +blind end by a wide door. To the right of the blind lane is a tiny hut +surrounded by bushes, and by the side of the hut a few scattered men +loaf in a purposeless way. Presently a red-coated man canters across the +smooth green, and then the diabolical tumult of the stands reaches +ear-splitting intensity. Your betting-man is cool enough in reality; but +he likes to simulate mad eagerness until it appears as though the +swollen veins of face or throat would burst. And what is going on at the +closed end of that blind lane? On the strip of turf around the wide +field the demure trainers lead their melancholy-looking dogs. Each +greyhound is swathed in warm clothing, but they all look wretched; and, +as they pick their way along with dainty steps, no one would guess that +the sight of a certain poor little animal would convert each doleful +hound into an incarnate fury. Two dogs are led across to the little +hut--the bellow of the Ring sounds hoarsely on--and the chosen pair of +dogs disappear behind the shrubs. And now what is passing on the farther +side of that door which closes the lane? A hare is comfortably nestling +under a clump of furze when a soft step sounds near her. A man! Pussy +would like to move to right or left; but, lo, here are other men! +Decidedly she must move forward. Oh, joy! A swinging door rises softly, +and shows her a delightful long lane that seems to open on to a pleasant +open country. She hops gaily onward, and then a little uneasiness +overtakes her; she looks back, but that treacherous door has swung down +again, and there is only one road for her now. Softly she steals onward +to the mouth of the lane, and then she finds a slanting line of men who +wave their arms at her when she tries to shoot aside. A loud roar bursts +from the human animals on the stand, and then a hush falls. Now or +never, pussy! The far-off barrier must be gained, or all is over. The +hare lowers her ears and dashes off; then from the hut comes a +staggering man, who hangs back with all his strength as a pair of +ferocious dogs writhe and strain in the leash; the hounds rise on their +haunches, and paw wildly with their fore-feet, and they struggle forward +until puss has gone a fair distance, while the slipper encourages them +with low guttural sounds. Crack! The tense collars fly, and the arrowy +rush of the snaky dogs follows. Puss flicks her ears--she hears a thud, +thud, wallop, wallop; and she knows the supreme moment has come. Her +sinews tighten like bowstrings, and she darts on with the lightning +speed of despair. The grim pursuers near her; she almost feels the +breath of the foremost. Twitch!--and with a quick convulsive effort she +sheers aside, and her enemy sprawls on. But the second dog is ready to +meet her, and she must swirl round again. The two serpentine savages +gather themselves together and launch out in wild efforts to reach her; +they are upon her--she must dart round again, and does so under the very +feet of the baffled dogs. Her eyes are starting with overmastering +terror; again and again she sweeps from right to left, and again and +again the staunch hounds dash along in her track. Pussy fails fast; one +dog reaches her, and she shrieks as she feels his ferocious jaws touch +her; but he snatches only a mouthful of fur, and there is another +respite. Then at last one of the pursuers balances himself carefully, +his wicked head is raised, he strikes, and the long tremulous shriek of +despair is drowned in the hoarse crash of cheering from the mob. Brave +sport, my masters! Gallant Britons ye are! Ah, how I should like to let +one of you career over that field of death with a brace of business-like +boarhounds behind you! + +There is no slackening of the fun, for the betting-men must be kept +busy. Men grow frantic with excitement; young fools who should be at +their business risk their money heedlessly, and generally go wrong. If +the hares could only know, they might derive some consolation from the +certainty that, if they are going to death, scores of their gallant +sporting persecutors are going to ruin. Time after time, in monotonous +succession, the same thing goes on through the day--the agonized hares +twirl and strain; the fierce dogs employ their superb speed and +strength; the unmanly gang of men howl like beasts of prey; and the +sweet sun looks upon all! + +Women, what do you think of that for Englishmen's pastime? Recollect +that the mania for this form of excitement is growing more intense +daily; as much as one hundred thousand pounds may depend on a single +course--for not only the mob in the stands are betting, but thousands +are awaiting each result that is flashed off over the wires; and, +although you may be far away in remote country towns, your sons, your +husbands, your brothers, may be watching the clicking machine that +records the results in club and hotel--they may be risking their +substance in a lottery which is at once childish and cruel. + +There is not one word to be said in favour of this vile game. The +old-fashioned courser at least got exercise and air; but the modern +betting-man wants neither; he wants only to make wagers and add to his +pile of money. For him the coursing meetings cannot come too often; the +swarming gudgeons flock to his net; he arranges the odds almost as he +chooses--with the help of his friends; and simpletons who do not know a +greyhound from a deerhound bet wildly--not on dogs, but on names. The +"sport" has all the uncertainty of roulette, and it is villainously +cruel into the bargain. Amid all those thousands you never hear one word +of pity for the stricken little creature that is driven out, as I have +said, for execution; they watch her agonies, and calculate the chances +of pouching their sovereigns. That is all. + +Here then is another vast engine of demoralization set going, just as if +the Turf were not a blight of sufficient intensity! A young man ventures +into one of those cruel rings, buys a card, and resolves to risk pounds +or shillings. If he is unfortunate, he may be saved; but, curiously +enough, it often happens that a greenhorn who does not know one +greyhound from another blunders into a series of winning bets. If he +wins, he is lost, for the fever seizes him; he does not know what odds +are against him, and he goes on from deep to deep of failure and +disaster. Well for him if he escapes entire ruin! I have drawn attention +to this new evil because I have peculiar opportunities of studying the +inner life of our society, and I find that the gambling epidemic is +spreading among the middle-classes. To my mind these coursing massacres +should be made every whit as illegal as dog-fighting or bull-baiting, +for I can assure our legislators that the temptation offered by the +chances of rapid gambling is eating like a corrosive poison into the +young generation. Surely Englishmen, even if they want to bet, need not +invent a medium for betting which combines every description of noxious +cruelty! I ask the aid of women. Let them set their faces against tin's +horrid sport, and it will soon be known no more. + +If the silly bettors themselves could only understand their own +position, they might be rescued. Let it be distinctly understood that +the bookmaker cannot lose, no matter how events may go. On the other +hand, the man who makes wagers on what he is pleased to term his +"fancies" has everything against him. The chances of his choosing a +winner in the odious new sport are hardly to be mathematically stated, +and it may be mathematically proved that he must lose. Then, apart from +the money loss, what an utterly ignoble and unholy pursuit this +trapped-hare coursing is for a manly man! Surely the heart of compassion +in any one not wholly brutalized should be moved at the thought of those +cabined, cribbed, confined little creatures that yield up their innocent +lives amid the remorseless cries of a callous multitude. Poor innocents! +Is it not possible to gamble without making God's creatures undergo +torture? If a man were to turn a cat into a close yard and set dogs upon +it, he would be imprisoned, and his name would be held up to scorn. What +is the difference between cat and hare? + +_March, 1887._ + + + + +_LIBERTY_. + + +"What things are done in thy name!" The lady who spoke thus of Liberty +had lived a high and pure life; all good souls were attracted to her; +and it seems strange that so sweet and pure and beautiful a creature +could have grown up in the vile France of the days before the +Revolution. She kept up the traditions of gentle and seemly courtesy +even at times when Sardanapalus Danton was perforce admitted to her +_salon_; and in an age of suspicion and vile scandal she kept a +stainless name, for even the most degraded pamphleteer in Paris dared do +no more than hint a fault and hesitate dislike. But this lady went to +the scaffold with many and many of the young, the beautiful, the brave; +and her sombre satire, "What things are done in thy name!" was +remembered long afterwards when the despots and the invading alien had +in turn placed their feet on the neck of devoted France. "What things +are done in thy name!" Yes; and we, in this modern world, might vary the +saying a little and exclaim, "What things are said in thy name!"--for we +have indeed arrived at the era of liberty, and the gospel of Rousseau is +being preached with fantastic variations by people who think that any +speech which apes the forms of logic is reasonable and that any desire +which is expressed in a sufficiently loud howl should be at once +gratified. We pride ourselves on our knowledge and our reasoning power; +but to judicious observers it often seems that those who talk loudest +have a very thin vein of knowledge, and no reasoning faculty that is not +imitative. + +By all means let us have "freedom," but let us also consider our terms, +and fix the meaning of the things that we say. Perhaps I should write +"the things that we think we say," because so many of those who make +themselves heard do not weigh words at all, and they imagine themselves +to be uttering cogent truths when they are really giving us the babble +of Bedlam. If ladies and gentlemen who rant about freedom would try to +emancipate themselves from the dominion of meaningless words, we should +all fare better; but we find a large number of public personages using +perfectly grammatical series of phrases without dreaming for a moment +that their grave sentences are pure gibberish. A few simple questions +addressed in the Socratic manner to certain lights of thought might do +much good. For instance, we might say, "Do you ever speak of being free +from good health, or free from a good character, or free from +prosperity?" I fancy not; and yet copiously talkative individuals employ +terms quite as hazy and silly as those which I have indicated. + +We have gone very far in the direction of scientific discovery, and we +have a large number of facts at our disposal; but some of us have quite +forgotten that true liberty comes only from submitting to wise guidance. +Old Sandy Mackay, in Alton Locke, declared that he would never bow down +to a bit of brains: and this highly-independent attitude is copied by +persons who fail to see that bowing to the bit of brains is the only +mode of securing genuine freedom. If our daring logicians would grant +that every man should have liberty to lead his life as he chooses, so +long as he hurts neither himself nor any other individual nor the State, +then one might follow their argument; but a plain homespun proposal like +that of mine is not enough for your advanced thinker. In England he +says, "Let us have deliverance from all restrictions;" in Russia he +says, "Anarchy is the only cure for existing evils." For centuries past +the earth has been deluged with blood and the children of men have been +scourged by miseries unspeakable, merely because powerful men and +powerful bodies of men have not chosen to learn the meaning of the word +"liberty." "How miserable you make the world for one another, O feeble +race of men!" So said our own melancholy English cynic; and he had +singularly good reason for his plaint. Rapid generalization is nearly +always mischievous; unless we learn to form correct and swift judgments +on every faculty of life as it comes before us, we merely stumble from +error to error. No cut-and-dried maxim ever yet was fit to guide men +through their mysterious existence; the formalist always ends by +becoming a bungler, and the most highly-developed man, if he is content +to be no more than a thinking-machine, is harmful to himself and harmful +to the community which has the ill-luck to harbour him. If we take cases +from history, we ought to find it easy enough to distinguish between the +men who sought liberty wisely and those who were restive and turbulent. +A wise man or a wise nation knows the kind of restraint which is good; +the fool, with his feather-brained theories, never knows what is good +for him--he mistakes eternal justice for tyranny, he rebels against +facts that are too solid for him--and we know what kind of an end he +meets. Some peculiarly daring personages carry their spirit of +resistance beyond the bounds of our poor little earth. Only lately many +of us read with a shock of surprise the passionate asseveration of a +gifted woman who declared that it was a monstrous wrong and wickedness +that ever she had been born. Job said much the same thing in his +delirium; but our great novelist put forth her complaint as the net +outcome of all her thought and culture. We only need to open an ordinary +newspaper to find that the famous writer's folly is shared by many +weaker souls; and the effect on the mind of a shrewd and contented man +is so startling that it resembles the emotion roused by grotesque wit. +The whole story of the ages tells us dismally what happens when unwise +people choose to claim the measure of liberty which they think good; but +somehow, though knowledge has come, wisdom lingers, and the grim old +follies rear themselves rankly among us in the age of reason. + +When we remember the Swiss mountaineers who took their deaths joyously +in defence of their homes, when we read of the devoted brave one who +received the sheaf of spears in his breast and broke the oppressor's +array, none of us can think of mere vulgar rebellion. The Swiss were +fighting to free themselves from wrongs untold; and we should hold them +less than men if they had tamely submitted to be caged like poultry. +Again, we feel a thrill when we read the epitaph which says, "Gladly we +would have rested had we won freedom. We have lost, and very gladly +rest." The very air of bravery, of steady self-abnegation seems to +exhale from the sombre, triumphant words. Russia is the chosen home of +tyranny now, but her day of brightness will come again. It is safe to +prophesy so much, for I remember what happened at one time of supreme +peril. Prussia and Austria and Italy lay crushed and bleeding under the +awful power of Napoleon, and it seemed as though Russia must be wiped +out from the list of nations when the great army of invaders poured in +relentless multitudes over the stricken land. The conqueror appeared to +have the very forces of nature in his favour, and his hosts moved on +without a check and without a failure of organization. So perfectly had +he planned the minutest details that, although his stations were +scattered from the Beresina to the Seine, not so much as a letter was +lost during the onward movement. How could the doomed country resist? So +thought all Europe. But the splendid old Russian, the immortal +Koutousoff, had felt the pulse of his nation, and he was confident, +while all the other chiefs felt as though the earth were rocking under +them. The time for the extinction of Russia had not come; a throb of +fierce emotion passed over the country; the people rose like one man, +and the despot found himself held in check by rude masses of men for +whom death had scant terrors. Koutousoff had a mighty people to support +him, and he would have swept back the horde of spoilers, even if the +winter had not come to his aid. Russia was but a dark country then, as +now, but the conduct of the myriads who dared to die gave a bright +presage for the future. Who can blame the multitudes of Muscovites who +sealed their wild protest with their blood? The common soldiers were +but slaves, yet they would have suffered a degradation worse than +slavery had they succumbed, while, as to the immense body of +people--that nation within a nation--which answered to our upper and +middle classes, they would have tasted the same woes which at length +drove Germany to frenzy and made simple burghers prefer bitter death to +the tyranny of the French. The rulers of Russia have stained her records +foully since the days of 1812, but their worst sins cannot blot out the +memory of the national uprising. Years are but trivial; seventy-six of +them seem a long time; but those who study history broadly know that the +dawn of a better future for Russia showed its first gleam when the +aroused and indignant race rose and went forward to die before the +French cannon. When next Russia rises, it will be against a tyranny only +second to Napoleon's in virulence--it will be against the terror that +rules her now from within; and her success will be applauded by the +world. + +The Italians, who first waited and plotted, and then fought desperately +under Garibaldi, had every reason to cry out for freedom. If they had +remained merely whimpering under the Bourbon and Austrian whips, they +would have deserved to be spurned by all who bear the hearts of men. +They were denied the meanest privileges of humanity; they lived in a +fashion which was rather like the violent, oppressed, hideous existence +which men imagine in evil dreams, and at length they struck, and +declared for liberty or annihilation. Perhaps they did not gain much in +the way of immediate material good, but that only makes their splendid +movement the more admirable. They fought for a magnificent idea, and +even now, though the populace have to bear a taxation three times as +great as any known before in their history, the ordinary Italian will +say, "Yes, signor--the taxes are very heavy; we toil very hard and pay +much money; but who counts money? We are a nation now--a real nation; +Italy is united and free." That is the gist of the matter. The people +were bitterly ground down, and they are content to suffer privation in +the present so long as they can ensure freedom from alien rule in the +future. Nothing that the most hardly-entreated Briton suffers in any +circumstances could equal the agonies of degradation borne by the people +of the Peninsula, and their emancipation was hailed as if it had been a +personal benefaction by all that was wisest and best in European +society. The millions who turned out to welcome Garibaldi as if he had +been an adored sovereign all had a true appreciation of real liberty; +the masses were right in their instinct, and it was left for hysterical +"thinkers" to shriek their deluded ideas in these later days. + +"But surely the Irish rose for freedom in 1641?" I can almost imagine +some clever correspondent asking me that question with a view to taking +me in a neat trap. It is true enough that the Irish rose; but here again +we must learn to discriminate between cases. How did the wild folk rise? +Did they go out like the Thousand of Marsala and pit themselves against +odds of five and six to one? Did they show any chivalry? Alas for the +wicked story! The rebels behaved like cruel wild beasts; they were worse +than polecats in an aviary, and they met with about the same resistance +as the polecats would meet. They stripped the Ulster farmers and their +families naked, and sent them out in the bitter weather; they hung on +the skirts of the agonized crowd; the men cut down the refugees +wholesale, and even the little boys of the insurgent party were taught +to torture and kill the unhappy children of the flying farmers. Poor +little infants fell in the rear of the doomed host, but no mother was +allowed to succour her dying offspring, and the innocents expired in +unimaginable suffering. The stripped fugitives crowded into Dublin, and +there the plague carried them off wholesale. The rebels had gained +liberty with a vengeance, and they had their way for ten years and more. +Their liberty was degraded by savagery; they ruled Ireland at their own +sweet will; they dwelt in anarchy until the burden of their iniquity +grew too grievous for the earth to bear. Then their villainous freedom +was suddenly ended by no less a person than Oliver Cromwell, and the +curses, the murders, the unspeakable vileness of ten bad years all were +atoned for in wild wrath and ruin. Now is it not marvellous that, while +the murderers were free, they were poverty-stricken and most wretched? +As soon as Cromwell's voice had ceased to pronounce the doom on the +unworthy, the great man began his work of regeneration; and under his +iron hand the country which had been miserable in freedom became +prosperous, happy, and contented. There is no mistaking the facts, for +men of all parties swore that the six years which followed the storm of +Drogheda were the best in all Ireland's history. Had Cromwell only lived +longer, or had there been a man fit to follow him, then England and +Ireland would be happier this day. + +In our social life the same conditions hold for the individual as hold +for nations in the assembly of the world's peoples. Freedom--true +freedom--means liberty to live a beneficent and innocent life. As soon +as an individual chooses to set up as a law to himself, then we have a +right--nay, it is our bounden duty--to examine his pretensions. If the +sense of the wisest in our community declares him unfit to issue dicta +for the guidance of men, then we must promptly suppress him; if we do +not, our misfortunes are on our own heads. The "independent" man may cry +out about liberty and the rest as much as he likes, but we cannot afford +to heed him. We simply say, "You foolish person, liberty, as you are +pleased to call it, would be poison to you. The best medicines for your +uneasy mind are reproof and restraint; if those fail to act on you, then +we must try what the lash will do for you." + +Let us have liberty for the wise and the good--we know them well enough +when we see them; and no sophist dare in his heart declare that any +charlatan ever mastered men permanently. Liberty for the wise and +good--yes, and wholesome discipline for the foolish and +froward--sagacious guidance for all. Of course, if a man or a community +is unable to choose a guide of the right sort, then that man or +community is doomed, and we need say no more of either. I keep warily +out of the muddy conflict of politics; but I will say that the cries of +certain apostles of liberty seem woful and foolish. Unhappy shriekers, +whither do they fancy they are bound? Is it to some Land of Beulah, +where they may gambol unrestrained on pleasant hills? The shriekers are +all wrong, and the best friend of theirs, the best friend of humanity, +is he who will teach them--sternly if need be--that liberty and license +are two widely different things. + +_August, 1888._ + + + + +_EQUALITY_. + + +One of the strangest shocks which the British traveller can experience +occurs to him when he makes his first acquaintance with the American +servant--especially the male servant. The quiet domineering European is +stung out of his impassivity by a sort of moral stab which disturbs +every faculty, unless he is absolutely stunned and left gasping. In +England, the quiet club servant waits with dignity and reserve, but he +is obedient to the last degree, and his civility reaches the point of +absolute polish. When he performs a service his air is impassive, but if +he is addressed his face assumes a quietly good-humoured expression, and +he contrives to make his temporary employer feel as though it was a +pleasure to attend upon him. All over our country we find that +politeness between employer and servant is mutual. Here and there we +find a well-dressed ruffian who thinks he is doing a clever thing when +he bullies a servant; but a gentleman is always considerate, quiet, +respectful; and he expects consideration, quietness, and respect from +those who wait upon him. The light-footed, cheerful young women who +serve in hotels and private houses are nearly always charmingly kind and +obliging without ever descending to familiarity; in fact, I believe +that, if England be taken all round, it will be found that female +post-office clerks are the only servants who are positively offensive. +They are spoiled by the hurried, captious, tiresome persons who haunt +post-offices at all hours, and in self-defence they are apt to convert +themselves into moral analogues of the fretful porcupine. Perhaps the +queenly dames in railway refreshment-rooms are almost equal +to the post-office damsels; but both classes are growing more +good-natured--thanks to Charles Dickens, Mr. Sullivan, and Mr. _Punch_. + +But the American servant exhibits no such weakness as civility; he is +resolved to let you know that you are in the country of equality, and, +in order to do that effectually, he treats you as a grovelling inferior. +You ask a civil question, and he flings his answer at you as he would +fling a bone at a dog. Every act of service which he performs comes most +ungraciously from him, and he usually contrives to let you plainly see +two things--first, he is ashamed of his position; secondly, he means to +take a sort of indirect revenge on you in order to salve his lacerated +dignity. A young English peer happened to ask a Chicago servant to clean +a pair of boots, and his tone of command was rather pronounced and +definite. That young patrician began to doubt his own identity when he +was thus addressed--"Ketch on and do them yourself!" There was no +redress, no possible remedy, and finally our compatriot humbled himself +to a negro, and paid an exorbitant price for his polish. + +Here we have an absurdity quite fairly exposed. The young American +student who acts as a reporter or waiter during his college vacation is +nearly always a respectful gentleman who neither takes nor allows a +liberty; but the underbred boor, keen as he is about his gratuities, +will take even your gifts as though he were an Asiatic potentate, and +the traveller a passing slave whose tribute is condescendingly received. +In a word, the servant goes out of his way to prove that, in his own +idea, he is quite fit to be anybody's master. The Declaration of +Independence informs us that all men are born equal; the transatlantic +servant takes that with a certain reservation, for he implies that, +though men may be equal in a general way, yet, so far as he is +concerned, he prefers to reckon himself the superior of anybody with +whom business brings him into contact. + +It was in America that I first began to meditate on the problem of +equality, and I have given it much thought at intervals during several +years. The great difficulty is to avoid repeating stale commonplaces on +the matter. The robust Briton bellows, "Equality! Divide up all the +property in the world equally among the inhabitants, and there would be +rich and poor, just as before, within a week!" The robust man thinks +that settles the whole matter at once. Then we have the stock story of +the three practical communists who forced themselves upon the society of +Baron Rothschild, and explained their views at some length. The Baron +said: "Gentlemen, I have made a little calculation, and I find that, if +I divided my property equally among my fellow-citizens, your share would +be one florin each. Oblige me by accepting that sum at once, and permit +me to wish you good-morning." This was very neat in its way, but I want +to talk just a little more seriously of a problem which concerns the +daily life of us all, and affects our mental health, our placidity, and +our self-respect very intimately. In the first place, we have to +consider the deplorable exhibitions made by poor humanity whenever +equality has been fairly insisted on in any community. The Frenchmen of +1792 thought that a great principle had been asserted when the President +of the Convention said to the king, "You may sit down, Louis." It seemed +fine to the gallery when the queenly Marie Antoinette was addressed as +the widow Capet; but what a poor business it was after all! The howling +familiarity of the mob never touched the real dignity of the royal +woman, and their brutality was only a murderous form of Yankee servant's +mean "independence." I cannot treat the subject at all without going +into necessary subtleties which never occurred to an enraged mob or a +bloodthirsty and insolent official; I cannot accept the bald jeers of a +comfortable, purse-proud citizen as being of any weight, and I am just +as loath to heed the wire-drawn platitudes of the average philosopher. +If we accept the very first maxim of biology, and agree that no two +individuals of any living species are exactly alike, we have a +starting-point from which we can proceed to argue sensibly. We may pass +over the countless millions of inequalities which we observe in the +lower orders of living things: and there is no need to emphasize +distinctions which are plain to every child. When we come to speak of +the race of men we reach the only concern which has a passionate and +vital interest for us; even the amazing researches and conclusions of +the naturalists have no attraction for us unless they throw a light, no +matter how oblique, on our mysterious being and our mysterious fate. The +law which regulates the differentiation of species applies with +especial significance when we consider the birth of human individuals; +the law which ordains that out of countless millions of animalculae +which once shed their remains on the floor of the deep sea, or that now +swarm in any pond, there shall be no two alike, holds accurately for the +myriads of men who are born and pass away. The type is the same; there +are fixed resemblances, but exact similarity never. The struggle for +existence, no matter what direction it may take, always ends in the +singling out of individuals who, in some respect or other, are worthy to +survive, while the weak perish and the elements of their bodies go to +form new individuals. It soon becomes plain that the crazy cry for +equality is really only a weak protest against the hardships of the +battle for existence. The brutes have not attained to our complexity of +brain; ideas are only rudimentary with them, and they decide the +question of superiority by rude methods. Two lions fight until one is +laid low; the lioness looks calmly on until the little problem of +superiority is settled, and then she goes off with the victor. The +horses on the Pampas have their set battles until one has asserted his +mastery over the herd, and then the defeated ones cower away abjectly, +and submit themselves meekly to their lord. All the male animals are +given to issuing challenges in a very self-assertive manner, and the +object is the same in every case. But we are far above the brutes; we +have that mysterious, immaterial ally of the body, and our struggles are +settled amid bewildering refinements and subtleties and restrictions. In +one quarter, power of the soul gives its possessor dominion; in another, +only the force of the body is of any avail. If we observe the struggles +of savages, we see that the idea of equality never occurs to +half-developed men; the chief is the strong man, and his authority can +be maintained only by strength or by the influence that strength gives. +As the brute dies out of man, the conditions of life's warfare become so +complex that no one living could frame a generalization without finding +himself at once faced by a million of exceptions that seem to negative +his rule. Who was the most powerful man in England in Queen Anne's day? +Marlborough was an unmatched fighter; Bolingbroke was an imaginative and +masterful statesman; there were thousands of able and strong warriors; +but the one who was the most respected and feared was that tiny cripple +whose life was a long disease. Alexander Pope was as frail a creature as +ever managed to support existence; he rarely had a moment free from +pain; he was so crooked and aborted that a good-hearted woman like Lady +Mary Wortley Montagu was surprised into a sudden fit of laughter when he +proposed marriage to her. Yet how he was feared! The only one who could +match him was that raging giant who wrote "Gulliver," and the two men +wielded an essential power greater than that of the First Minister. The +terrible Atossa, Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, shrank from contact with +Pope, while for a long time the ablest men of the political sets +approached Swift like lackeys. One power was made manifest by the +waspish verse-maker and the powerful satirist, and each was acknowledged +as a sort of monarch. + +It would be like playing at paradoxes if I went on to adduce many +mysteries and contradictions that strike us when we consider man's +dominion over man. We can only come to the same conclusion if we bring +forward a million of instances; we can only see that the whole human +race, individual by individual, are separated one from the other by +differences more or less minute, and wherever two human beings are +placed together one must inevitably begin to assert mastery over the +other. The method of self-assertion may be that of the athlete, or that +of the intriguer, or that of the clear-sighted over the purblind, or +that of the subtle over the simple; it matters not, the effort for +mastery may be made either roughly or gently, or subtly, or even +clownishly, but made it will be. + +Would it not be better to cease babbling of equality altogether, and to +try to accept the laws of life with some submission? The mistake of +rabid theorists lies in their supposition that the assertion of +superiority by one person necessarily inflicts wrong on another, whereas +it is only the mastery obtained by certain men over others that makes +the life of the civilized human creature bearable. The very servant who +is insolent while performing his duty only dares to exhibit rudeness +because he is sure of protection by law. All men are equal before the +law. Yes--but how was the recognition of equality enforced? Simply by +the power of the strong. No monarch in the world would venture to deal +out such measure to our rude servitor as was dealt by Clovis to one of +his men. The king regarded himself as being affronted by his soldier, +and he wiped out the affront to his own satisfaction by splitting his +follower's head in twain. But the civilized man is secured by a bulwark +of legality built up by strong hands, and manned, like the great Roman +walls, by powerful legionaries of the law. In this law of England, if a +peer and a peasant fight out a cause the peer has the advantage of the +strength given by accumulated wealth--that is one example of our +multifarious complexities; but the judge is stronger than either +litigant, and it is the inequality personified by the judge that makes +the safety of the peasant. In our ordered state, the strong have forced +themselves into positions of power; they have decided that the +coarseness of brutish conflict is not to be permitted, and one ruling +agency is established which rests on force, and force alone, but which +uses or permits the use of force only in cases of extremity. We know +that the foundation of all law is martial law, or pure force; we know +that when a judge says, "You shall be hanged," the convict feels +resistance useless, for behind the ushers and warders and turnkeys there +are the steel and bullet of the soldier. Thus it appears that even in +the sanctuary of equality--in the law court--the life and efficiency of +the place depend on the assertion of one superior strength--that is, on +the assertion of inequality. + +If we choose to address each other as "Citizen," or play any fooleries +of that kind, we make no difference. Citizen Jourdain may go out +equipped in complete _carmagnole_, and he may refuse to doff his red cap +to any dignitary breathing; but all the while Citizen Barras is wielding +the real power, and Citizen Buonaparte is awaiting his turn in the +background. All the swagger of equality will avail nothing when Citizen +Buonaparte gets his chance; and the very men who talked loudest about +the reign of equality are the most ready to bow down and worship the +strong. Instead of ostentatiously proclaiming that one man is as good +as another--and better, we should devote ourselves to finding out who +are our real superiors. When the true man is found he will not stand +upon petty forms; and no one will demand such punctilios of him. He will +treat his brethren as beings to be aided and directed, he will use his +strength and his wisdom as gifts for which he must render an account, +and the trivialities of etiquette will count as nothing. When the street +orator yells, "Who is our ruler? Is he not flesh and blood like us? Are +not many of us above him?" he may possibly be stating truth. It would +have been hard to find any street-lounger more despicable than Bomba or +more foolish than poor Louis XVI; but the method of oratory is purely +destructive, and it will be much more to the purpose if the street +firebrand gives his audience some definite ideas as to the man who ought +to be chosen as leader. If we have the faculty for recognizing our best +man, all chatter about equalities and inequalities must soon drop into +silence. When the ragged Suwarrow went about among his men and talked +bluffly with the raw recruits, there was no question of equality in any +squad, for the tattered, begrimed man had approved himself the wisest, +most audacious, and most king-like of all the host; and he could afford +to despise appearances. No soldier ventured to think of taking a +liberty; every man reverenced the rough leader who could think and plan +and dare. Frederick wandered among the camp-fires at night, and sat down +with one group after another of his men. He never dreamed of equality, +nor did the rude soldiers. The king was greatest; the men were his +comrades, and all were bound to serve the Fatherland--the sovereign by +offering sage guidance, the men by following to the death. No company of +men ever yet did worthy work in the world when the notion of equality +was tried in practice; and no kind of effort, for evil or for good, ever +came to anything so long as those who tried did not recognize the rule +of the strongest or wisest. Even the scoundrel buccaneers of the Spanish +Main could not carry on their fiendish trade without sinking the notion +of equality, and the simple Quakers, the Society of Friends, with all +their straitened ideas, have been constantly compelled to recognize one +head of their body, even though they gave him no distinctive title. Our +business is to see that every man has his due as far as possible, and +not more than his due. The superior must perceive what is the degree of +deference which must be rendered to the inferior; the inferior must put +away envy and covetousness, and must learn to bestow, without servility, +reverence and obedience where reverence and obedience may be rightfully +offered. + +_August, 1888._ + + + + +_FRATERNITY_. + + +So far as we can see it appears plain that the wish for brotherhood was +on the whole reasonable, and its fulfilment easier than the wild desire +for liberty and equality. No doubt Omar and Cromwell and Hoche and +Dumouriez have chosen in their respective times an odd mode of spreading +the blessings of fraternity. It is a little harsh to say to a man, "Be +my brother or I will cut your head off;" but we fear that men of the +stamp of Mahomet, Cromwell, and the French Jacobins were given to +offering a choice of the alternatives named. Perhaps we may be safe if +we take the roughness of the mere proselytizers as an evidence of +defective education; they had a dim perception of a beautiful principle, +but they knew of no instrument with which they could carry conviction +save the sword. We, with our better light, can well understand that +brotherhood should be fostered among men; we are all children of one +Father, and it is fitting that we should reverently acknowledge the +universal family tie. The Founder of our religion was the earliest +preacher of the divine gospel of pity, and it is to Him that we owe the +loveliest and purest conception of brotherhood. He claimed to be the +Brother of us all; He showed how we should treat our brethren, and He +carried His teaching on to the very close of His life. + +So far from talking puerilities about equality, we should all see that +there are degrees in our vast family; the elder and stronger brethren +are bound to succour the younger and weaker; the young must look up to +their elders; and the Father of all will perhaps preserve peace among us +if we only forget our petty selves and look to Him. Alas, it is so hard +to forget self! The dullest of us can see how excellent and divine is +brotherhood, if we do assuredly carry out the conception of fraternity +thoroughly; but again I say, How hard it is to banish self and follow +the teaching of our divine Brother! If we cast our eyes over the world +now, we may see--perhaps indistinctly--things that might make us weep, +were it not that we must needs smile at the childish ways of men. In the +very nation that first chose to put forward the word "fraternity" as one +of the symbols for which men might die we see a strange spectacle. Half +that nation is brooding incessantly on revenge; half the nation is bent +only on slaying certain brother human beings who happen to live on the +north and east of a certain river instead of on the south and west. The +home of the solacing doctrine of fraternity is also the home of +incessant preparations for murder, rapine, bitter and brutal vengeance. +About a million of men rise every morning and spend the whole day in +practising so that they may learn to kill people cleverly; hideous +instruments, which must cause devastation, torture, bereavement, and +wreck, should they ever be used in earnest, are lovingly handled by men +who hope to see blood flow before long. The Frenchman cannot yet venture +to smite his Teutonic brother, but he will do so when he has the chance; +and thus two bands of brethren, who might have dwelt together amicably, +may shortly end by inflicting untold agonies on each other. Both nations +which so savagely await the beginning of a mad struggle are supposed to +be followers of the Brother whose sweet message is read and repeated by +nearly all the men who live on our continent, yet they only utter bitter +words and think sullen thoughts, while the more acrid of the two +adversaries is the country which once inscribed "Brotherhood" on its +very banners. All round the arena wherein the two great peoples defy +each other the nations wait anxiously for the delivery of the first +stroke that shall give the signal for wrath and woe; and, strangely, no +one can tell which of the onlookers is the more fervent professor of our +Master's faith. "Let brotherly love continue!"--that was the behest laid +on us all; and we manifest our brotherly love by invoking the spirit of +murder. + +We know what exquisite visions floated around the twelve who first +founded the Church on the principle of fraternity. No brother was to be +left poor; all were to hold goods in common; every man should work for +what he could, and receive what he needed; but evil crept in, and +dissension and heart-burning, and ever since then the best of our poor +besotted human race have been groping blindly after fraternity and +finding it never. I always deprecate bitter or despondent views, or +exaggerating the importance of our feeble race--for, after all, the +whole time during which man has existed on earth is but as a brief +swallow-flight compared with the abysmal stretches of eternity; but I +confess that, when I see the flower of our race trained to become +killers of men and awaiting the opportunity to exercise their murderous +arts I feel a little sick at heart. Even they are compelled to hear the +commands of the lovely gospel of fraternity, and, unless they die +quickly in the fury of combat, their last moments are spent in listening +to the same blessed words. It seems so mad and dreamlike that I have +found myself thinking that, despite all our confidence, the world may be +but a phantasmagoria, and ourselves, with our flesh that seems so solid, +may be no more than fleeting wraiths. There is no one to rush between +the scowling nations, as the poor hermit did between the gladiators in +wicked Rome; there is no one to say, "Poor, silly peasant from pleasant +France, why should you care to stab and torment that other poor +flaxen-haired simpleton from Silesia? Your fields await you; if you were +left to yourselves, then you and the Silesian would be brothers, +worshipping like trusting children before the common Father of us all. +And now you can find nothing better to do than to do each other to +death!" Like the sanguine creatures who carried out the revolutionary +movements of 1789, 1830, 1848, and 1860, the weak among us are apt to +cry out--"Surely the time of fraternity has come at last!" Then, when +the murderous Empire, or the equally murderous Republic, or the grim +military despotism arrives instead of fraternity, the weak ones are +smitten with confusion. I pity them, for a bitterness almost as of death +must be lived through before one learns that God indeed doeth all things +well. The poor Revolutionists thought that they must have rapid changes, +and their hysterical visions appeared to them like perfectly wise and +accurate glances into the future. They were in a hurry, forgetting that +we cannot change our marvellous society on a sudden, any more than we +can change a single tissue of our bodies on a sudden--hence their +frantic hopes and frantic despair. If we gaze coolly round, we see that, +in spite of a muttering, threatening France and a watchful Germany, in +spite of the huge Russian storm-cloud that lowers heavily over Europe, +in spite of the venomous intrigues with which Austria is accredited, +there are still cheerful symptoms to be seen, and it may happen that the +very horror of war may at last drive all men to reject it, and declare +for fraternity. Look at that very France which is now so electric with +passion and suspicion, and compare it with the France of long ago. The +Gaul now thinks of killing the Teuton; but in the time of the good King +Henry IV. he delighted in slaying his brother Gaul. The race who now +only care to turn their hands against a rival nation once fought among +themselves like starving rats in a pit. Even in the most polished +society the men used to pick quarrels to fight to the death. In one year +of King Henry's reign nine thousand French gentlemen were killed in +duels! Bad as we are, we are not likely to return to such a state of +things as then was seen. The men belonged to one nation, and they ought +to have banded together so that no foreign foe might take advantage of +them; and yet they chose rather to slaughter each other at the rate of +nearly one hundred and ninety per week. Certainly, so far as France is +concerned, we can see some improvement; for, although the cowardly and +abominable practice of duelling is still kept up, only one man was +killed during the past twelve months, instead of nine thousand. In +England we have had nearly two hundred years of truce from civil wars; +in Germany the sections of the populace have at any rate stopped +fighting among themselves; in Italy there are no longer the shameful +feuds of Guelf and Ghibelline. It would seem, then, that civil strife is +passing away, and that countries which were once the prey of +bloodthirsty contending factions are now at least peaceful within their +own borders. + +If we reason from small things to great, we see that the squabbling +nests of murderers, or would-be murderers, who peopled France, England, +Germany, Austria, and Italy have given way to compact nations which +enjoy unbroken internal peace. The struggles of business go on; the weak +are trampled under foot in the mad rush of the cities of men, but the +actual infliction of pain and death is not now dreamed of by Frenchman +against Frenchman or German against German. We must remember that there +never was so deadly and murderous a spirit displayed as during the +Thirty Years' War, and yet the peoples who then wrestled and throttled +each other are now peaceful under the same yoke. May we not trust that a +time will come when nations will see on a sudden the blank folly of +making war? Day by day the pressure of armaments is growing greater, and +we may almost hope that the very fiendish nature of modern weapons may +bring about a blessed _reductio ad absurdum_, and leave war as a thing +ludicrous, and not to be contemplated by sane men! I find one gun +specially advertised in our Christian country, and warranted to kill as +many men in one minute as two companies of infantry could in five! What +will be the effect of the general introduction of this delightful +weapon? No force can possibly stand before it; no armour or works can +keep out the hail of its bullets. Supposing, then, that benevolent +science goes on improving the means of slaughter, must there not come a +time when people will utterly refuse to continue the mad and miserable +folly of war? Over the whole of Britain we may find even now the marks +of cannon-shot discharged by Englishmen against the castles of other +Englishmen. Is there one man in Britain who can at this present moment +bring his imagination to conceive such an occurrence as an artillery +fight between bodies of Englishmen? It is almost too absurd to be named +even as a casual supposition. So far has fraternity spread. Now, if we +go on perfecting dynamite shells which can destroy one thousand men by +one explosion; if we increase the range of our guns from twelve miles to +twenty, and fight our pieces according to directions signalled from a +balloon, we shall be going the very best way to make all men rise with +one spasm of disgust, and say, "No more of this!" + +We cannot hope to do away with evil speaking, with verbal quarrelling, +with mean grasping of benefits from less fortunate brethren. Alas, the +reign of brotherhood will be long in eradicating the primeval combative +instinct; but, when we compare the quiet urbanity of a modern gathering +with the loud and senseless brawling which so often resulted from social +assemblies even at the beginning of this century we may take some heart +and hope on for the best. Our Lord had a clear vision of a time when +bitterness and evil-doing should cease, and His words are more than a +shadowy prediction. The fact is that, in striving gradually to introduce +the third of the conditions of life craved by the poor feather-witted +Frenchmen, the nations have a comparatively easy task. We cannot have +equality, physical conditions having too much to do with giving the +powers and accomplishments of men; we can only claim liberty under the +supreme guidance of our Creator; but fraternity is quite a possible +consummation. Our greatest hero held it as the Englishman's first duty +to hate a Frenchman as he hated the Devil; now that mad and cankered +feeling has passed away, and why should not the spread of common sense, +common honesty, bring us at last to see that our fellow-man is better +when regarded as a brother than as a possible assassin or thief? + +Our corporate life and progress as nations, or even as a race of God's +creatures, is much like the life and progress of the individual. The +children of men stumble often, fall often, despair often, and yet the +great universal movement goes on, and even the degeneracy which must +always go on side by side with progress does not appreciably stay our +advance. The individual man cannot walk even twenty steps without +actually saving himself by a balancing movement from twenty falls. Every +step tends to become an ignominious tumble, and yet our poor body may +very easily move at the rate of four miles per hour, and we gain our +destinations daily. The human race, in spite of many slips, will go on +progressing towards good--that is, towards kindness--that is, towards +fraternity--that is, towards the gospel, which at present seems so +wildly and criminally neglected. The mild and innocent Anarcharsis +Clootz, who made his way over the continent of Europe, and who came to +our little island, in his day always believed that the time for the +federation of mankind would come. Poor fellow--he died under the +murderous knife of the guillotine and did little to further his +beautiful project! He was esteemed a harmless lunatic; yet, +notwithstanding the twelve millions of armed men who trample Europe, I +do not think that Clootz was quite a lunatic after all. Moreover, all +men know that right must prevail, and they know also that there is not a +human being on earth who does not believe by intuition that the gospel +of brotherhood is right, even as the life of its propounder was holy. +The way is weary toward the quarter where the rays of dawn will first +break over the shoulder of the earth. We walk on hoping, and, even if we +fall by the way, and all our hopes seem to be tardy of fruition, yet +others will hail the slow dawn of brotherhood when all now living are +dead and still. + +_September, 1888._ + + + + +_LITTLE WARS_. + + +Just at this present our troops are engaged in fighting various savage +tribes in various parts of the world, and the humorous journalist speaks +of the affairs as "little wars." There is something rather gruesome in +this airy flippancy proceeding from comfortable gentlemen who are in +nice studies at home. The Burmese force fights, marches, toils in an +atmosphere which would cause some of the airy critics to faint; the +Thibetan force must do as much climbing as would satisfy the average +Alpine performer; and all the soldiers carry their lives in their hands. +What is a little war? Is any war little to a man who loses his life in +it? I imagine that when a wounded fighter comes to face his last hour he +regards the particular war in which he is engaged as quite the most +momentous affair in the world so far as he is concerned. To me the whole +spectacle of the little wars is most grave, both as regards the nation +and as regards the individual Britons who must suffer and fall. Our +destiny is heavy upon us; we must "dree our weirde," for we have begun +walking on the road of conquest, and we must go forward or die. The man +who has the wolf by the ears cannot let go his hold; we cannot slacken +our grip on anything that once we have clutched. But it is terrible to +see how we are bleeding at the extremities. I cannot give the figures +detailing our losses in little wars during the past forty years, but +they are far worse than we incurred in the world-shaking fight of +Waterloo. Incessantly the drip, drip of national blood-shedding goes on, +and no end seems to be gained, save the grim consciousness that we must +suffer and never flinch. The graves of our best and dearest--our hardy +loved ones--are scattered over the ends of the earth, and the little +wars are answerable for all. England, in her blundering, half-articulate +fashion, answers, "Yes, they had to die; their mother asked for their +blood, and they gave it." So then from scores of punctures the +life-blood of the mother of nations drops, and each new bloodshed leads +to yet further bloodshed, until the deadly series looks endless. We sent +Burnes to Cabul, and we betrayed him in the most dastardly way by the +mouth of a Minister. England, the great mother, was not answerable for +that most unholy of crimes; it was the talking men, the glib Parliament +cowards. Burnes was cut to pieces and an army lost. Crime brings forth +crime, and thus we had to butcher more Afghans. Every inch of India has +been bought in the same way; one war wins territory which must be +secured by another war, and thus the inexorable game is played on. In +Africa we have fared in the same way, and thus from many veins the red +stream is drained, and yet the proud heart of the mother continues to +beat strongly. It is so hard for men to die; it is as hard for the Zulu +and the Afghan and the Ghoorka as it is for the civilized man, and that +is why I wish it were Britain's fortune to be allowed to cease from the +shedding of blood. If the corpses of the barbarians whom we have +destroyed within the past ten years could only be laid out in any open +space and shown to our populace, there would be a shudder of horror felt +through the country; yet, while the sweet bells chime to us about peace +and goodwill, we go on sending myriads of men out of life, and the +nation pays no more heed to that steady ruthless killing than it does to +the slaughter of oxen. Alas! + +Then, if we think of the lot of those who fight for us and slaughter our +hapless enemies by deputy as it were, their luck seems very hard. When +the steady lines moved up the Alma slope and the men were dropping so +fast, the soldiers knew that they were performing their parts as in a +vast theatre; their country would learn the story of their deed, and the +feats of individuals would be amply recorded. But, when a man spends +months in a far-off rocky country, fighting day after day, watching +night after night, and knowing that at any moment the bullet of a +prowling Ghilzai or Afridi may strike him, he has very little +consolation indeed. When one comes to think of the matter from the +humorous point of view--though there is more grim fact than fun in +it--it does seem odd that we should be compelled to spend two thousand +pounds on an officer's education, and then send him where he may be +wiped out of the world in an instant by a savage little above the level +of the Bushman. I pity the poor savages, but I certainly pity the +refined and highly-trained English soldier more. The latest and most +delightful of our Anglo-Indians has put the matter admirably in verse +which carries a sting even amidst its pathos. He calls his verses +"Arithmetic on the Frontier." + + A great and glorious thing it is + To learn for seven years or so + The Lord knows what of that or this, + Ere reckoned fit to face the foe, + The flying bullet down the pass, + That whistles clear, "All flesh is grass." + + Three hundred pounds per annum spent + On making brain and body meeter + For all the murderous intent + Comprised in villainous saltpetre! + And after--ask the Yusufzaies + What comes of all our 'ologies. + + A scrimmage in a border station, + A canter down some dark defile-- + Two thousand pounds of education + Drops to a ten-rupee jezail! + The crammer's boast, the squadron's pride + Shot like a rabbit in a ride. + + No proposition Euclid wrote, + No formulae the text-book know, + Will turn the bullet from your coat + Or ward the tulwar's downward blow; + Strike hard who cares--shoot straight who can-- + The odds are on the cheaper man. + + One sword-knot stolen from the camp + Will pay for all the school expenses + Of any Kurrum Valley scamp + Who knows no word of moods and tenses, + But, being blessed with perfect sight, + Picks off our messmates left and right. + + With home-bred hordes the hillsides teem; + The troop-ships bring us one by one, + At vast expense of time and steam, + To slay Afridis where they run. + The captives of our bow and spear + Are cheap, alas, as we are dear! + +There is a world of meaning in those half-sad, half-smiling lines, and +many an hour-long discourse might fail to throw more lurid light on one +of the strangest historical problems in the world. The flower of +England's manhood must needs go; and our most brilliant scholars, our +boldest riders, our most perfect specimens of physical humanity drop +like rabbits to the fire of half-naked savages! The bright boy, the hero +of school and college, the brisk, active officer, passes away into +obscurity. The mother weeps--perhaps some one nearer and dearer than all +is stricken: but the dead Englishman's name vanishes from memory like a +fleck of haze on the side of the valley where he sleeps. England--cold, +inexorable, indifferent--has other sons to take the dead man's place and +perhaps share his obscurity; and the doomed host of fair gallant youths +moves forward ever in serried, fearless lines towards the shadows. That +is what it costs to be a mighty nation. It is sorrowful to think of the +sacrificed men--sacrificed to fulfil England's imposing destiny; it is +sorrowful to think of the mourners who cannot even see their darling's +grave; yet there is something grandiose and almost morbidly impressive +in the attitude of Britain. She waves her imperial hand and says, "See +what my place in the world is! My bravest, my most skilful, may die in a +fight that is no more than a scuffling brawl; they go down to the dust +of death unknown, but the others come on unflinching. It is hard that I +should part with my precious sons in mean warfare, but the fates will +have it so, and I am equal to the call of fate." Thus the sovereign +nation. Those who have no very pompous notions are willing to recognize +the savage grandeur of our advance; but I cannot help thinking of the +lonely graves, the rich lives squandered, the reckless casting away of +human life, which are involved in carrying out our mysterious mission in +the great peninsula. Our graves are spread thickly over the deadly +plains; our brightest and best toil and suffer and die, and they have +hardly so much as a stone to mark their sleeping-place; our blood has +watered those awful stretches from the Himalayas to Comorin, and we may +call Hindostan the graveyard of Britain's noblest. People who see only +the grizzled veterans who lounge away their days at Cheltenham or +Brighton think that the fighting trade must be a very nice one after +all. To retire at fifty with a thousand a year is very pleasant no +doubt; but then every one of those war-worn gentlemen who returns to +take his ease represents a score who have perished in fights as +undignified as a street brawl. "More legions!" said Varus; "More +legions!" says England; and our regiments depart without any man +thinking of _Morituri te salittant!_ Yes; that phrase might well be in +the mind of every British man who fares down the Red Sea and enters the +Indian furnace. Those about to die, salute thee, O England, our mother! +Is it worth while? Sometimes I have my doubts. Moreover, I never talk +with one of our impassive, masterful Anglo-Indians without feeling sorry +that their splendid capacities should be so often cast into darkness, +and their fame confined to the gossip of a clump of bungalows. Verily +our little wars use up an immense quantity of raw material in the shape +of intellect and power. A man whose culture is far beyond that of the +mouthing politicians at home and whose statesmanship is not to be +compared to the ignorant crudities of the pigmies who strut and fret on +the English party stage--this man spends great part of a lifetime in +ruling and fighting; he gives every force of a great intellect and will +to his labours, and he achieves definite and beneficent practical +results; yet his name is never mentioned in England, and any vulgar +vestryman would probably outweigh him in the eyes of the populace. +Carlyle says that we should despise fame. "Do your work," observes the +sage, "and never mind the rest. When your duty is done, no further +concern rests with you." And then the aged thinker goes on to snarl at +puny creatures who are not content to be unknown. Well, that is all very +stoical and very grand, and so forth; but Carlyle forgot human nature. +He himself raged and gnashed his teeth because the world neglected him, +and I must with every humility ask forgiveness of his _manes_ if I +express some commiseration for the unknown braves who perish in our +little wars. Our callousness as individuals can hardly be called lordly, +though the results are majestic; we accept supreme services, and we +accept the supreme sacrifice (Skin for skin: all that a man hath will he +give for his life), and we very rarely think fit to growl forth a chance +word of thanks. Luckily our splendid men are not very importunate, and +most of them accept with silent humour the neglect which befalls them. +An old fighting general once remarked, "These fellows are in luck since +the telegraph and the correspondents have been at work. We weren't so +fortunate in my day. I went through the Crimea and the Mutiny, and there +was yet another affair in 1863 that was hotter than either, so far as +close fighting and proportional losses of troops were concerned. A +force of three thousand was sent against the Afghans, and they never +gave us much rest night or day. They seemed determined to give their +lives away, and they wouldn't be denied. I've seen them come on and grab +at the muzzles of the rifles. We did a lot of fighting behind rough +breastworks, but sometimes they would rush us then. We lost thirty +officers out of thirty-four before we were finished. Well, when I came +home and went about among the clubs, the fellows used to say to me, +'What was this affair of yours up in the hills? We had no particulars +except the fact that you were fighting.' And that expedition cost ten +times as many men as your Egyptian one, besides causing six weeks of +almost constant fighting; yet not a newspaper had a word to say about +it! We never grumbled much--it was all in the day's work; but it shows +how men's luck varies." + +There spoke the old fighter, "Duty first, and take your chance of the +rest." True; but could not one almost wish that those forlorn heroes who +saved our frontier from savage hordes might have gained just a little of +that praise so dear to the frivolous mind of man? It was not to be; the +dead men's bones have long ago sunk into the kindly earth, the wind +flows down the valleys, and the fighters sleep in the unknown glens and +on far-distant hillsides with no record save the curt clerk's mark in +the regimental list--"Dead." + +When I hear the merry pressman chatting about little wars and proudly +looking down on "mere skirmishes," I cannot restrain a movement of +impatience. Are our few dead not to be considered because they were few? +Supposing they had swarmed forward in some great battle of the West and +died with thousands of others amid the hurricane music of hundreds of +guns, would the magnitude of the battle make any difference? + +Honour to those who risk life and limb for England; honour to them, +whether they die amid loud battle or in the far-away dimness of a little +war! + +_September, 1888._ + + + + +_THE BRITISH FESTIVAL_. + + +Again and again I have talked about the delights of leisure, and I +always advise worn worldlings to renew their youth and gain fresh ideas +amid the blessed calm of the fields and the trees. But I lately watched +an immense procession of holiday-makers travelling mile after mile in +long-drawn sequence--and the study caused me to have many thoughts. +There was no mistake about the intentions of the vast mob. They started +with a steadfast resolution to be jolly--and they kept to their +resolution so long as they were coherent of mind. It was a strange +sight--a population probably equal to half that of Scotland all plunged +into a sort of delirium and nearly all forgetting the serious side of +life. As I gazed on the frantic assembly, I wondered how the English +ever came to be considered a grave solid nation; I wondered, moreover, +how a great percentage of men representing a nation of conquerors, +explorers, administrators, inventors, should on a sudden decide to go +mad for a day. Perhaps, after all, the catchword "Merry England" meant +really "Mad England"; perhaps the good days which men mourned for after +the grim shade of Puritanism came over the country were neither more nor +less than periods of wild orgies; perhaps we have reason to be thankful +that the national carnivals do not now occur very often. Our ancestors +had a very peculiar idea of what constituted a merry-making, and there +are many things in ancient art and literature which tempt us to fancy +that a certain crudity distinguished the festivals of ancient days; but +still the latter-day frolic in all its monstrous proportions is not to +be studied by a philosophic observer without profoundly moving thoughts +arising. As I gazed on the endless flow of travellers, I could hardly +help wondering how the mob would conduct themselves during any great +social convulsion. Some gushing persons talk about the good humour and +orderliness of the British crowd. Well, I allow that the better class of +holiday-makers exhibit a kind of rough good nature; but, whenever +"sport" is in question, we find that a certain class come to the +front--a class who are not genial or merry, but purely lawless. While +the huge carnival is in progress during one delirious day, we have a +chance of seeing in a mild form what would happen if a complete national +disaster caused society to become fundamentally disordered. The beasts +of prey come forth from their lairs, the most elementary rules of +conduct are forgotten or bluntly disregarded, and the law-abiding +citizen may see robbery and violence carried on in broad daylight. In +some cases it happens that organized bands of thieves rob one man after +another with a brutal effrontery which quite shames the minor abilities +of Macedonian or Calabrian brigands. Forty or fifty consummate +scoundrels work in concert; and it often happens that even the +betting-men are seized, raised from the ground, and shaken until their +money falls and is scrambled for by eager rascaldom. Wherever there Is +sport the predatory animals flock together; and I thought, when last I +saw the crew, "If a foreign army were in movement against England and a +panic arose, there would be little mercy for quiet citizens." On a hasty +computation, I should say that an ordinary Derby Day brings together an +army of wastrels and criminals strong enough to sack London if once the +initial impetus were given; and who can say what blind chance may supply +that impetus even in our day? There is not so much sheer foulness +nowadays as there used to be; the Yahoo element--male and female--is not +obtrusive; and it is even possible for a lady to remain in certain +quarters of the mighty Downs without being offended in any way. Our +grandfathers--and our fathers, for that matter--had a somewhat acrid +conception of humour, and the offscourings of the city ministered to +this peculiar humorous sense in a singular way. But a leaven of +propriety has now crept in, and the evil beings who were wont to pollute +the sweet air preserve some moderate measure of seemliness. I am willing +to welcome every sign of improving manners; and yet I must say that the +great British Festival is a sorry and even horrible spectacle. What is +the net result or purpose of the whole display? Cheery scribes babble +about "Isthmian games" and the glorious air of the Surrey hills, and +they try to put on a sort of jollity and semblance of well-being; but +the sham is a poor one, and the laughing hypocrites know in their hearts +that the vast gathering of people means merely waste, idleness, +thievery, villainy, vice of all kinds--and there is next to no +compensation for the horrors which are crowded together. I would fain +pick out anything good from the whole wild spectacle; but I cannot, and +so give up the attempt with a sort of sick despair. There is something +rather pleasant in the sight of a merry lad who attends his first Derby, +for he sees only the vivid rush and movement of crowds; but to a +seasoned observer and thinker the tremendous panorama gives suggestions +only of evil. I hardly have patience to consider the fulsome talk of the +writers who print insincerities by the column year by year. They know +that the business is evil, and yet they persist in speaking as if there +were some magic influence in the reeking crowd which, they declare, +gives health and tone to body and mind. The dawdling parties who lunch +on the Hill derive no particular harm; but then how they waste money and +time! Plunderers of all sorts flourish in a species of blind whirl of +knavery; but no worthy person derives any good from the cruel waste of +money and strength and energy. The writers know all this, and yet they +go on turning out their sham cordiality, sham congratulations, sham +justifications; while any of us who know thoroughly the misery and +mental death and ruin of souls brought on by racing and gambling are +labelled as un-English or churlish or something of the kind. Why should +we be called churlish? Is it not true that a million of men and women +waste a day on a pursuit which brings them into contact with filthy +intemperance, stupid debauch, unspeakable coarseness? The eruptive +sportsman tells us that the sight of a good man on a good horse should +stir every manly impulse in a Briton. What rubbish! What manliness can +there be in watching a poor baby-colt flogged along by a dwarf? If one +is placed at some distance from the course, then one may find the +glitter of the pretty silk jackets pleasing; but, should one chance to +be near enough to see what is termed "an exciting finish," one's +general conception of the manliness of racing may be modified. From afar +off the movement of the jockeys' whip-hands is no more suggestive than +the movement of a windmill's sails; but, when one hears the "flack, +flack" of the whalebone and sees the wales rise on the dainty skin of +the immature horse, one does not feel quite joyous or manly. I have seen +a long lean creature reach back with his right leg and keep on jobbing +with the spur for nearly four hundred yards of a swift finish; I saw +another manikin lash a good horse until the animal fairly curved its +back in agony and writhed its head on one side so violently that the +manly sporting-men called it an ungenerous brute. Where does the fun +come in for the onlookers? There is one good old thoroughbred which +remembers a fearful flogging that he received twenty-two years ago; if +he hears the voice of the man who lashed him, he sweats profusely, and +trembles so much that he is like to fall down. How is the breed of +horses directly improved by that kind of sport? No; the thousands of +wastrels who squander the day and render themselves unsettled and idle +for a week are not thinking of horses or of taking a healthy outing; +they are obeying an unhealthy gregarious instinct which in certain +circumstances makes men show clear signs of acute mania. If we look at +the unadulterated absurdity of the affair, we may almost be tempted to +rage like Carlyle or Swift. For weeks there are millions of people who +talk of little else save the doings of useless dumb animals which can +perform no work in the world and which at best are beautiful toys. When +the thoroughbreds actually engage in their contest, there is no man of +all the imposing multitude who can see them gallop for more than about +thirty seconds; the last rush home is seen only by the interesting +mortals who are on the great stand; and the entire performance which +interests some persons for a year is all over in less than three +minutes. This is the game on which Englishmen lavish wild hopes, keen +attention, and good money--this is the sport of kings which gluts the +pockets of greedy knaves! A vast city--nay, a vast empire--is partially +disorganized for a day in order that some dwarfish boys may be seen +flogging immature horses during a certain number of seconds, and we +learn that there is something "English," and even chivalrous, in the +foolish wastrel proceedings. + +My conceptions of English virtues are probably rudimentary; but I quite +fail to discover where the "nobility" of horse-racing and racecourse +picnicing appears. My notion of "nobility" belongs to a bygone time; and +I was gratified by hearing of one very noble deed at the moment when the +flashy howling mob were trooping forward to that great debauch which +takes place around the Derby racecourse. A great steamer was flying over +a Southern sea, and the sharks were showing their fins and prowling +around with evil eyes. The _Rimutaka_ spun on her way, and all the +ship's company were cheerful and careless. Suddenly a poor crazy woman +sprang over the side and was drifted away by a surface-current; while +the irresistible rush of the steamer could not of course be easily +stayed. A good Englishman--honour for ever to his name!--jumped into the +water, swam a quarter of a mile, and, by heaven's grace, escaped the +wicked sea-tigers and saved the unhappy distraught woman. That man's +name is Cavell: and I think of "nobility" in connection with him, and +not in connection with the manikins who rush over Epsom Downs. + +I like to give a thought to the nobility of those men who guard and rule +a mighty empire; but I think very little of the creatures who merely +consume food and remain at home in rascally security. What a farce to +talk of encouraging "athletics"! The poor manikin who gets up on a racer +is not an athlete in any rational sense of the term. He is a wiry +emaciated being whose little muscles are strung like whipcord; but it is +strange to dignify him as an athlete. If he once rises above nine stone +in weight, his life becomes a sort of martyrdom; but, abstemious and +self-contained as he is, we can hardly give him the name which means so +much to all healthy Englishmen. For some time each day the wondrous +specimen of manhood must stew in a Turkish bath or between blankets; he +tramps for miles daily if his feet keep sound; he starts at five in the +morning and perhaps rides a trial or two; then he takes his weak tea and +toast, then exercise or sweating; then comes his stinted meal; and then +he starves until night. To call such a famished lean fellow a follower +of "noble" sport is too much. Other British men deny themselves; but +then think of the circumstances! Far away among the sea of mountains on +our Indian frontier a gallant Englishman remains in charge of his lonely +station; his Pathans or Ghoorkas are fine fellows, and perhaps some +brave old warrior will use the privilege of age and stroll in to chat +respectfully to the Sahib. But it is all lonely--drearily lonely. The +mountain partridge may churr at sunrise and sundown; the wily crows may +play out their odd life-drama daily; the mountain winds may rush +roaring through the gullies until the village women say they can hear +the hoofs of the brigadier's horse. But what are these desert sounds and +sights for the laboriously-cultured officer? His nearest comrade is +miles off; his spirit must dwell alone. And yet such men hang on at +their dreary toil; and who can ever hear them complain, save in their +semi-humorous letters to friends at home? They often carry their lives +in their hands; but they can only hope to rest unknown if the chance +goes against them. I call those men noble. There are no excited +thousands for them to figure before; they scarcely have the honour of +mention in a despatch; but they go on in grim silence, working out their +own destiny and the destiny of this colossal empire. When I compare them +with the bold sportsmen, I feel something like disgust. The real +high-hearted heroes do not crave rewards--if they did, they would reap +very little. The bold man who risked everything to save the _Calliope_ +will never earn as much in a year as a horse-riding manikin can in two +months. That is the way we encourage our finest merit. And meantime at +the "Isthmian games" the hordes of scoundreldom who dwell at ease can +enjoy themselves to their hearts' content in their own dreadful way; +they break out in their usual riot of foulness; they degrade the shape +of man; and the burly moralists look on robustly, and say that it is +good. + +I never think of the great British carnival without feeling that the +dregs of that ugly crowd will one day make history in a fashion which +will set the world shuddering. I have no pity for ruined gamblers; but I +am indignant when we see the worst of human kind luxuriating in +abominable idleness and luxury on the foul fringe of the hateful +racecourse. No sumptuary law will ever make any inroad on the cruel +evil; and my feeling is one of sombre hopelessness. + + +_July, 1889._ + + + + +_SEASONABLE NONSENSE_. + + +The most hard-hearted of cynics must pity the poor daily journalist who +is calmly requested nowadays to produce a Christmas article. For my own +part I decline to meddle with holly and jollity and general goodwill, +and I have again and again protested against the insane Beggars' +Carnival which breaks out yearly towards the beginning of December. A +man may be pleased enough to hear his neighbour express goodwill, but he +does not want his neighbour's hand held forth to grasp our Western +equivalent for "backsheesh." In Egypt the screeching Arabs make life +miserable with their ceaseless dismal yell, "_Backsheesh, Howaji!_" The +average British citizen is also hailed with importunate cries which are +none the less piercing and annoying from the fact that they are +translated into black and white. The ignoble frivolity of the swarming +circulars, the obvious insincerity of the newspaper appeals, the +house-to-house calls, tend steadily to vulgarize an ancient and a +beautiful institution, and alienate the hearts of kindly people who do +not happen to be abject simpletons. The outbreak of kindness is +sometimes genuine on the part of the donors; but it is often merely +surface-kindness, and the gifts are bestowed in a bitter and grudging +spirit. Let me ask, What are the real feelings of a householder who is +requested to hand out a present to a turncock or dustman whom he has +never seen? The functionaries receive fair wages for unskilled labour, +yet they come smirking cheerfully forward and prefer a claim which has +no shadow of justification. If a flower-seller is rather too importunate +in offering her wares, she is promptly imprisoned for seven days or +fined; if a costermonger halts for a few minutes in a thoroughfare and +cries his goods, his stock maybe confiscated; yet the privileged +Christmas mendicant may actually proceed to insolence if his claims are +ignored; and the meek Briton submits to the insult. I cannot +sufficiently deplore the progress of this spirit of beggardom, for it is +acting and reacting in every direction all over the country. Long ago we +lamented the decay of manly independence among the fishermen of those +East Coast ports which have become watering-places. Big bearded fellows +whose fathers would have stared indignantly at the offer of a gratuity +are ready to hold out their hands and touch their caps to the most +vulgar dandy that ever swaggered. To any one who knew and loved the +whole breed of seamen and fishermen, a walk along Yarmouth sands in +September is among the most purely depressing experiences in life. But +the demoralization of the seaside population is not so distressing as +that of the general population in great cities. We all know Adam +Bede--the very finest portrait of the old-fashioned workman ever done. +If George Eliot had represented Adam as touching his cap for a sixpence, +we should have gasped with surprise at the incongruity. Can we imagine +an old-world stonemason like Hugh Miller begging coppers from a farmer +on whose steading he happened to be employed? The thing is +preposterous! But now a strong London artizan will coolly ask for his +gratuity just as if he were a mere link-boy! + +It is pleasant to turn to kindlier themes; it is pleasant to think of +the legitimate rejoicings and kindnesses in which the most staid of us +may indulge. Far be it from me to emulate the crabbed person who +proposed to form a "Society for the Abolition of Christmas." The event +to be commemorated is by far the greatest in the history of our planet; +all others become hardly worthy of mention when we think of it; and +nothing more momentous can happen until the last catastrophe, when a +chilled and tideless earth shall roll through space, and when no memory +shall remain of the petty creatures who for a brief moment disturbed its +surface. The might of the Empire of Rome brooded over the fairest +portions of the known world, and it seemed as though nothing could shake +that colossal power; the pettiest officer of the Imperial staff was of +more importance than all the natives of Syria; and yet we see that the +fabric of Roman rule has passed away like a vision, while the faith +taught by a band of poor Syrian men has mastered the minds of the +strongest nations in the world. The poor disciples whom the Master left +became apostles; footsore and weary they wandered--they were scorned and +imprisoned and tortured until the last man of them had passed away. +Their work has subdued princes and empires, and the bells that ring out +on Christmas Eve remind us not only of the most tremendous occurrence in +history, but of the deeds of a few humble souls who conquered the fear +of death and who resigned the world in order that the children of the +world might be made better. A tremendous Event truly! We are far, far +away from the ideal, it is true; and some of us may feel a thrill of +sick despair when we think of what the sects have done and what they +have not done--it all seems so slow, so hopeless, and the powers of evil +assert themselves ever and again with such hideous force. Some withdraw +themselves to fierce isolation; some remain in the world, mocking the +ways of men and treating all life as an ugly jest; some refuse to think +at all, and drag themselves into oblivion; while some take one frantic +sudden step and leave the world altogether by help of bullet or bare +bodkin. A man of light mind who endeavoured to reconcile all the things +suggested to him by the coming of Christmas would probably become +demented if he bent his entire intellect to solve the puzzles. +Thousands--millions--of books have been written about the Christian +theology, and half of European mankind cannot claim to have any fixed +and certain belief which leads to right conduct. Some of the noblest and +sweetest souls on earth have given way to chill hopelessness, and only a +very bold or a very thick-sighted man could blame them; we must be +tender towards all who are perplexed, especially when we see how +terrible are the reasons for perplexity. Nevertheless, dark as the +outlook may be in many directions, men are slowly coming to see that the +service of God is the destruction of enmity, and that the religion of +tenderness and pity alone can give happiness during our dark pilgrimage. + +Far back in last winter a man was forcing his way across a dreary marsh +in the very teeth of a wind that seemed to catch his throat in an icy +grip, stopping the breath at intervals and chilling the very heart. +Coldly the grey breakers rolled under the hard lowering sky; coldly the +western light flickered on the iron slopes of far-off hills; coldly the +last beams struck on the water and made chance wavelets flash with a +terrible glitter. The night rushed down, and the snow descended +fiercely; the terrified cattle tried to find shelter from the scourge of +the storm; a hollow roar rang sullenly amid the darkness; stray +sea-birds far overhead called weirdly, and it seemed as if the spirit of +evil were abroad in the night. In darkness the man fought onward, +thinking of the unhappy wretches who sometimes lie down on the snow and +let the final numbness seize their hearts. Then came a friendly +shout--then lights--and then the glow of warmth that filled a broad room +with pleasantness. All the night long the mad gusts tore at the walls +and made them vibrate; all night the terrible music rose into shrieks +and died away in low moaning, and ever the savage boom of the waves made +a vast under-song. Then came visions of the mournful sea that we all +know so well, and the traveller thought of the honest fellows who must +spend their Christmas-time amid warring forces that make the works of +man seem puny. What a picture that is--The Toilers of the Sea in Winter! +Christmas Eve comes with no joyous jangling of bells; the sun stoops to +the sea, glaring lividly through whirls of snow, and the vessel roars +through the water; black billows rush on until their crests topple into +ruin, and then the boiling white water shines fitfully like some strange +lambent flame; the breeze sings hoarsely among the cordage; the whole +surface flood plunges on as if some immense cataract must soon appear +after the rapids are passed. Every sea that the vessel shatters sends +up a flying waterspout; and the frost acts with amazing suddenness, so +that the spars, the rigging, and the deck gather layer after layer of +ice. Supposing the vessel is employed in fishing, then the men in the +forecastle crouch round the little fire, or shiver on their soaked beds, +and perhaps growl out a few words of more or less cheerful talk. Stay +with the helmsman, and you may know what the mystery and horror of utter +gloom are really like. There is danger everywhere--a sudden wave may +burst the deck or heave the vessel down on her side; a huge dim cloud +may start shapelessly from the murk, and, before a word of warning can +be uttered, a great ship may crash into the labouring craft. In that +case hope is gone, for the boat is bedded in a mass of ice and all the +doomed seamen must take the deadly plunge to eternity. Ah, think of +this, you who rest in the glow of beautiful homes! Then the morning--the +grey desolation! No words can fairly picture the utter cheerlessness of +a wintry dawn at sea. The bravest of men feel something like depression +or are pursued by cruel apprehensions. The solid masses of ice have +gripped every block, and the ropes will not run; the gaunt masts stand +up like pallid ghosts in the grey light, and still the volleys of snow +descend at intervals. All the ships seem to be cowering away, scared and +beaten; even the staunch sea-gulls have taken refuge in fields and quiet +rivers; and only the seamen have no escape. The mournful red stretches +of the Asiatic deserts are wild enough, but there are warmth and +marvellous light, and those who well know the moaning wastes say that +their fascination sinks on the soul. The wintry sea has no +fascination--no consolation; it is hungry, inhospitable--sometimes +horrible. But even there Christ walks the waters in spirit. In an +ordinary vessel the rudest seaman is made to think of the great day, +and, even if he goes on grumbling and swearing on the morrow, he is apt +to be softened and slightly subdued for one day at least. The fishermen +on the wild North Sea are cared for, and merry scenes are to be +witnessed even when landsmen might shudder in terror. Certain gallant +craft, like strong yachts, glide about among the plunging smacks; each +of the yachts has a brave blue flag at the masthead, and the vessels are +laden with kindly tokens from thousands of gentle souls on shore. Surely +there is no irreverence in saying that the Master walks the waters to +this day? + +We Britons must of course express some of our emotions by eating and +drinking freely. No political party can pretend to adjust the affairs of +the Empire until the best-advertised members have met together at a +dinner-table; no prominent man can be regarded as having achieved the +highest work in politics, or art, or literature, or histrionics, until +he has been delicately fed in company with a large number of brother +mortals; and no anniversary can possibly be celebrated without an +immense consumption of eatables and drinkables. The rough men of the +North Sea have the national instinct, and their mode of recognizing the +festive season is quite up to the national standard. The North Sea +fisherman would not nowadays approve of the punch-bowls and ancient ale +which Dickens loved so much to praise, for he is given to the most +severe forms of abstinence; but it is a noble sight when he proceeds to +show what he can do in the way of Christmas dining. If he is one of the +sharers in a parcel from on shore, he is fortunate, for he may possibly +partake of a pudding which might be thrown over the masthead without +remaining whole after its fall on deck; but it matters little if he has +no daintily-prepared provender. Jack Fisherman seats himself on a box or +on the floor of the cabin; he produces his clasp-knife and prepares for +action. When his huge tin dish is piled with a miscellaneous assortment +of edibles, it presents a spectacle which might make all Bath and +Matlock and Royat and Homburg shudder; but the seaman, despising the +miserable luxuries of fork and spoon, attacks the amazing conglomeration +with enthusiasm. His Christmas pudding may resemble any geological +formation that you like to name, and it may be unaccountably allied with +a perplexing maze of cabbage and potatoes--nothing matters. Christmas +must be kept up, and the vast lurches of the vessel from sea to sea do +not at all disturb the fine equanimity of the fellows who are bent on +solemnly testifying, by gastronomic evidence, to the loyalty with which +Christmas is celebrated among orthodox Englishmen. The poor lads toil +hard, live hard, and they certainly feed hard; but, with all due +respect, it must be said also that they mostly pray hard; and, if any +one of the cynical division had been among the seamen during that awful +time five years ago, he would have seen that among the sea-toilers at +least the "glad" season is glad in something more than name--for the +gladness is serious. Sights of the same kind may be seen on great ships +that are careering over the myriad waterways that net the surface of the +globe; the smart man-of-war, the great liner, the slow deep-laden +barque toiling wearily round the Horn, are all manned by crews that keep +up the aged tradition more or less merrily; and woe betide the cook that +fails in his duty! That lost man's fate may be left to the eye of +imagination. Under the Southern Cross the fair summer weather glows; but +the good Colonists have their little rejoicings without the orthodox +adjuncts of snow and frozen fingers and iron roads. Far up in the bush +the men remember to make some kind of rude attempt at improvising +Christmas rites, and memories of the old country are present with many a +good fellow who is facing his first hard luck. But the climate makes no +difference; and, apart from all religious considerations, there is no +social event that so draws together the sympathies of the whole English +race all over the world. + +At Nainee Tal, or any other of our stations in our wondrous Indian +possession, the day is kept. Alas, how dreary it is for the hearts that +are craving for home! The moon rises through the majestic arch of the +sky and makes the tamarisk-trees gorgeous; the warm air flows gently; +the dancers float round to the wild waltz-rhythm; and the imitation of +home is kept up with zeal by the stout general, the grave and scholarly +judge, the fresh subaltern, and by all the bright ladies who are in +exile. But even these think of the quiet churches in sweet English +places; they think of the purple hedges, the sharp scent of frost-bitten +fields, the glossy black ice, and the hissing ring of the skates. I know +that, religiously as Christmas is kept up even on the frontier in India, +the toughest of the men long for home, and pray for the time when the +blessed regions of Brighton and Torquay and Cheltenham may receive the +worn pensioner. One poet says something of the Anglo-Indian's longing +for home at Christmas-time; he speaks with melancholy of the folly of +those who sell their brains for rupees and go into exile, and he appears +to be ready, for his own part, to give up his share in the glory of our +Empire if only he can see the friendly fields in chill December. I +sympathize with him. Away with the mendicants, rich and poor--away with +the gushing parasites who use a kindly instinct and a sacred name in +order to make mean profit--away with the sordid hucksters who play with +the era of man's hope as though the very name of the blessed time were a +catchword to be used like the abominable party-cries of politicians! But +when I come to men and women who understand the real significance of the +day--when I come to charitable souls who are reminded of One who was all +Charity, and who gave an impulse to the world which two thousand years +have only strengthened--when I come among these, I say, "Give us as much +Yule-tide talk as ever you please, do your deeds of kindness, take your +fill of innocent merriment, and deliver us from the pestilence of quacks +and mendicants!" It is when I think of the ghastly horror of our own +great central cities that I feel at once the praiseworthiness and the +hopelessness of all attempts to succour effectually the immense mass of +those who need charity. Hopeless, helpless lives are lived by human +creatures who are not much above the brutes. Alas, how much may be +learned from a journey through the Midlands! We may talk of merry frosty +days and starlit nights and unsullied snow and Christmas cheer; but the +potter and the iron-worker know as much about cheeriness as they do +about stainless snow. Then there is London to be remembered. A cheery +time there will be for the poor creatures who hang about the dock-gates +and fight for the chance of earning the price of a meal! In that blank +world of hunger and cold and enforced idleness there is nothing that the +gayest optimist could describe as joyful, and some of us will have to +face the sight of it during the winter that is now at hand. What can be +done? Hope seems to have deserted many of our bravest; we hear the dark +note of despair all round, and it is only the sight of the workers--the +kindly workers--that enables us to bear up against deadly depression and +dark pessimism. + +_December, 1888._ + + + + +_THE FADING YEAR_. + + +Even in this distressed England of ours there are still districts where +the simple reapers regard the harvest labour as a frolic; the dulness of +their still lives is relieved by a burst of genuine but coarse +merriment, and their abandoned glee is not unpleasant to look upon. Then +come the harvest suppers--noble spectacles. The steady champ of resolute +jaws sounds in a rhythm which is almost majestic; the fearsome +destruction wrought on solid joints would rouse the helpless envy of the +dyspeptics of Pall Mall, and the playful consumption of ale--no small +beer, but golden Rodney--might draw forth an ode from a teetotal +Chancellor of the Exchequer. August winds up in a blaze of gladness for +the reaper. On ordinary evenings he sits stolidly in the dingy parlour +and consumes mysterious malt liquor to an accompaniment of grumbling and +solemn puffing of acrid tobacco, but the harvest supper is a wildly +luxurious affair which lasts until eleven o'clock. Are there not songs +too? The village tenor explains--with a powerful accent--that he only +desires Providence to let him like a soldier fall. Of course he breaks +down, but there is no adverse criticism. Friendly hearers say, "Do yowe +try back, Willum, and catch that up at start agin;" and Willum does try +back in the most excruciating manner. Then the elders compare the +artist with singers of bygone days, and a grunting chorus of stories +goes on. Then comes the inevitable poaching song. Probably the singer +has been in prison a dozen times over, but he is regarded as a moral and +law-abiding character by his peers; and even his wife, who suffered +during his occasional periods of seclusion, smiles as he drones out the +jolting chorus. When the sportsman reaches the climax and tells how-- + + We slung her on our shoulders, + And went across the down; + We took her to a neighbour's house, + And sold her for a crown. + + We sold her for a crown, my boys, + But I 'on't tell ye wheer, + For 'tis my delight of a shiny night + In the season of the year + +--then the gentlemen who have sold many a hare in their time exchange +rapturous winks, and even a head-keeper might be softened by the +prevailing enthusiasm. Hodge is a hunter by nature, and you can no more +restrain him from poaching than you can restrain a fox. The most popular +man in the whole company is the much-incarcerated poacher, and no +disguise whatever is made of the fact. A theft of a twopenny cabbage +from a neighbour would set a mark against a man for life; a mean action +performed when the hob-nailed company gather in the tap-room would be +remembered for years; but a sportsman who blackens his face and creeps +out at night to net the squire's birds is considered to be a hero, and +an honest man to boot. He mentions his convictions gaily, criticises the +officials of each gaol that he has visited in the capacity of prisoner, +and rouses roars of sympathetic laughter as he tells of his sufferings +on the tread-mill. No man or woman thinks of the facts that the squire's +pheasants cost about a guinea apiece to rear, that a hare is worth about +three-and-sixpence, that a brace of partridges brings two shillings even +from the cunning receiver who buys the poachers' plunder. No; they +joyously think of the fact that the keepers are diddled, and that +satisfies them. + +Alas, the glad and sad times alike must die, and the dull prose of +October follows hard on the wild jollity of the harvest supper, while +Winter peers with haggard gaze over Autumn's shoulder! The hoarse winds +blow now, and the tender flush of decay has begun to touch the leaves +with delicate tints. In the morning the gossamer floats in the +glittering air and winds ropes of pearls among the stubble; the level +rays shoot over a splendid land, and the cold light is thrillingly +sweet. But the evenings are chill, and the hollow winds moan, crying, +"Summer is dead, and we are the vanguard of Winter. Soon the wild army +will be upon you. Steal the sunshine while you may." + +What is the source of that tender solemn melancholy that comes on us all +as we feel the glad year dying? It is melancholy that is not painful, +and we can nurse it without tempting one stab of real suffering. Each +season brings its moods--Spring is hopeful; Summer luxurious; Autumn +contented; and then comes that strange time when our thoughts run on +solemn things. Can it be that we associate the long decline of the year +with the dark closing of life? Surely not--for a boy or girl feels the +same pensive, dreary mood, and no one who remembers childhood can fail +to think of the wild inarticulate thoughts that passed through the +immature brain. Nay, our souls are from God; they are bestowed by the +Supreme, and they were from the beginning, and cannot be destroyed. From +Plato downwards, no thoughtful man has missed this strange suggestion +which seems to present itself unprompted to every mind. Cicero argued it +out with consummate dialectic skill; our scientific men come to the same +conclusion after years on years of labour spent in investigating +phenomena of life and laws of force; and Wordsworth formulated Plato's +reasoning in an immortal passage which seems to combine scientific +accuracy with exquisite poetic beauty-- + + Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting; + The soul that rises with us--our life's star-- + Hath had elsewhere its setting + And cometh from afar; + Not in entire forgetfulness, + And not in utter nakedness, + But trailing clouds of glory do we come + From God, Who is our home. + Heaven lies about us in our infancy! + Shades of the prison-house begin to close + Upon the growing boy, + But he beholds the light, and whence it flows; + He sees it in his joy. + The youth who daily farther from the east + Must travel still is Nature's priest, + And by the vision splendid + Is on his way attended; + At length the man perceives it die away + And fade into the light of coming day. + +Had Wordsworth never written another line, that passage would have +placed him among the greatest. He follows the glorious burst with these +awful lines-- + + But for those obstinate questionings + Of sense and outward things, + Fallings from us, vanishings; + Blank misgivings of a creature + Moving about in worlds not realized; + High instincts before which our mortal nature + Did tremble like a guilty thing surprised. + +That is like some golden-tongued utterance of the gods; and thousands of +Englishmen, sceptics and believers, have held their breath, abashed, as +its full meaning struck home. + +Yes; this mysterious thought that haunts our being as we gaze on the +saddened fields is not aroused by the immediate impression which the +sight gives us; it is too complex, too profound, too mature and +significant. It was framed before birth, and it proceeds direct from the +Father of all souls, with whom we dwelt before we came to this low +earth, and with whom we shall dwell again. If any one ventures to deny +the origin of our marvellous knowledge, our sweet, strange impressions, +it seems to us that he must risk bordering on impiety. + +So far then I have wandered from the commonplace sweetness of the shorn +fields, and I almost forgot to speak about the birds. Watch the swallows +as they gather together and talk with their low pretty twitter. Their +parliament has begun; and surely no one who watches their proceedings +can venture to scoff at the transcendental argument which I have just +now stated. Those swift, pretty darlings will soon be flying through +the pitchy gloom of the night, and they will dart over three or four +thousand miles with unerring aim till they reach the far-off spot where +they cheated our winter last year. Some will nest amid the tombs of +Egyptian kings, some will find out rosy haunts in Persia, some will soon +be wheeling and twittering happily over the sullen breast of the rolling +Niger. Who--ah, who guides that flight? Think of it. Man must find his +way by the stars and the sun. Day by day he must use elaborate +instruments to find out where his vessel is placed; and even his +instruments do not always save him from miles of error. But the little +bird plunges through the high gulfs of air and flies like an arrow to +the selfsame spot where it lived before it last went off on the wild +quest over shadowy continents and booming seas. "Hereditary instinct," +says the scientific man. Exactly so; and, if the swallow unerringly +traverses the line crossed by its ancestors, even though the old land +has long been whelmed in steep-down gulfs of the sea, does not that show +us something? Does it, or does it not, make my saying about the soul +seem reasonable? + +I have followed the swallows, but the fieldfares and the buntings must +also go soon. They will make their way South also, though some may go in +leisurely fashion to catch the glorious burst of spring in Siberia. I +have been grievously puzzled and partly delighted by Mr. Seebohm's +account of the birds' pilgrimage, and it has given me hours of thought. +We dwell amid mystery, and, as the leaves redden year by year, here +recurs one of the chiefest mysteries that ever perplexed the soul of +man. Indeed, we are shadowed around with mystery and there is not one +red leaf whirled by the wind among those moaning woods which does not +represent a miracle. + +We cannot fly from these shores, but our joys come each in its day. For +pure gladness and keen colour nothing can equal one of these glorious +October mornings, when the reddened fronds of the brackens are silvered +with rime, and the sun strikes flashes of delight from them. Then come +those soft November days when the winds moan softly amid the Aeolian +harps of the purple hedgerows, and the pale drizzle falls ever and +again. Even then we may pick our pleasures discreetly, if we dwell in +the country, while, as for the town, are there not pleasant fires and +merry evenings? Then comes the important thought of the poor. Ah, it is +woful! "'Pleasant fires and merry evenings,' say you?"--so I can fancy +some pinched sufferer saying, "What sort of merry evenings shall we +have, when the fogs crawl murderously, or the sleet lashes the sodden +roads?" Alas and alas! Those of us who dwell amid pleasant sights and +sounds are apt in moments of piercing joy to forget the poor who rarely +know joy at all. But we must not be careless. By all means let those who +can do so snatch their enjoyment from the colour, the movement, the +picturesque sadness of the fading year; but let them think with pity of +the time that is coming, and prepare to do a little toward lifting that +ghastly burden of suffering that weighs on so many of our fellows. +Gazing around on the flying shadows driven by the swift wind, and +listening to the quivering sough amid the shaken trees, I have been led +far and near into realms of strange speculation. So it is ever in this +fearful and wonderful life; there is not the merest trifle that can +happen which will not lead an eager mind away toward the infinite. Never +has this mystic ordinance touched my soul so poignantly as during the +hours when I watched for a little the dying of the year, and branched +swiftly into zigzag reflections that touched the mind with fear and joy +in turn. Adieu, fair fields! Adieu, wild trees! Where will next year's +autumn find us? Hush! Does not the very gold and red of the leaves hint +to us that the sweet sad time will return again and find us maybe riper? + +_October, 1886._ + + + + +_BEHIND THE VEIL_. + + +"Men of all castes, if they fulfil their assigned duties, enjoy in +heaven the highest imperishable bliss. Afterwards, when a man who has +fulfilled his duties returns to this world, he obtains, by virtue of a +remainder of merit, birth in a distinguished family, beauty of form, +beauty of complexion, strength, aptitude for learning, wisdom, wealth, +and the gift of fulfilling the laws of his caste or order. Therefore in +both worlds he dwells in happiness, rolling like a wheel from one world +to the other." Thus the Brahmans have settled the problem of the life +that follows the life on earth. Those strange and subtle men seem to +have reasoned themselves into a belief in dreams, and they speak with +cool confidence, as though they were describing scenes as vivid and +material as are the crowds in a bazaar. There is no hesitation for them; +they describe the features of the future existence with the dry +minuteness of a broker's catalogue. The Wheel of Life rolls, and far +above the weary cycle of souls Buddha rests in an attitude of +benediction; he alone has achieved Nirvana--he alone is aloof from gods +and men. The yearning for immortality has in the case of the Brahman +passed into certainty, and he describes his heavens and his hells as +though the All-wise had placed no dim veil between this world and the +world beyond. Most arithmetically minute are all the Brahman's +pictures, and he never stops to hint at a doubt. His hells are +twenty-two in number, each applying a new variety of physical and moral +pain. We men of the West smile at the grotesque dogmatism of the +Orientals; and yet we have no right to smile. In our way we are as keen +about the great question as the Brahmans are, and for us the problem of +problems may be stated in few words--"Is there a future life?" All our +philosophy, all our laws, all our hopes and fears are concerned with +that paralyzing question, and we differ from the Hindoo only in that we +affect an extravagant uncertainty, while he sincerely professes an +absolute certainty. The cultured Western man pretends to dismiss the +problem with a shrug; he labels himself as an agnostic or by some other +vague definition, and he is fond of proclaiming his idea that he knows +and can know nothing. That is a pretence. When the philosopher says that +he does not know and does not care what his future may be, he speaks +insincerely; he means that he cannot prove by experiment the fact of a +future life--or, as Mr. Ruskin puts it, "he declares that he never found +God in a bottle"--but deep down in his soul there is a knowledge that +influences his lightest action. The man of science, the "advanced +thinker," or whatever he likes to call himself, proves to us by his +ceaseless protestations of doubt and unbelief that he is incessantly +pondering the one subject which he would fain have us fancy he ignores. +At heart he is in full sympathy with the Brahman, with the rude Indian, +with the impassioned English Methodist, with all who cannot shake off +the mystic belief in a life that shall go on behind the veil. When the +pagan emperor spoke to his own parting soul, he asked the piercing +question that our sceptic must needs put, whether he like it or no-- + + Soul of me, floating and flitting and fond, + Thou and this body were life-mates together! + Wilt thou be gone now--and whither? + Pallid and naked and cold, + Not to laugh or be glad as of old! + +Theology of any description is far out of my path, but I have the wish +and the right to talk gravely about the subject that dwarfs all others. +A logician who tries to scoff away any faith I count as almost criminal. +Mockery is the fume of little hearts, and the worst and craziest of +mockers is the one who grins in presence of a mystery that strikes wise +and deep-hearted men with a solemn fear which has in it nothing ignoble. +I would as lief play circus pranks by a mother's deathbed as try to find +flippant arguments to disturb a sincere faith. + +First, then, let us know what the uncompromising iconoclasts have to +tell about the universal belief in immortality. They have a very +pretentious line of reasoning, which I may summarise thus. Life appeared +on earth not less than three hundred thousand years ago. First of all +our planet hung in the form of vapour, and drifted with millions of +other similar clouds through space; then the vapour became liquid; then +the globular form was assumed, and the flying ball began to rotate round +the great attracting body. We cannot tell how living forms first came on +earth; for they could not arise by spontaneous generation, in spite of +all that Dr. Bastian may say. Of the coming of life we can say +nothing--rather an odd admission, by-the-way, for gentlemen who are so +sure of most things--but we know that some low organism did appear--and +there is an end of that matter. No two organisms can possibly be exactly +alike; and the process of differentiation began in the very shrine. The +centuries passed, and living organisms became more and more complex; the +slowly-cooling ball of the earth was covered with greenery, but no +flower was to be seen. Then insects were attracted by brightly-coloured +leaves; then flowers and insects acted and reacted on each other. But +there is no need to trace every mark on the scale. It is enough to say +that infinitely-diversified forms of life branched off from central +stocks, and the process of variation went on steadily. Last of all, in a +strange environment, a certain small upright creature appeared. He was +not much superior in development to the anthropoid apes that we now +know--in fact, there is less difference between an orang and a Bosjesman +than there is between the primitive man and the modern Caucasian man. +This creature, hairy and brown as a squirrel, stunted in stature, skinny +of limb, was our immediate progenitor. So say the confident scientific +men. The owner of the queer ape-like skull found at Neanderthal belonged +to a race that was ultimately to develop into Shakespeares and Newtons +and Napoleons. In all the enormous series that had its first term in the +primeval ooze and its last term in man, one supreme motive had actuated +every individual. The desire of life, growing more intense with each new +development, was the main influence that secured continuance of life. +The beings that had the desire of life scantily developed were overcome +in the struggle for existence by those in whom the desire of life was +strong. Thus in man, after countless generations, the wish for life had +become the master-power holding dominion over the body. As the various +branches of the human race moved upward, the passionate love of life +grew so strong that no individual could bear to think of resigning this +pleasing anxious being and proceeding to fall into dumb forgetfulness. +Men saw their comrades stricken by some dark force that they could not +understand. The strong limbs grew lax first, and then hopelessly stiff; +the bright eye was dulled; and it soon became necessary to hide the +inanimate thing under the soil. It was impossible for those who had the +quick blood flowing in their veins to believe that a time would come +when feeling would be known no more. This fierce clinging to life had at +last its natural outcome. Men found that at night, when the quicksilver +current of sleep ran through their veins and their bodies were +quiescent, they had none the less thoughts as of life. The body lay +still; but something in alliance with the body gave them impressions of +vivid waking vigour and action. Men fancied that they fought, hunted, +loved, hated; and yet all the time their limbs were quiet. What could it +be that forced the slumbering man to believe himself to be in full +activity? It must be some invisible essence independent of the bones and +muscles. Therefore when a man died it followed that the body which was +buried must have parted permanently from the mystic "something" that +caused dreams. That mystic "something" therefore lived on after the +death of the body. The bodily organs were mere accidental encumbrances; +the real "man" was the viewless creature that had the visions of the +night. The body might go; but the thing which by and by was named +"soul" was imperishable. + +I can see the drift of foggy argument. The writer means to say that the +belief in immortality sprang up because the wish was father to the +thought. Men longed to live, and thus they persuaded themselves that +they would live; and, one refinement after another having been added to +the vague-minded savage's animal yearning, we have the elaborate system +of theology and the reverential faith that guide the lives of civilized +human entities. Very pretty! Then the literary critic steps in and shows +how the belief in immortality has been enlarged and elaborated since the +days of Saul, the son of Kish. When the witch of Endor saw gods +ascending from the earth, she was only anticipating the experience of +sorcerers who ply their trade in the islands of the Pacific. Professor +Huxley admires the awful description of Saul's meeting with the witch; +but the Professor shows that the South Sea islanders also see gods +ascending out of the earth, and he thinks that the Eastern natives in +Saul's day encouraged a form of ancestor-worship. The literary critic +says ancestor-worship is one of the great branches of the religion of +mankind. Its principles are not difficult to understand, for they +plainly keep up the social relations of the living world. The dead +ancestor, now passed into a deity, goes on protecting his family and +receiving suit and service from them as of old. The dead chief still +watches over his own tribe, still holds his authority by helping friends +and harming enemies, still rewards the right and sharply punishes the +wrong. That, then, was the kind of worship prevalent in the time of +Saul, and the gods were only the ancestors of the living. Well, this +may be admirable as science, but, as I summarized the long argument, I +felt as though something must give way. + +Then we are told that our sacred book, the Old Testament, contains no +reference to the future life--rather ignores the notion, in fact. It +appears that, when Job wrote about the spirit that passed before him and +caused all the hair of his flesh to stand up, he meant an enemy, or a +goat, or something of that species. Moreover, when it is asserted that +Enoch "was not, for God took him," no reference is made to Enoch's +future existence. The whole of the thesis regarding the Shadow Land has +been built up little by little, just as our infinitely perfect bodily +organization has been gradually formed. It took at least thirty thousand +years to evolve the crystalline lens of the human eye, and it required +many thousands of years to evolve from the crude savagery of the early +Jews the elaborate theories of the modern Buddhists, Islamites, and +Christians. + +Certainly this same evolution has much to answer for. I utterly fail to +see how a wish can give rise to a belief that comes before the wish is +framed in the mind. More than this, I know that, even when human beings +crave extinction most--when the prospect of eternal sleep is more than +sweet, when the bare thought of continued existence is a horror--the +belief in, or rather the knowledge of, immortality is still there, and +the wretch who would fain perish knows that he cannot. + +As for the mathematically-minded thinkers, I must give them up. They +say, "Here are two objects of consciousness whose existence can be +verified; one we choose to call the body, the other we call the soul or +mind or spirit, or what you will. The soul may be called a 'function' of +the body, or the body may be called a 'function' of the soul--at any +rate, they vary together. The tiniest change in the body causes a +corresponding change in the soul. As the body alters from the days when +the little ducts begin to feed the bones with lime up to the days when +the bones are brittle and the muscles wither away, so does the soul +alter. The infant's soul is different from the boy's, the boy's from the +adolescent man's, the young man's from the middle-aged man's, and so on +to the end. Now, since every change in the body, no matter how +infinitesimally small, is followed by a corresponding change in the +soul, then it is plain that, when the body becomes extinct, its +'function,' the soul, must also become extinct." + +This is even more appalling than the reasoning of the biologist. But is +there not a little flaw somewhere? We take a branch from a privet-hedge +and shake it; some tiny eggs fall down. In time a large ugly caterpillar +comes from each egg; but, according to the mathematical men, the +caterpillar does not exist, since the egg has become naught. Good! The +caterpillar wraps itself in a winding thread, and we have an egg-shaped +lump which lies as still as a pebble. Then presently from that bundle of +thread there comes a glorious winged creature which flies away, leaving +certain ragged odds and ends. But surely the bundle of threads and the +moth were as much connected as the body and the soul? Logically, then, +the moth does not exist after the cocoon is gone, any more than the soul +exists after the body is gone! I feel very unscientific indeed as we put +forth this proposition, and yet perhaps some simple folk will follow +me. + +God will not let the soul die; it is a force that must act throughout +the eternity before us, as it acted throughout the eternity that +preceded our coming on earth. No physical force ever dies--each force +merely changes its form or direction. Heat becomes motion, motion is +transformed into heat, but the force still exists. It is not possible +then that the soul of man--the subtlest, strongest force of all--should +ever be extinguished. Every analogy that we can see, every fact of +science that we can understand, tells us that the essence which each of +us calls "I" must exist for ever as it has existed from eternity. Let us +think of a sweet change that shall merely divest us of the husk of the +body, even as the moth is divested of the husk of the caterpillar. Space +will be as nothing to the soul--can we not even now transport ourselves +in an instant beyond the sun? We can see with the soul's eye the surface +of the stars, we know what they are made of, we can weigh them, and we +can prove that our observation is rigidly accurate even though millions +of miles lie between us and the object which we describe so confidently. +When the body is gone, the soul will be more free to traverse space than +it is even now. + +_February, 1888._ + + + + +Extracts from Reviews of the First Edition. + + +"Mr. Runciman is terribly in earnest in the greater part of this volume, +especially in the several articles on 'Drink.' He is eminently +practical, withal; and not satisfied with describing and deploring the +effects of drunkenness, he gives us a recipe which he warrants to cure +the most hardened dipsomaniac within a week. We have not quoted even the +titles of all Mr. Runciman's essays; but they are all wholesome in tone, +and show a hearty love of the open air and of outdoor amusement, in +spite of his well-deserved strictures on various forms of so-called +'sport,' while sometimes, notably in the Essay on 'Genius and +Respectability,' he touches the higher notes of feeling."--_Saturday +Review_. + +"Mr. Runciman is intensely earnest, and directs his arrows with force +and precision against those 'joints in our social armour' which his keen +vision detects. There is a purpose in all Mr. Runciman says; and +although one cannot always share his enthusiasm or accept his +conclusions, it is impossible to doubt his sincerity as a moral reformer +and his zeal in the cause of philanthropy."--_Academy_. + +"Few sermons, one would fancy, could do more good than this book, +honestly considered. It speaks plain sense on faults and follies that +are usually gently satirised; and makes fine invigorating reading. The +book warmly deserves success."--_Scotsman_. + +"Mr. Runciman expresses himself with a vigour which leaves nothing to be +desired. He leaves no doubt of what he thinks,--and he thinks, +anyhow, on the right side.... Altogether a very vigorous +deliverance."--_Spectator_. + +"No one can read these pleasant thoughtful essays without being the +better for it; all being written with the vigour and grace for which Mr. +Runciman is distinguished."--_Newcastle Daily Chronicle_. + +"Essays which form a most important contribution to the literature of +social reform."--_Methodist Times_. + +"Mr. Runciman has produced a book which will compel people to read, and +it has many pages which ought to compel them to think, and to act as +well."--_Manchester Examiner._ + +"Mr. Runciman is endowed with a vigorous and pleasing style, and his +facile pen has obviously been made expert by much use. In dealing with +some of the more threadbare problems, such as the drink question and the +sporting mania, he brings considerable novelty and freshness to their +treatment, and when fairly roused he hits out at social abuses with a +vigour and indignant sincerity which are very refreshing to the jaded +reader ...He has been successful in producing a delightfully readable +book, and even when he does not produce conviction, he will certainly +succeed in securing attention and inspiring interest."--_Bradford +Observer_. + +"The essays are a fine contribution in the cause of manly self-culture +and elevation of moral tone."--_Pall Mall Gazette_. + +"To those who enjoy essays on current topics, this will be found an +acceptable and instructive volume."--_Public Opinion_. + +"His essays are always entertaining and suggestive ...Mr. Runciman, as +is well-known, has a forcible and effective style."--_Star_. + +"Mr. Runciman is a bard hitter, and evidently speaks from conviction, +and there is such an honest and clear-minded tone about these papers, +that even those who do not agree with all the conclusions drawn in them +will not regret having read what Mr. Runciman has to say on social +questions."--_Graphic_. + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ethics of Drink and Other Social +Questions, by James Runciman + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ETHICS OF DRINK *** + +***** This file should be named 13365.txt or 13365.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/3/6/13365/ + +Produced by Steven Gibbs and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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