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+ The Project Gutenberg eBook of Optimism, by Helen Keller
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Optimism, by Helen Keller
+
+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: Optimism
+ An Essay
+
+Author: Helen Keller
+
+Release Date: March 13, 2010 [EBook #31622]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OPTIMISM ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Mark C. Orton, Irma Spehar and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+
+<div class="tp">
+<h1>Optimism</h1>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 354px;">
+<img src="images/illus-002.jpg" width="354" height="500" alt="Helen Keller" title="Helen Keller" />
+</div>
+
+<h1><span style="font-size: 170%; color: #CD2626; background-color: inherit">Optimism</span><br />
+<span style="font-size: 80%">An Essay</span><br />
+<span style="color: #CD2626; background-color: inherit">By Helen Keller</span><br />
+<span style="font-size: 80%">Author of</span><br />
+<span style="font-size: 80%">“The Story of My Life”</span></h1>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 160px; border: solid #CD2626 2px; margin-top: 2em">
+<img src="images/illus-003.jpg" width="150" height="295" alt="Ornament" title="Ornament" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="publisher">New York<br />
+<span style="color: #CD2626; background-color: inherit">T.&nbsp;Y. Crowell and Company</span><br />
+Mdcccciii</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="copyright">Copyright, 1903, by Helen Keller<br />
+
+Published November, 1903<br />
+
+D.&nbsp;B. Updike, The Merrymount Press, Boston</p>
+
+
+
+<p class="dedication">To My Teacher</p>
+
+
+<table summary="table of contents">
+<tr><th colspan="2">Contents</th></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="part">Part i</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="lal">Optimism Within</td><td class="ral"><a href="#Page_11">11</a></td></tr>
+
+
+<tr><td class="part">Part ii</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="lal">Optimism Without</td><td class="ral"><a href="#Page_25">25</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="part">Part iii</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="lal" style="border-bottom: solid black 1px; padding-bottom: 2em">The Practice of Optimism</td><td class="ral" style="border-bottom: solid black 1px; padding-bottom: 2em"><a href="#Page_53">53</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+
+
+<h2>Part i. Optimism Within</h2>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px; border-top: solid black 2px; border-bottom: solid black 2px; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<img src="images/illus-011.jpg" width="150" height="123" alt="Ornament" title="Ornament" />
+</div>
+
+
+
+<h2 class="ct"><a name="Part_i" id="Part_i"></a>Part i<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span><br />
+
+Optimism Within</h2>
+
+
+<div class="initial" style="clear: both">
+<img src="images/dropcap-011.jpg" alt="C" title="C" /></div>
+<p class="dropcapsection">ould we choose our environment,
+and were desire in
+human undertakings synonymous
+with endowment, all men
+would, I suppose, be optimists. Certainly
+most of us regard happiness
+as the proper end of all earthly enterprise.
+The will to be happy animates
+alike the philosopher, the
+prince and the chimney-sweep. No
+matter how dull, or how mean, or
+how wise a man is, he feels that happiness
+is his indisputable right.</p>
+
+<p>It is curious to observe what different<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>
+ideals of happiness people cherish,
+and in what singular places they
+look for this well-spring of their life.
+Many look for it in the hoarding of
+riches, some in the pride of power,
+and others in the achievements of
+art and literature; a few seek it in
+the exploration of their own minds,
+or in the search for knowledge.</p>
+
+<p>Most people measure their happiness
+in terms of physical pleasure
+and material possession. Could they
+win some visible goal which they
+have set on the horizon, how happy
+they would be! Lacking this gift or
+that circumstance, they would be
+miserable. If happiness is to be so
+measured, I who cannot hear or see
+have every reason to sit in a corner
+with folded hands and weep. If I am
+happy in spite of my deprivations, if
+my happiness is so deep that it is a
+faith, so thoughtful that it becomes
+a philosophy of life,&mdash;if, in short, I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>
+am an optimist, my testimony to the
+creed of optimism is worth hearing.
+As sinners stand up in meeting and
+testify to the goodness of God, so one
+who is called afflicted may rise up in
+gladness of conviction and testify to
+the goodness of life.</p>
+
+<p>Once I knew the depth where no
+hope was, and darkness lay on the
+face of all things. Then love came
+and set my soul free. Once I knew
+only darkness and stillness. Now I
+know hope and joy. Once I fretted
+and beat myself against the wall that
+shut me in. Now I rejoice in the consciousness
+that I can think, act and
+attain heaven. My life was without
+past or future; death, the pessimist
+would say, “a consummation devoutly
+to be wished.” But a little
+word from the fingers of another fell
+into my hand that clutched at emptiness,
+and my heart leaped to the rapture
+of living. Night fled before the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>
+day of thought, and love and joy and
+hope came up in a passion of obedience
+to knowledge. Can anyone who
+has escaped such captivity, who has
+felt the thrill and glory of freedom,
+be a pessimist?</p>
+
+<p>My early experience was thus a
+leap from bad to good. If I tried, I
+could not check the momentum of
+my first leap out of the dark; to move
+breast forward is a habit learned suddenly
+at that first moment of release
+and rush into the light. With the first
+word I used intelligently, I learned
+to live, to think, to hope. Darkness
+cannot shut me in again. I have had
+a glimpse of the shore, and can now
+live by the hope of reaching it.</p>
+
+<p>So my optimism is no mild and unreasoning
+satisfaction. A poet once
+said I must be happy because I did
+not see the bare, cold present, but
+lived in a beautiful dream. I do live
+in a beautiful dream; but that dream<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>
+is the actual, the present,&mdash;not cold,
+but warm; not bare, but furnished
+with a thousand blessings. The very
+evil which the poet supposed would
+be a cruel disillusionment is necessary
+to the fullest knowledge of joy.
+Only by contact with evil could I
+have learned to feel by contrast the
+beauty of truth and love and goodness.</p>
+
+<p>It is a mistake always to contemplate
+the good and ignore the evil,
+because by making people neglectful
+it lets in disaster. There is a dangerous
+optimism of ignorance and
+indifference. It is not enough to say
+that the twentieth century is the
+best age in the history of mankind,
+and to take refuge from the evils of
+the world in skyey dreams of good.
+How many good men, prosperous
+and contented, looked around and
+saw naught but good, while millions
+of their fellowmen were bartered and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>
+sold like cattle! No doubt, there were
+comfortable optimists who thought
+Wilberforce a meddlesome fanatic
+when he was working with might
+and main to free the slaves. I distrust
+the rash optimism in this country
+that cries, “Hurrah, we’re all
+right! This is the greatest nation on
+earth,” when there are grievances
+that call loudly for redress. That is
+false optimism. Optimism that does
+not count the cost is like a house
+builded on sand. A man must understand
+evil and be acquainted with
+sorrow before he can write himself
+an optimist and expect others to believe
+that he has reason for the faith
+that is in him.</p>
+
+<p>I know what evil is. Once or twice
+I have wrestled with it, and for a time
+felt its chilling touch on my life; so
+I speak with knowledge when I say
+that evil is of no consequence, except
+as a sort of mental gymnastic.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>
+For the very reason that I have come
+in contact with it, I am more truly an
+optimist. I can say with conviction
+that the struggle which evil necessitates
+is one of the greatest blessings.
+It makes us strong, patient,
+helpful men and women. It lets us
+into the soul of things and teaches
+us that although the world is full of
+suffering, it is full also of the overcoming
+of it. My optimism, then, does
+not rest on the absence of evil, but
+on a glad belief in the preponderance
+of good and a willing effort always
+to coöperate with the good, that it
+may prevail. I try to increase the
+power God has given me to see the
+best in everything and every one,
+and make that Best a part of my life.
+The world is sown with good; but
+unless I turn my glad thoughts into
+practical living and till my own field,
+I cannot reap a kernel of the good.</p>
+
+<p>Thus my optimism is grounded in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>
+two worlds, myself and what is about
+me. I demand that the world be good,
+and lo, it obeys. I proclaim the world
+good, and facts range themselves to
+prove my proclamation overwhelmingly
+true. To what is good I open
+the doors of my being, and jealously
+shut them against what is bad. Such
+is the force of this beautiful and wilful
+conviction, it carries itself in the
+face of all opposition. I am never discouraged
+by absence of good. I never
+can be argued into hopelessness.
+Doubt and mistrust are the mere
+panic of timid imagination, which
+the steadfast heart will conquer, and
+the large mind transcend.</p>
+
+<p>As my college days draw to a close,
+I find myself looking forward with
+beating heart and bright anticipations
+to what the future holds of activity
+for me. My share in the work
+of the world may be limited; but the
+fact that it is work makes it precious.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>
+Nay, the desire and will to work is
+optimism itself.</p>
+
+<p>Two generations ago Carlyle flung
+forth his gospel of work. To the
+dreamers of the Revolution, who
+built cloud-castles of happiness, and,
+when the inevitable winds rent the
+castles asunder, turned pessimists&mdash;to
+those ineffectual Endymions,
+Alastors and Werthers, this Scots
+peasant, man of dreams in the hard,
+practical world, cried aloud his creed
+of labor. “Be no longer a Chaos, but
+a World. Produce! produce! Were it
+but the pitifullest infinitesimal fraction
+of a product, produce it, in God’s
+name! ’Tis the utmost thou hast in
+thee; out with it, then. Up, up! whatsoever
+thy hand findeth to do, do it
+with thy whole might. Work while
+it is called To-day; for the Night cometh
+wherein no man may work.”</p>
+
+<p>Some have said Carlyle was taking
+refuge from a hard world by bidding<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>
+men grind and toil, eyes to the
+earth, and so forget their misery.
+This is not Carlyle’s thought. “Fool!”
+he cries, “the Ideal is in thyself; the
+Impediment is also in thyself. Work
+out the Ideal in the poor, miserable
+Actual; live, think, believe, and be
+free!” It is plain what he says, that
+work, production, brings life out of
+chaos, makes the individual a world,
+an order; and order is optimism.</p>
+
+<p>I, too, can work, and because I love
+to labor with my head and my hands,
+I am an optimist in spite of all. I used
+to think I should be thwarted in my
+desire to do something useful. But
+I have found out that though the
+ways in which I can make myself
+useful are few, yet the work open to
+me is endless. The gladdest laborer
+in the vineyard may be a cripple.
+Even should the others outstrip him,
+yet the vineyard ripens in the sun
+each year, and the full clusters weigh<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>
+into his hand. Darwin could work
+only half an hour at a time; yet in
+many diligent half-hours he laid
+anew the foundations of philosophy.
+I long to accomplish a great and noble
+task; but it is my chief duty and
+joy to accomplish humble tasks as
+though they were great and noble.
+It is my service to think how I can
+best fulfil the demands that each day
+makes upon me, and to rejoice that
+others can do what I cannot. Green,
+the historian,<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> tells us that the world
+is moved along, not only by the
+mighty shoves of its heroes, but also
+by the aggregate of the tiny pushes
+of each honest worker; and that
+thought alone suffices to guide me in
+this dark world and wide. I love the
+good that others do; for their activity
+is an assurance that whether I can
+help or not, the true and the good
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>will stand sure.</p>
+
+<p>I trust, and nothing that happens
+disturbs my trust. I recognize the
+beneficence of the power which we
+all worship as supreme&mdash;Order, Fate,
+the Great Spirit, Nature, God. I recognize
+this power in the sun that
+makes all things grow and keeps life
+afoot. I make a friend of this indefinable
+force, and straightway I feel
+glad, brave and ready for any lot
+Heaven may decree for me. This is
+my religion of optimism.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<h2>Part ii. Optimism Without<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span></h2>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px; border-top: solid black 2px; border-bottom: solid black 2px; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<img src="images/illus-025.jpg" width="150" height="149" alt="Ornament" title="Ornament" />
+</div>
+
+
+
+<h2 class="ct"><a name="Part_ii" id="Part_ii"></a>Part ii<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span><br />
+
+Optimism Without</h2>
+
+
+<div class="initial" style="clear: both">
+<img src="images/dropcap-025.jpg" alt="O" title="O" /></div>
+<p class="dropcapsection">ptimism, then, is a fact
+within my own heart. But as
+I look out upon life, my heart
+meets no contradiction. The outward
+world justifies my inward universe
+of good. All through the years
+I have spent in college, my reading
+has been a continuous discovery of
+good. In literature, philosophy, religion
+and history I find the mighty
+witnesses to my faith.</p>
+
+<p>Philosophy is the history of a deaf-blind
+person writ large. From the
+talks of Socrates up through Plato,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>
+Berkeley and Kant, philosophy records
+the efforts of human intelligence
+to be free of the clogging
+material world and fly forth into a
+universe of pure idea. A deaf-blind
+person ought to find special meaning
+in Plato’s Ideal World. These
+things which you see and hear and
+touch are not the reality of realities,
+but imperfect manifestations of the
+Idea, the Principle, the Spiritual; the
+Idea is the truth, the rest is delusion.</p>
+
+<p>If this be so, my brethren who
+enjoy the fullest use of the senses
+are not aware of any reality which
+may not equally well be in reach of
+my mind. Philosophy gives to the
+mind the prerogative of seeing truth,
+and bears us into a realm where I,
+who am blind, am not different from
+you who see. When I learned from
+Berkeley that your eyes receive an
+inverted image of things which your
+brain unconsciously corrects, I began<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>
+to suspect that the eye is not a
+very reliable instrument after all, and
+I felt as one who had been restored
+to equality with others, glad, not because
+the senses avail them so little,
+but because in God’s eternal world,
+mind and spirit avail so much. It
+seemed to me that philosophy had
+been written for my special consolation,
+whereby I get even with some
+modern philosophers who apparently
+think that I was intended as
+an experimental case for their special
+instruction! But in a little measure
+my small voice of individual experience
+does join in the declaration
+of philosophy that the good is the
+only world, and that world is a world
+of spirit. It is also a universe where
+order is All, where an unbroken logic
+holds the parts together, where disorder
+defines itself as non-existence,
+where evil, as St. Augustine held, is
+delusion, and therefore is not.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The meaning of philosophy to me
+is not only in its principles, but also
+in the happy isolation of its great
+expounders. They were seldom of
+the world, even when like Plato and
+Leibnitz they moved in its courts
+and drawing-rooms. To the tumult
+of life they were deaf, and they were
+blind to its distraction and perplexing
+diversities. Sitting alone, but not
+in darkness, they learned to find
+everything in themselves, and failing
+to find it even there, they still
+trusted in meeting the truth face to
+face when they should leave the earth
+behind and become partakers in the
+wisdom of God. The great mystics
+lived alone, deaf and blind, but dwelling
+with God.</p>
+
+<p>I understand how it was possible
+for Spinoza to find deep and sustained
+happiness when he was excommunicated,
+poor, despised and
+suspected alike by Jew and Christian;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>
+not that the kind world of men
+ever treated me so, but that his isolation
+from the universe of sensuous
+joys is somewhat analogous to mine.
+He loved the good for its own sake.
+Like many great spirits he accepted
+his place in the world, and confided
+himself childlike to a higher power,
+believing that it worked through his
+hands and predominated in his being.
+He trusted implicitly, and that
+is what I do. Deep, solemn optimism,
+it seems to me, should spring from
+this firm belief in the presence of
+God in the individual; not a remote,
+unapproachable governor of the universe,
+but a God who is very near
+every one of us, who is present not
+only in earth, sea and sky, but also in
+every pure and noble impulse of our
+hearts, “the source and centre of all
+minds, their only point of rest.”</p>
+
+<p>Thus from philosophy I learn that
+we see only shadows and know only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>
+in part, and that all things change;
+but the mind, the unconquerable
+mind, compasses all truth, embraces
+the universe as it is, converts the
+shadows to realities and makes tumultuous
+changes seem but moments
+in an eternal silence, or short
+lines in the infinite theme of perfection,
+and the evil but “a halt on the
+way to good.” Though with my hand
+I grasp only a small part of the universe,
+with my spirit I see the whole,
+and in my thought I can compass
+the beneficent laws by which it is
+governed. The confidence and trust
+which these conceptions inspire
+teach me to rest safe in my life as in
+a fate, and protect me from spectral
+doubts and fears. Verily, blessed are
+ye that have not seen, and yet have
+believed.</p>
+
+<p>All the world’s great philosophers
+have been lovers of God and believers
+in man’s inner goodness. To know<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>
+the history of philosophy is to know
+that the highest thinkers of the ages,
+the seers of the tribes and the nations,
+have been optimists.</p>
+
+<p>The growth of philosophy is the
+story of man’s spiritual life. Outside
+lies that great mass of events which
+we call History. As I look on this
+mass, I see it take form and shape
+itself in the ways of God. The history
+of man is an epic of progress. In the
+world within and the world without
+I see a wonderful correspondence,
+a glorious symbolism which reveals
+the human and the divine communing
+together, the lesson of philosophy
+repeated in fact. In all the parts
+that compose the history of mankind
+hides the spirit of good, and gives
+meaning to the whole.</p>
+
+<p>Far back in the twilight of history
+I see the savage fleeing from
+the forces of nature which he has
+not learned to control, and seeking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>
+to propitiate supernatural beings
+which are but the creation of his
+superstitious fear. With a shift of
+imagination I see the savage emancipated,
+civilized. He no longer worships
+the grim deities of ignorance.
+Through suffering he has learned to
+build a roof over his head, to defend
+his life and his home, and over his
+state he has erected a temple in
+which he worships the joyous gods
+of light and song. From suffering he
+has learned justice; from the struggle
+with his fellows he has learned
+the distinction between right and
+wrong which makes him a moral being.
+He is gifted with the genius of
+Greece.</p>
+
+<p>But Greece was not perfect. Her
+poetical and religious ideals were
+far above her practice; therefore she
+died, that her ideals might survive
+to ennoble coming ages.</p>
+
+<p>Rome, too, left the world a rich inheritance.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>
+Through the vicissitudes
+of history her laws and ordered government
+have stood a majestic object-lesson
+for the ages. But when
+the stern, frugal character of her people
+ceased to be the bone and sinew
+of her civilization, Rome fell.</p>
+
+<p>Then came the new nations of the
+North and founded a more permanent
+society. The base of Greek and Roman
+society was the slave, crushed
+into the condition of the wretches
+who “labored, foredone, in the field
+and at the workshop, like haltered
+horses, if blind, so much the quieter.”
+The base of the new society was the
+freeman who fought, tilled, judged
+and grew from more to more. He
+wrought a state out of tribal kinship
+and fostered an independence and
+self-reliance which no oppression
+could destroy. The story of man’s
+slow ascent from savagery through
+barbarism and self-mastery to civilization<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>
+is the embodiment of the
+spirit of optimism. From the first
+hour of the new nations each century
+has seen a better Europe, until
+the development of the world demanded
+America.</p>
+
+<p>Tolstoi said the other day that
+America, once the hope of the world,
+was in bondage to Mammon. Tolstoi
+and other Europeans have still much
+to learn about this great, free country
+of ours before they understand
+the unique civic struggle which
+America is undergoing. She is confronted
+with the mighty task of assimilating
+all the foreigners that are
+drawn together from every country,
+and welding them into one people
+with one national spirit. We have
+the right to demand the forbearance
+of critics until the United States has
+demonstrated whether she can make
+one people out of all the nations of
+the earth. London economists are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>
+alarmed at less than five hundred
+thousand foreign-born in a population
+of six million, and discuss earnestly
+the danger of too many aliens.
+But what is their problem in comparison
+with that of New York, which
+counts nearly one million five hundred
+thousand foreigners among its
+three and a half million citizens?
+Think of it! Every third person in
+our American metropolis is an alien.
+By these figures alone America’s
+greatness can be measured.</p>
+
+<p>It is true, America has devoted herself
+largely to the solution of material
+problems&mdash;breaking the fields,
+opening mines, irrigating deserts,
+spanning the continent with railroads;
+but she is doing these things
+in a new way, by educating her people,
+by placing at the service of every
+man’s need every resource of human
+skill. She is transmuting her industrial
+wealth into the education of her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>
+workmen, so that unskilled people
+shall have no place in American life,
+so that all men shall bring mind and
+soul to the control of matter. Her
+children are not drudges and slaves.
+The Constitution has declared it, and
+the spirit of our institutions has confirmed
+it. The best the land can teach
+them they shall know. They shall
+learn that there is no upper class
+in their country, and no lower, and
+they shall understand how it is that
+God and His world are for everybody.</p>
+
+<p>America might do all this, and still
+be selfish, still be a worshipper of
+Mammon. But America is the home of
+charity as well as of commerce. In the
+midst of roaring traffic, side by side
+with noisy factory and sky-reaching
+warehouse, one sees the school,
+the library, the hospital, the park-works
+of public benevolence which
+represent wealth wrought into ideas
+that shall endure forever. Behold<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>
+what America has already done to
+alleviate suffering and restore the
+afflicted to society&mdash;given sight to
+the fingers of the blind, language to
+the dumb lip, and mind to the idiot
+clay, and tell me if indeed she worships
+Mammon only. Who shall measure
+the sympathy, skill and intelligence
+with which she ministers to
+all who come to her, and lessens the
+ever-swelling tide of poverty, misery
+and degradation which every year
+rolls against her gates from all the
+nations?</p>
+
+<p>When I reflect on all these facts,
+I cannot but think that, Tolstoi and
+other theorists to the contrary, it is
+a splendid thing to be an American.
+In America the optimist finds abundant
+reason for confidence in the
+present and hope for the future, and
+this hope, this confidence, may well
+extend over all the great nations of
+the earth.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>If we compare our own time with
+the past, we find in modern statistics
+a solid foundation for a confident and
+buoyant world-optimism. Beneath
+the doubt, the unrest, the materialism,
+which surround us still glows
+and burns at the world’s best life a
+steadfast faith. To hear the pessimist,
+one would think civilization
+had bivouacked in the Middle Ages,
+and had not had marching orders
+since. He does not realize that the
+progress of evolution is not an uninterrupted
+march.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">“Now touching goal, now backward hurl’d,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Toils the indomitable world.”<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>I have recently read an address by
+one whose knowledge it would be
+presumptuous to challenge.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> In it I
+find abundant evidence of progress.</p>
+
+<p>During the past fifty years crime
+has decreased. True, the records of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>to-day contain a longer list of crime.
+But our statistics are more complete
+and accurate than the statistics of
+times past. Besides, there are many
+offences on the list which half a
+century ago would not have been
+thought of as crimes. This shows
+that the public conscience is more
+sensitive than it ever was.</p>
+
+<p>Our definition of crime has grown
+stricter, our punishment of it more
+lenient and intelligent. The old feeling
+of revenge has largely disappeared.
+It is no longer an eye for an
+eye, a tooth for a tooth. The criminal
+is treated as one who is diseased. He
+is confined not merely for punishment,
+but because he is a menace to
+society. While he is under restraint,
+he is treated with humane care and
+disciplined so that his mind shall be
+cured of its disease, and he shall be
+restored to society able to do his part
+of its work.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Another sign of awakened and enlightened
+public conscience is the
+effort to provide the working-class
+with better houses. Did it occur to
+any one a hundred years ago to think
+whether the dwellings of the poor
+were sanitary, convenient or sunny?
+Do not forget that in the “good old
+times” cholera and typhus devastated
+whole counties, and that pestilence
+walked abroad in the capitals
+of Europe.</p>
+
+<p>Not only have our laboring-classes
+better houses and better places to
+work in; but employers recognize
+the right of the employed to seek
+more than the bare wage of existence.
+In the darkness and turmoil
+of our modern industrial strifes we
+discern but dimly the principles that
+underlie the struggle. The recognition
+of the right of all men to life,
+liberty and the pursuit of happiness,
+a spirit of conciliation such as Burke<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>
+dreamed of, the willingness on the
+part of the strong to make concessions
+to the weak, the realization
+that the rights of the employer are
+bound up in the rights of the employed&mdash;in
+these the optimist beholds
+the signs of our times.</p>
+
+<p>Another right which the State
+has recognized as belonging to each
+man is the right to an education. In
+the enlightened parts of Europe and
+in America every city, every town,
+every village, has its school; and it
+is no longer a class who have access
+to knowledge, for to the children of
+the poorest laborer the school-door
+stands open. From the civilized nations
+universal education is driving
+the dull host of illiteracy.</p>
+
+<p>Education broadens to include all
+men, and deepens to reach all truths.
+Scholars are no longer confined to
+Greek, Latin and mathematics, but
+they also study science; and science<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>
+converts the dreams of the poet, the
+theory of the mathematician and the
+fiction of the economist into ships,
+hospitals and instruments that enable
+one skilled hand to perform the
+work of a thousand. The student of
+to-day is not asked if he has learned
+his grammar. Is he a mere grammar-machine,
+a dry catalogue of scientific
+facts, or has he acquired the qualities
+of manliness? His supreme lesson
+is to grapple with great public
+questions, to keep his mind hospitable
+to new ideas and new views of
+truth, to restore the finer ideals that
+are lost sight of in the struggle for
+wealth and to promote justice between
+man and man. He learns that
+there may be substitutes for human
+labor&mdash;horse-power and machinery
+and books; but “there are no substitutes
+for common sense, patience,
+integrity, courage.”</p>
+
+<p>Who can doubt the vastness of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>
+achievements of education when one
+considers how different the condition
+of the blind and the deaf is from
+what it was a century ago? They
+were then objects of superstitious
+pity, and shared the lowest beggar’s
+lot. Everybody looked upon
+their case as hopeless, and this view
+plunged them deeper in despair. The
+blind themselves laughed in the face
+of Haüy when he offered to teach
+them to read. How pitiable is the
+cramped sense of imprisonment in
+circumstances which teaches men to
+expect no good and to treat any attempt
+to relieve them as the vagary
+of a disordered mind! But now, behold
+the transformation; see how institutions
+and industrial establishments
+for the blind have sprung up
+as if by magic; see how many of the
+deaf have learned not only to read
+and write, but to speak; and remember
+that the faith and patience of Dr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>
+Howe have borne fruit in the efforts
+that are being made everywhere to
+educate the deaf-blind and equip
+them for the struggle. Do you wonder
+that I am full of hope and lifted
+up?</p>
+
+<p>The highest result of education is
+tolerance. Long ago men fought and
+died for their faith; but it took ages
+to teach them the other kind of courage,&mdash;the
+courage to recognize the
+faiths of their brethren and their
+rights of conscience. Tolerance is
+the first principle of community; it
+is the spirit which conserves the best
+that all men think. No loss by flood
+and lightning, no destruction of cities
+and temples by the hostile forces
+of nature, has deprived man of so
+many noble lives and impulses as
+those which his intolerance has destroyed.</p>
+
+<p>With wonder and sorrow I go back
+in thought to the ages of intolerance<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span>
+and bigotry. I see Jesus received with
+scorn and nailed on the cross. I see
+his followers hounded and tortured
+and burned. I am present where the
+finer spirits that revolt from the superstition
+of the Middle Ages are accused
+of impiety and stricken down.
+I behold the children of Israel reviled
+and persecuted unto death by
+those who pretend Christianity with
+the tongue; I see them driven from
+land to land, hunted from refuge
+to refuge, summoned to the felon’s
+place, exposed to the whip, mocked
+as they utter amid the pain of martyrdom
+a confession of the faith
+which they have kept with such
+splendid constancy. The same bigotry
+that oppresses the Jews falls
+tiger-like upon Christian nonconformists
+of purest lives and wipes
+out the Albigenses and the peaceful
+Vaudois, “whose bones lie on the
+mountains cold.” I see the clouds<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>
+part slowly, and I hear a cry of protest
+against the bigot. The restraining
+hand of tolerance is laid upon the
+inquisitor, and the humanist utters a
+message of peace to the persecuted.
+Instead of the cry, “Burn the heretic!”
+men study the human soul with
+sympathy, and there enters into their
+hearts a new reverence for that
+which is unseen.</p>
+
+<p>The idea of brotherhood redawns
+upon the world with a broader significance
+than the narrow association
+of members in a sect or creed;
+and thinkers of great soul like Lessing
+challenge the world to say
+which is more godlike, the hatred
+and tooth-and-nail grapple of conflicting
+religions, or sweet accord
+and mutual helpfulness. Ancient prejudice
+of man against his brother-man
+wavers and retreats before the
+radiance of a more generous sentiment,
+which will not sacrifice men to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>
+forms, or rob them of the comfort and
+strength they find in their own beliefs.
+The heresy of one age becomes
+the orthodoxy of the next. Mere tolerance
+has given place to a sentiment
+of brotherhood between sincere
+men of all denominations. The
+optimist rejoices in the affectionate
+sympathy between Catholic heart
+and Protestant heart which finds a
+gratifying expression in the universal
+respect and warm admiration for
+Leo XIII on the part of good men
+the world over. The centenary celebrations
+of the births of Emerson
+and Channing are beautiful examples
+of the tribute which men of all
+creeds pay to the memory of a pure
+soul.</p>
+
+<p>Thus in my outlook upon our times
+I find that I am glad to be a citizen
+of the world, and as I regard my
+country, I find that to be an American
+is to be an optimist. I know the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>
+unhappy and unrighteous story of
+what has been done in the Philippines
+beneath our flag; but I believe
+that in the accidents of statecraft the
+best intelligence of the people sometimes
+fails to express itself. I read in
+the history of Julius Cæsar that during
+the civil wars there were millions
+of peaceful herdsmen and laborers
+who worked as long as they
+could, and fled before the advance
+of the armies that were led by the
+few, then waited until the danger
+was past, and returned to repair
+damages with patient hands. So the
+people are patient and honest, while
+their rulers stumble. I rejoice to see
+in the world and in this country a
+new and better patriotism than that
+which seeks the life of an enemy. It
+is a patriotism higher than that of
+the battle-field. It moves thousands
+to lay down their lives in social service,
+and every life so laid down<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>
+brings us a step nearer the time
+when corn-fields shall no more be
+fields of battle. So when I heard of
+the cruel fighting in the Philippines,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>
+I did not despair, because I knew
+that the hearts of our people were
+not in that fight, and that sometime
+the hand of the destroyer must be
+stayed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<h2>Part iii. The Practice of Optimism<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span></h2>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px; border-top: solid black 2px; border-bottom: solid black 2px; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<img src="images/illus-053.jpg" width="150" height="120" alt="Ornament" title="Ornament" />
+</div>
+
+
+
+<h2 class="ct"><a name="Part_iii" id="Part_iii"></a>Part iii<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span><br />
+
+The Practice of Optimism</h2>
+
+<div class="initial" style="clear: both">
+<img src="images/dropcap-053.jpg" alt="T" title="T" /></div>
+<p class="dropcapsection">he test of all beliefs is their
+practical effect in life. If it be
+true that optimism compels
+the world forward, and pessimism
+retards it, then it is dangerous to
+propagate a pessimistic philosophy.
+One who believes that the pain in
+the world outweighs the joy, and
+expresses that unhappy conviction,
+only adds to the pain. Schopenhauer
+is an enemy to the race. Even if he
+earnestly believed that this is the
+most wretched of possible worlds,
+he should not promulgate a doctrine<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>
+which robs men of the incentive to
+fight with circumstance. If Life gave
+him ashes for bread, it was his fault.
+Life is a fair field, and the right will
+prosper if we stand by our guns.</p>
+
+<p>Let pessimism once take hold of
+the mind, and life is all topsy-turvy, all
+vanity and vexation of spirit. There
+is no cure for individual or social disorder,
+except in forgetfulness and
+annihilation. “Let us eat, drink and
+be merry,” says the pessimist, “for
+to-morrow we die.” If I regarded my
+life from the point of view of the pessimist,
+I should be undone. I should
+seek in vain for the light that does
+not visit my eyes and the music that
+does not ring in my ears. I should beg
+night and day and never be satisfied.
+I should sit apart in awful solitude, a
+prey to fear and despair. But since I
+consider it a duty to myself and to
+others to be happy, I escape a misery
+worse than any physical deprivation.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Who shall dare let his incapacity
+for hope or goodness cast a shadow
+upon the courage of those who bear
+their burdens as if they were privileges?
+The optimist cannot fall back,
+cannot falter; for he knows his neighbor
+will be hindered by his failure to
+keep in line. He will therefore hold
+his place fearlessly and remember
+the duty of silence. Sufficient unto
+each heart is its own sorrow. He
+will take the iron claws of circumstance
+in his hand and use them as
+tools to break away the obstacles
+that block his path. He will work as
+if upon him alone depended the establishment
+of heaven on earth.</p>
+
+<p>We have seen that the world’s philosophers&mdash;the
+Sayers of the Word&mdash;were
+optimists; so also are the
+men of action and achievement&mdash;the
+Doers of the Word. Dr. Howe found
+his way to Laura Bridgman’s soul
+because he began with the belief<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>
+that he could reach it. English jurists
+had said that the deaf-blind were
+idiots in the eyes of the law. Behold
+what the optimist does. He controverts
+a hard legal axiom; he looks
+behind the dull impassive clay and
+sees a human soul in bondage, and
+quietly, resolutely sets about its deliverance.
+His efforts are victorious.
+He creates intelligence out of idiocy
+and proves to the law that the deaf-blind
+man is a responsible being.</p>
+
+<p>When Haüy offered to teach the
+blind to read, he was met by pessimism
+that laughed at his folly. Had
+he not believed that the soul of man
+is mightier than the ignorance that
+fetters it, had he not been an optimist,
+he would not have turned the
+fingers of the blind into new instruments.
+No pessimist ever discovered
+the secrets of the stars, or sailed to
+an uncharted land, or opened a new
+heaven to the human spirit. St. Bernard<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>
+was so deeply an optimist that
+he believed two hundred and fifty enlightened
+men could illuminate the
+darkness which overwhelmed the
+period of the Crusades; and the light
+of his faith broke like a new day upon
+western Europe. John Bosco, the
+benefactor of the poor and the friendless
+of Italian cities, was another
+optimist, another prophet who, perceiving
+a Divine Idea while it was
+yet afar, proclaimed it to his countrymen.
+Although they laughed at
+his vision and called him a madman,
+yet he worked on patiently, and with
+the labor of his hands he maintained
+a home for little street waifs. In the
+fervor of enthusiasm he predicted the
+wonderful movement which should
+result from his work. Even in the
+days before he had money or patronage,
+he drew glowing pictures of the
+splendid system of schools and hospitals
+which should spread from one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>
+end of Italy to the other, and he lived
+to see the organization of the San
+Salvador Society, which was the
+embodiment of his prophetic optimism.
+When Dr. Seguin declared his
+opinion that the feeble-minded could
+be taught, again people laughed,
+and in their complacent wisdom said
+he was no better than an idiot himself.
+But the noble optimist persevered,
+and by and by the reluctant
+pessimists saw that he whom they
+ridiculed had become one of the
+world’s philanthropists. Thus the optimist
+believes, attempts, achieves.
+He stands always in the sunlight.
+Some day the wonderful, the inexpressible,
+arrives and shines upon
+him, and he is there to welcome it.
+His soul meets his own and beats a
+glad march to every new discovery,
+every fresh victory over difficulties,
+every addition to human knowledge
+and happiness.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>We have found that our great philosophers
+and our great men of action
+are optimists. So, too, our most
+potent men of letters have been optimists
+in their books and in their
+lives. No pessimist ever won an audience
+commensurately wide with
+his genius, and many optimistic writers
+have been read and admired out
+of all measure to their talents, simply
+because they wrote of the sunlit
+side of life. Dickens, Lamb, Goldsmith,
+Irving, all the well-beloved
+and gentle humorists, were optimists.
+Swift, the pessimist, has never
+had as many readers as his towering
+genius should command, and indeed,
+when he comes down into our
+century and meets Thackeray, that
+generous optimist can hardly do him
+justice. In spite of the latter-day notoriety
+of the “Rubáiyát” of Omar
+Khayyám, we may set it down as a
+rule that he who would be heard<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>
+must be a believer, must have a fundamental
+optimism in his philosophy.
+He may bluster and disagree
+and lament as Carlyle and Ruskin
+do sometimes; but a basic confidence
+in the good destiny of life and
+of the world must underlie his work.</p>
+
+<p>Shakespeare is the prince of optimists.
+His tragedies are a revelation
+of moral order. In “Lear” and “Hamlet”
+there is a looking forward to
+something better, some one is left at
+the end of the play to right wrong,
+restore society and build the state
+anew. The later plays, “The Tempest”
+and “Cymbeline,” show a beautiful,
+placid optimism which delights
+in reconciliations and reunions and
+which plans for the triumph of external
+as well as internal good.</p>
+
+<p>If Browning were less difficult to
+read, he would surely be the dominant
+poet in this century. I feel the
+ecstasy with which he exclaims,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>
+“Oh, good gigantic smile o’ the
+brown old earth this autumn morning!”
+And how he sets my brain going
+when he says, because there is
+imperfection, there must be perfection;
+completeness must come of incompleteness;
+failure is an evidence
+of triumph for the fulness of the days.
+Yes, discord is, that harmony may
+be; pain destroys, that health may
+renew; perhaps I am deaf and blind
+that others likewise afflicted may
+see and hear with a more perfect
+sense! From Browning I learn that
+there is no lost good, and that makes
+it easier for me to go at life, right or
+wrong, do the best I know, and fear
+not. My heart responds proudly to
+his exhortation to pay gladly life’s
+debt of pain, darkness and cold. Lift
+up your burden, it is God’s gift, bear
+it nobly.</p>
+
+<p>The man of letters whose voice is
+to prevail must be an optimist, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>
+his voice often learns its message
+from his life. Stevenson’s life has become
+a tradition only ten years after
+his death; he has taken his place
+among the heroes, the bravest man
+of letters since Johnson and Lamb.
+I remember an hour when I was discouraged
+and ready to falter. For
+days I had been pegging away at a
+task which refused to get itself accomplished.
+In the midst of my perplexity
+I read an essay of Stevenson
+which made me feel as if I had been
+“outing” in the sunshine, instead of
+losing heart over a difficult task. I
+tried again with new courage and
+succeeded almost before I knew it.
+I have failed many times since; but I
+have never felt so disheartened as I
+did before that sturdy preacher gave
+me my lesson in the “fashion of the
+smiling face.”</p>
+
+<p>Read Schopenhauer and Omar,
+and you will grow to find the world as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>
+hollow as they find it. Read Green’s
+history of England, and the world is
+peopled with heroes. I never knew
+why Green’s history thrilled me with
+the vigor of romance until I read his
+biography. Then I learned how his
+quick imagination transfigured the
+hard, bare facts of life into new and
+living dreams. When he and his wife
+were too poor to have a fire, he would
+sit before the unlit hearth and pretend
+that it was ablaze. “Drill your
+thoughts,” he said; “shut out the
+gloomy and call in the bright. There
+is more wisdom in shutting one’s
+eyes than your copybook philosophers
+will allow.”</p>
+
+<p>Every optimist moves along with
+progress and hastens it, while every
+pessimist would keep the world at
+a standstill. The consequence of
+pessimism in the life of a nation is
+the same as in the life of the individual.
+Pessimism kills the instinct<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>
+that urges men to struggle against
+poverty, ignorance and crime, and
+dries up all the fountains of joy in
+the world. In imagination I leave
+the country which lifts up the manhood
+of the poor and I visit India,
+the underworld of fatalism&mdash;where
+three hundred million human beings,
+scarcely men, submerged in ignorance
+and misery, precipitate themselves
+still deeper into the pit. Why
+are they thus? Because they have for
+thousands of years been the victims
+of their philosophy, which teaches
+them that men are as grass, and
+the grass fadeth, and there is no
+more greenness upon the earth. They
+sit in the shadow and let the circumstances
+they should master grip
+them, until they cease to be Men, and
+are made to dance and salaam like
+puppets in a play. After a little hour
+death comes and hurries them off to
+the grave, and other puppets with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>
+other “pasteboard passions and desires”
+take their place, and the show
+goes on for centuries.</p>
+
+<p>Go to India and see what sort
+of civilization is developed when a
+nation lacks faith in progress and
+bows to the gods of darkness. Under
+the influence of Brahminism genius
+and ambition have been suppressed.
+There is no one to befriend the poor
+or to protect the fatherless and the
+widow. The sick lie untended. The
+blind know not how to see, nor the
+deaf to hear, and they are left by the
+roadside to die. In India it is a sin to
+teach the blind and the deaf because
+their affliction is regarded as a punishment
+for offences in a previous
+state of existence. If I had been born
+in the midst of these fatalistic doctrines,
+I should still be in darkness,
+my life a desert-land where no caravan
+of thought might pass between
+my spirit and the world beyond.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The Hindoos believe in endurance,
+but not in resistance; therefore they
+have been subdued by strangers.
+Their history is a repetition of that
+of Babylon. A nation from afar came
+with speed swiftly, and none stumbled,
+or slept, or slumbered, but they
+brought desolation upon the land,
+and took the stay and the staff from
+the people, the whole stay of bread,
+and the whole stay of water, the
+mighty man, and the man of war,
+the judge, and the prophet, and the
+prudent, and the ancient, and none
+delivered them. Woe, indeed, is the
+heritage of those who walk sad-thoughted
+and downcast through
+this radiant, soul-delighting earth,
+blind to its beauty and deaf to its
+music, and of those who call evil
+good, and good evil, and put darkness
+for light, and light for darkness.</p>
+
+<p>What care the weather-bronzed
+sons of the West, feeding the world<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>
+from the plains of Dakota, for the
+Omars and the Brahmins? They
+would say to the Hindoos, “Blot out
+your philosophy, dead for a thousand
+years, look with fresh eyes at Reality
+and Life, put away your Brahmins
+and your crooked gods, and
+seek diligently for Vishnu the Preserver.”</p>
+
+<p>Optimism is the faith that leads to
+achievement; nothing can be done
+without hope. When our forefathers
+laid the foundation of the American
+commonwealths, what nerved them
+to their task but a vision of a free
+community? Against the cold, inhospitable
+sky, across the wilderness
+white with snow, where lurked the
+hidden savage, gleamed the bow of
+promise, toward which they set their
+faces with the faith that levels mountains,
+fills up valleys, bridges rivers
+and carries civilization to the uttermost
+parts of the earth. Although<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>
+the pioneers could not build according
+to the Hebraic ideal they saw,
+yet they gave the pattern of all that
+is most enduring in our country to-day.
+They brought to the wilderness
+the thinking mind, the printed book,
+the deep-rooted desire for self-government
+and the English common
+law that judges alike the king and
+the subject, the law on which rests
+the whole structure of our society.</p>
+
+<p>It is significant that the foundation
+of that law is optimistic. In
+Latin countries the court proceeds
+with a pessimistic bias. The prisoner
+is held guilty until he is proved innocent.
+In England and the United
+States there is an optimistic presumption
+that the accused is innocent
+until it is no longer possible to
+deny his guilt. Under our system, it
+is said, many criminals are acquitted;
+but it is surely better so than that
+many innocent persons should suffer.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>
+The pessimist cries, “There is no
+enduring good in man! The tendency
+of all things is through perpetual loss
+to chaos in the end. If there was ever
+an idea of good in things evil, it was
+impotent, and the world rushes on
+to ruin.” But behold, the law of the
+two most sober-minded, practical
+and law-abiding nations on earth
+assumes the good in man and demands
+a proof of the bad.</p>
+
+<p>Optimism is the faith that leads
+to achievement. The prophets of the
+world have been of good heart, or
+their standards would have stood
+naked in the field without a defender.
+Tolstoi’s strictures lose power because
+they are pessimistic. If he had
+seen clearly the faults of America,
+and still believed in her capacity to
+overcome them, our people might
+have felt the stimulation of his censure.
+But the world turns its back
+on a hopeless prophet and listens to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>
+Emerson who takes into account
+the best qualities of the nation and
+attacks only the vices which no one
+can defend or deny. It listens to the
+strong man, Lincoln, who in times
+of doubt, trouble and need does not
+falter. He sees success afar, and by
+strenuous hope, by hoping against
+hope, inspires a nation. Through the
+night of despair he says, “All is well,”
+and thousands rest in his confidence.
+When such a man censures, and
+points to a fault, the nation obeys,
+and his words sink into the ears of
+men; but to the lamentations of the
+habitual Jeremiah the ear grows dull.</p>
+
+<p>Our newspapers should remember
+this. The press is the pulpit of the
+modern world, and on the preachers
+who fill it much depends. If the protest
+of the press against unrighteous
+measures is to avail, then for ninety-nine
+days the word of the preacher
+should be buoyant and of good cheer,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>
+so that on the hundredth day the
+voice of censure may be a hundred
+times strong. This was Lincoln’s
+way. He knew the people; he believed
+in them and rested his faith on
+the justice and wisdom of the great
+majority. When in his rough and
+ready way he said, “You can’t fool
+all the people all the time,” he expressed
+a great principle, the doctrine
+of faith in human nature.</p>
+
+<p>The prophet is not without honor,
+save he be a pessimist. The ecstatic
+prophecies of Isaiah did far more to
+restore the exiles of Israel to their
+homes than the lamentations of Jeremiah
+did to deliver them from the
+hands of evil-doers.</p>
+
+<p>Even on Christmas Day do men
+remember that Christ came as a prophet
+of good? His joyous optimism
+is like water to feverish lips, and has
+for its highest expression the eight
+beatitudes. It is because Christ is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>
+an optimist that for ages he has
+dominated the Western world. For
+nineteen centuries Christendom has
+gazed into his shining face and felt
+that all things work together for
+good. St. Paul, too, taught the faith
+which looks beyond the hardest
+things into the infinite horizon of
+heaven, where all limitations are lost
+in the light of perfect understanding.
+If you are born blind, search the
+treasures of darkness. They are more
+precious than the gold of Ophir. They
+are love and goodness and truth and
+hope, and their price is above rubies
+and sapphires.</p>
+
+<p>Jesus utters and Paul proclaims a
+message of peace and a message of
+reason, a belief in the Idea, not in
+things, in love, not in conquest. The
+optimist is he who sees that men’s
+actions are directed not by squadrons
+and armies, but by moral power,
+that the conquests of Alexander and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>
+Napoleon are less abiding than Newton’s
+and Galileo’s and St. Augustine’s
+silent mastery of the world.
+Ideas are mightier than fire and
+sword. Noiselessly they propagate
+themselves from land to land, and
+mankind goes out and reaps the
+rich harvest and thanks God; but
+the achievements of the warrior are
+like his canvas city, “to-day a camp,
+to-morrow all struck and vanished,
+a few pit-holes and heaps of straw.”
+This was the gospel of Jesus two
+thousand years ago. Christmas Day
+is the festival of optimism.</p>
+
+<p>Although there are still great evils
+which have not been subdued, and
+the optimist is not blind to them, yet
+he is full of hope. Despondency has
+no place in his creed, for he believes
+in the imperishable righteousness of
+God and the dignity of man. History
+records man’s triumphant ascent.
+Each halt in his progress has been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>
+but a pause before a mighty leap forward.
+The time is not out of joint. If
+indeed some of the temples we worshipped
+in have fallen, we have built
+new ones on the sacred sites loftier
+and holier than those which have
+crumbled. If we have lost some of
+the heroic physical qualities of our
+ancestors, we have replaced them
+with a spiritual nobleness that turns
+aside wrath and binds up the wounds
+of the vanquished. All the past attainments
+of man are ours; and more,
+his day-dreams have become our
+clear realities. Therein lies our hope
+and sure faith.</p>
+
+<p>As I stand in the sunshine of a sincere
+and earnest optimism, my imagination
+“paints yet more glorious
+triumphs on the cloud-curtain of the
+future.” Out of the fierce struggle
+and turmoil of contending systems
+and powers I see a brighter spiritual
+era slowly emerge&mdash;an era in which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>
+there shall be no England, no France,
+no Germany, no America, no this
+people or that, but one family, the
+human race; one law, peace; one
+need, harmony; one means, labor;
+one taskmaster, God.</p>
+
+<p>If I should try to say anew the
+creed of the optimist, I should say
+something like this: “I believe in
+God, I believe in man, I believe in the
+power of the spirit. I believe it is a
+sacred duty to encourage ourselves
+and others; to hold the tongue from
+any unhappy word against God’s
+world, because no man has any right
+to complain of a universe which God
+made good, and which thousands of
+men have striven to keep good. I believe
+we should so act that we may
+draw nearer and more near the age
+when no man shall live at his ease
+while another suffers.” These are
+the articles of my faith, and there
+is yet another on which all depends&mdash;to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>
+bear this faith above every tempest
+which overfloods it, and to make
+it a principle in disaster and through
+affliction. Optimism is the harmony
+between man’s spirit and the spirit of
+God pronouncing His works good.</p>
+
+
+<p class="dedication" style="padding-top: 2em">The End</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;">
+<img src="images/illus-076.jpg" width="150" height="144" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Life and Letters of John Richard Green. Edited by
+Leslie Stephen.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Address by the Hon. Carroll D. Wright before the
+Unitarian Conference, September, 1903.</p></div>
+
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Optimism, by Helen Keller
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+</pre>
+
+</body>
+</html>
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