Humanly Speaking | Page 4

but only for the well-meaning persons in moderately comfortable circumstances, whose predatoriness has been suddenly revealed to them.
Many of the most conscientious persons go about with an habitually apologetic manner. They are rapidly acquiring the evasive air of the conscious criminal. It is only a very hardened philanthropist, or an unsophisticated beginner in good works, who can look a sociologist in the eye. Most persons, when they do one thing, begin to apologize for not doing something else. They are like a one-track railroad that has been congested with traffic. They are not sure which train has the right of way, and which should go on the siding. Progress is a series of rear-end collisions.
There is little opportunity for self-satisfaction. The old-fashioned private virtues which used to be exhibited with such innocent pride as family heirlooms are now scrutinized with suspicion. They are subjected to rigid tests to determine their value as public utilities.
Perhaps I may best illustrate the need of some receivership by drawing attention to the case of my friend the Reverend Augustus Bagster.
Bagster is not by nature a spiritual genius; he is only a modern man who is sincerely desirous of doing what is expected of him. I do not think that he is capable of inventing a duty, but he is morally?impressionable, and recognizes one when it is pointed out to him. A generation ago such a man would have lived a useful and untroubled life in a round of parish duties. He would have been placidly contented with himself and his achievements. But when he came to a city pulpit he heard the Call of the Modern. The multitudinous life around him must be translated into immediate action. His conscience was not merely awakened: it soon reached a state of persistent insomnia.
When he told me that he had preached a sermon on the text, "Let him that stole steal no more," I was interested. But shortly after, he told me that he could not let go of that text. It was a live wire. He had expanded the sermon into a course on the different kinds of stealing. He found few things that did not come under the category of Theft. Spiritual goods as well as material might be stolen. If a person possessed a cheerful disposition, you should ask, "How did he get it?"
"It seems to me," I said, "that a cheerful disposition is one of the things where possession is nine tenths of the law. I don't like to think of such spiritual wealth as ill-gotten."
"I am sorry," said Bagster, "to see that your sympathies are with the privileged classes."
Several weeks ago I received a letter which revealed his state of mind:--
"I believe that you are acquainted with the Editor of the 'Atlantic Monthly.' I suppose he means well, but persons in his situation are likely to cater to mere literature. I hope that I am not uncharitable, but I have a suspicion that our poets yield sometimes to the desire to please. They are perhaps unconscious of the subtle temptation. They are not sufficiently direct and specific in their charges. I have been reading Walt Whitman's 'Song of Joys.' The subject does not attract me, but I like the way in which it is treated. There is no beating around the bush. The poet is perfectly fearless, and will not let any guilty man escape.
"'O the farmer's joys!?Ohioans, Illinoisans, Wisconsonese, Kanadians,?Iowans, Kansans, Oregonese joys.'
"That is the way one should write if he expects?to get results. He should point to each individual?and say, 'Thou art the man.'
"I am no poet,--though I am painfully conscious?that I ought to be one,--but I have written?what I call, 'The Song of Obligations.' I?think it may arouse the public. In such matters?we ought to unite as good citizens. You might?perhaps drop a postal card, just to show where?you stand."
THE SONG OF OBLIGATIONS
"O the citizen's obligations.?The obligation of every American citizen to see that
every other American citizen does his duty, and?to be quick about it.?The janitor's duties, the Board of Health's duties, the
milkman's duties, resting upon each one of us individually with the accumulated weight of every?cubic foot of vitiated air, and multiplied by the?number of bacteria in every cubic centimeter of?milk.?The motorman's duties, and the duty of every spry citizen
not to allow himself to be run over by the motorman.?The obligation of teachers in the public schools to supply
their pupils with all the aptitudes and graces?formerly supposed to be the result of heredity and?environment.?The duty of each teacher to consult daily a card catalogue
of duties, beginning with Apperception and?Adenoids and going on to Vaccination, Ventilation,?and the various vivacious variations on the?three R's.?The obligation resting upon the well-to-do citizen not
to leave for his country place, but to remain in the?city in order to give the force of his example,