III

III.--On Human Happiness, he has only a few general remarks. Happiness
is an object of essential and eternal value. Happiness is the _end_,
and the _only_ end, conceivable by us, of God"s providence and
government; but He pursues this end in subordination to rectitude.
Virtue tends to happiness, but does not always secure it. A person that
sacrifices his life rather than violate his conscience, or betray his
country, gives up all possibility of any present reward, and loses the
more in proportion as his virtue is more glorious.

On the other hand, if, as the author believes, the moral feelings are

not innate, they are not for that reason less natural
On the other hand, if, as the author believes, the moral feelings are
not innate, they are not for that reason less natural. It is natural to
man to speak, to reason, to cultivate the ground, to build cities,
though these are acquired faculties. So the moral faculty, if not a
part of our nature, is a natural outgrowth of it; capable, in a certain
small degree, of springing up spontaneously, and of being brought to a
high pitch by means of cultivation. It is also susceptible, by the use
of the external sanctions and the force of early impressions, of being
cultivated in almost any direction, and of being perverted to absurdity
and mischief.

Mr

Mr. Webster had never great personal popularity. His presence was
majestic, but forbidding. His manners were agreeable, and sometimes
fascinating to his friends, when he was in a genial mood; but he was
often reserved or even austere to strangers, and terrible to his
enemies. His style of thought was mathematical, his language expressive,
but never popular. He wrote as a man would dictate an essay which was to
appear as a posthumous work. His eloquence was not that which often
passes for eloquence upon the stump or at the bar. He seldom attempted
to court the people, and when he did, it was as if he mocked himself,
and scorned the spirit which could be moved by the breezes of popular
favor. He was not free from faults, personal and political; yet he
acquired a control which has not been possessed by any man since
Washington. Whenever he was to speak, the public were anxious to hear
and to read. Hardly any man has had the fortune to present his views in
addresses, letters, and speeches, to so large a portion of his
countrymen; yet the people whom he addressed, and who were anxious for
his words and opinions, did not always, or even generally, agree with
him. Mr. Webster"s power was chiefly, if not solely, intellectual. He
had not the personal qualities of Mr. Clay or General Jackson; he was
not, like Mr. Jefferson the chosen exponent of a political creed, and
the admitted leader of a great political party; nor had he the military
character and universally acknowledged patriotism of General Washington,
which made him first in the hearts of his countrymen. Mr. Webster stands
alone. His domain is the intellect, and thus far in America he is
without a rival. To Mr. Webster, and to all men proportionately,
according to the measure of their gifts and attainments, we may apply
his great words: 'A superior and commanding human intellect, a truly
great man, when Heaven vouchsafes so rare a gift, is not a temporary
flame, burning brightly for a while, and then giving place to returning
darkness. It is rather a spark of fervent heat, as well as radiant
light, with power to enkindle the common mass of human mind; so that,
when it glimmers in its own decay, and finally goes out in death, no
night follows, but it leaves the world all light, all on fire, from the
potent contact of its own spirit.'

We should seek to comprehend the relations of the government, the

principles on which it is founded; and, while we justly complain of its
defects, and seek to remedy them, we ought also to compare it with other
systems that exist, or that might be established
We should seek to comprehend the relations of the government, the
principles on which it is founded; and, while we justly complain of its
defects, and seek to remedy them, we ought also to compare it with other
systems that exist, or that might be established. This proposition
involves an intelligent realization by the people of the character of
their institutions; and I am thus led to express the apprehension that
the popular political education of our day is inferior to that of the
revolutionary era, and of the age that immediately succeeded it.

The problem lying before each individual who would enter fully into this

rich world of environment, then, is to discover at first hand just as
large a part of the material world about him as possible
The problem lying before each individual who would enter fully into this
rich world of environment, then, is to discover at first hand just as
large a part of the material world about him as possible. In the most
humble environment of the most uneventful life is to be found the
material for discoveries and inventions yet undreamed of. Lying in the
shade of an apple tree under the open sky, Newton read from a falling
apple the fundamental principles of the law of gravitation which has
revolutionized science; sitting at a humble tea table Watt watched the
gurgling of the steam escaping from the kettle, and evolved the steam
engine therefrom; with his simple kite, Franklin drew down the lightning
from the clouds, and started the science of electricity; through
studying a ball, the ancient scholars conceived the earth to be a
sphere, and Columbus discovered America.

During middle age, life"s active period, there is an equilibrium

between the body"s waste and repair: one equals the other
During middle age, life"s active period, there is an equilibrium
between the body"s waste and repair: one equals the other. The
machine, when properly managed, then holds its own. A French
physiologist fixes the close of this period for the ideal man of the
future at eighty, when, he says, old age begins. Few have such
inherited power, and live with such physiological wisdom, as to keep
their machine in good repair,--in good working-order,--to that late
period. From the age of twenty-five or thirty, however, to that of
sixty or sixty-five, this equilibrium occurs. Repair then equals
waste; reconstruction equals destruction. The female organization,
like the male, is now developed: its tissues are consolidated; its
functions are established. With decent care, it can perform an immense
amount of physical and mental labor. It is now capable of its best
work. But, in order to do its best, it must obey the law of
periodicity; just as the male organization, to do its best, must obey
the law of sustained effort.

Muller, Wirgin and others[15] have shown that alcohol restricts the

formation of antibodies (the function of which is to resist infection in
the blood) in rabbits, and Laitinen[16] has shown that the prolonged
administration of small doses in men (15 cc
Muller, Wirgin and others[15] have shown that alcohol restricts the
formation of antibodies (the function of which is to resist infection in
the blood) in rabbits, and Laitinen[16] has shown that the prolonged
administration of small doses in men (15 cc.) is sufficient to lower
vital resistance, especially to typhoid fever.

It is obvious that fresh pure air is preferable to impure air

It is obvious that fresh pure air is preferable to impure air. Air may
be vitiated by poisonous gases, by dust and smoke, or by germs. Dust and
smoke often go together.

The great spiral nebula in Andromeda has a continuous spectrum

crossed by a multitude of absorption lines
The great spiral nebula in Andromeda has a continuous spectrum
crossed by a multitude of absorption lines. The spectrum is a
very close approach to the spectrum of our Sun. It is clear
that this spiral nebula is widely different from the
bright-line or gaseous nebulae in physical condition. The
spiral may be a great cluster of stars which are approximate
duplicates of our Sun, or there is a chance that it consists,
as Slipher has suggested, of a great central sun, or group of
suns, and of a multitude of small bodies or particles, such as
meteoric matter, revolving around the nucleus; this finely
divided matter being visible by reflected light which
originates in the center of the system.

But we are not to encourage parsimony in education; for parsimony in

this department is not true economy
But we are not to encourage parsimony in education; for parsimony in
this department is not true economy. It is true economy for the state
and for a town to set up and maintain good schools as cheaply as they
can be had, yet at any necessary cost, so only that they be good.
Massachusetts is prosperous and wealthy to-day, respected in evil report
as well as in good, because, faithful to principle and persistent in
courage, she has for more than two hundred years provided for the
education of her children; and now the re-flowing tide of her wealth
from seaboard and cities will bear on its wave to these quiet valleys
and pleasant hill-sides the lovers of agriculture, friends of art,
students of science, and such as worship rural scenes and indulge in
rural sports; but the favored and first-sought spots will be those where
learning has already chosen her seat, and offers to manhood and age the
culture and society which learning only can give, and to childhood and
youth, over and above the training of the best schools, healthful moral
influences, and elements of physical growth and vigor, which ever
distinguish life in the country and among the mountains from life in the
city or on the plain. And over a broader field and upon a larger sphere
shall the benignant influence of this system of public instruction be
felt. In the affairs of this great republic, the power of a state is not
to be measured by the number of its votes in Congress. Public opinion is
mightier than Congress; and they who wield or control that do, in
reality, bear rule. Power in the world, upon a large view, and in the
light of history, has not been confided to the majorities of men.
Greece, unimportant in extent of territory, a peninsula and archipelago
in the sea, led the way in the civilization of the west, and, through
her eloquence, poetry, history and art, became the model of modern
culture. Rome, a single city in Italy, that stretches itself into the
sea as though it would gaze upon three continents, subjugated to her
sway the savage and civilized world, and impressed her arms and
jurisprudence upon all succeeding times; then Venice, without a single
foot of solid land, guarded inviolate the treasure of her sovereignty
for thirteen hundred years against the armies of the East and the West;
while, in our own time, England, unimportant in the extent of her
insular territory, has been able, by the intelligence and enterprise of
her people, to make herself mistress of the seas, arbiter of the
fortunes of Europe, and the ruler of a hundred millions of people in
Asia.

Secondly, it may mean our strongest passion, what most frequently

prevails with us and shows our individual characters
Secondly, it may mean our strongest passion, what most frequently
prevails with us and shows our individual characters. In this sense,
vice may be natural.

'----the sea that sinks and shelves,

But ourselves,
That rook and rise
With endless and uneasy motion,
Now touching the very skies,
Now sinking into the depths of ocean
'----the sea that sinks and shelves,
But ourselves,
That rook and rise
With endless and uneasy motion,
Now touching the very skies,
Now sinking into the depths of ocean.'

THE REMEDY

THE REMEDY.--The remedy for such wearisome and fruitless methods of
association is, as a matter of theory, simple and easy. It is to
emphasize, intensify, and dwell upon the _significant and essential_ in
our thinking. The person who listens to a story, who studies a lesson,
or who is a participant in any event must apply a _sense of value_,
recognizing and fixing the important and relegating the trivial and
unimportant to their proper level. Not to train one"s self to think in
this discriminating way is much like learning to play a piano by
striking each key with equal force!

The only logical cure for all this is the assertion of a human ideal

The only logical cure for all this is the assertion of a human ideal.
In dealing with this, I will try to be as little transcendental
as is consistent with reason; it is enough to say that unless we
have some doctrine of a divine man, all abuses may be excused,
since evolution may turn them into uses. It will be easy for
the scientific plutocrat to maintain that humanity will adapt itself
to any conditions which we now consider evil. The old tyrants
invoked the past; the new tyrants will invoke the future evolution
has produced the snail and the owl; evolution can produce a workman
who wants no more space than a snail, and no more light than an owl.
The employer need not mind sending a Kaffir to work underground;
he will soon become an underground animal, like a mole.
He need not mind sending a diver to hold his breath in the deep seas;
he will soon be a deep-sea animal. Men need not trouble
to alter conditions, conditions will so soon alter men.
The head can be beaten small enough to fit the hat.
Do not knock the fetters off the slave; knock the slave until
he forgets the fetters. To all this plausible modem argument
for oppression, the only adequate answer is, that there is a permanent
human ideal that must not be either confused or destroyed.
The most important man on earth is the perfect man who is not there.
The Christian religion has specially uttered the ultimate sanity of Man,
says Scripture, who shall judge the incarnate and human truth.
Our lives and laws are not judged by divine superiority, but simply
by human perfection. It is man, says Aristotle, who is the measure.
It is the Son of Man, says Scripture, who shall judge the quick
and the dead.

2

2. Observe children at work in school with the purpose of determining
whether they are being taught to _think_, or only to memorize certain
facts. Do you find that definitions whose meaning is not clear are often
required of children? Which should come first, the definition or the
meaning and application of it?

Kant"s speculations on a possible destruction and re-birth of

the solar system, on the nature of Saturn"s ring, and on the
nature of the zodiacal light are similar in several regards to
present-day beliefs
Kant"s speculations on a possible destruction and re-birth of
the solar system, on the nature of Saturn"s ring, and on the
nature of the zodiacal light are similar in several regards to
present-day beliefs.

First, That there is no innate moral sentiment; that our moral ideas

are the generalities of moral actions
First, That there is no innate moral sentiment; that our moral ideas
are the generalities of moral actions. That our faculties of moral
discernment are--(1) those that discern the pleasures and pains of
mankind; and (2), those that comprehend and interpret the laws of God,
the Nation, and Public Opinion. And (3) he counts that the largest
share in the formation of our Moral Sentiments is due to Education and
Custom.

Methods of preventing or correcting overstrain vary greatly, according

to the kinds of overstrain
Methods of preventing or correcting overstrain vary greatly, according
to the kinds of overstrain. In general, overstrain of any kind tends to
overfatigue. Overstrain is to be avoided, therefore, by paying heed to
Nature"s fatigue-signals as soon as they appear. A very moderate degree
of fatigue is perhaps normal, but anything that approaches exhaustion
should be avoided with the utmost care.

III

III.--His theory of the constituents of Happiness is simple, primitive,
and crude, but is given with earnest conviction. Ambition he laughs to
scorn. "What, he asks, can be added to the happiness of the man who is
in health, out of debt, and has a clear conscience?" Again, "the chief
part of happiness consists in the consciousness of being beloved,
hence, sudden changes of fortune seldom contribute to happiness." But
what he dwells upon most persistently, as the prime condition of
happiness, is Contentment, and Tranquillity.

As a theory of adaptation, then, natural selection is

satisfactory only in so far as it accounts for the
'preservation of favored races
As a theory of adaptation, then, natural selection is
satisfactory only in so far as it accounts for the
'preservation of favored races.' It throws no light upon the
origin of the variations with which races are favored. Since it
is only as variations possess a certain utility for the
organism that they become known as adaptations, the conception
of adaptation is inevitably associated with the welfare of
individuals or the survival of races. To disregard this
association is to rob the conception of all meaning. Like
health, it has no elementary physiological significance.