,optimism ,illustration ,optimism ,an ,essay ,by ,helen ,keller ,author of ,the ,story of ,my ,life ,illustration ,new ,york ,t4 ,y4 ,crowell and ,company ,mdcccciii ,copyright1 #aijc1 by ,helen ,keller ,published ,november1 #aijc ,d4 ,b4 ,updike1 ,the ,merrymount ,press1 ,boston ,to ,my ,teacher ,contents ,part i ,optimism ,within #aa ,part ii ,optimism ,without #be ,part iii ,the ,practice of ,optimism #ec ,part i4 ,optimism ,within ,illustration ,part i ,optimism ,within ,could we choose our environment1 and were desire in human undertakings synonymous with endowment1 all men would1 ,i suppose1 be optimists4 ,certainly most of us regard happiness as the proper end of all earthly enterprise4 ,the will to be happy animates alike the philosopher1 the prince and the chimney-sweep4 ,no matter how dull1 or how mean1 or how wise a man is1 he feels that happiness is his indisputable right4 ,it is curious to observe what different ideals of happiness people cherish1 and in what singular places they look for this well-spring of their life4 ,many look for it in the hoarding of riches1 some in the pride of power1 and others in the achievements of art and literature2 a few seek it in the exploration of their own minds1 or in the search for knowledge4 ,most people measure their happiness in terms of physical pleasure and material possession4 ,could they win some visible goal which they have set on the horizon1 how happy they would be6 ,lacking this gift or that circumstance1 they would be miserable4 ,if happiness is to be so measured1 ,i who cannot hear or see have every reason to sit in a corner with folded hands and weep4 ,if ,i am happy in spite of my deprivations1 if my happiness is so deep that it is a faith1 so thoughtful that it becomes a philosophy of life1--if1 in short1 ,i am an optimist1 my testimony to the creed of optimism is worth hearing4 ,as sinners stand up in meeting and testify to the goodness of ,god1 so one who is called afflicted may rise up in gladness of conviction and testify to the goodness of life4 ,once ,i knew the depth where no hope was1 and darkness lay on the face of all things4 ,then love came and set my soul free4 ,once ,i knew only darkness and stillness4 ,now ,i know hope and joy4 ,once ,i fretted and beat myself against the wall that shut me in4 ,now ,i rejoice in the consciousness that ,i can think1 act and attain heaven4 ,my life was without past or future2 death1 the pessimist would say1 a consummation devoutly to be wished4 ,but a little word from the fingers of another fell into my hand that clutched at emptiness1 and my heart leaped to the rapture of living4 ,night fled before the day of thought1 and love and joy and hope came up in a passion of obedience to knowledge4 ,can anyone who has escaped such captivity1 who has felt the thrill and glory of freedom1 be a pessimist8 ,my early experience was thus a leap from bad to good4 ,if ,i tried1 ,i could not check the momentum of my first leap out of the dark2 to move breast forward is a habit learned suddenly at that first moment of release and rush into the light4 ,with the first word ,i used intelligently1 ,i learned to live1 to think1 to hope4 ,darkness cannot shut me in again4 ,i have had a glimpse of the shore1 and can now live by the hope of reaching it4 ,so my optimism is no mild and unreasoning satisfaction4 ,a poet once said ,i must be happy because ,i did not see the bare1 cold present1 but lived in a beautiful dream4 ,i do live in a beautiful dream2 but that dream is the actual1 the present1--not cold1 but warm2 not bare1 but furnished with a thousand blessings4 ,the very evil which the poet supposed would be a cruel disillusionment is necessary to the fullest knowledge of joy4 ,only by contact with evil could ,i have learned to feel by contrast the beauty of truth and love and goodness4 ,it is a mistake always to contemplate the good and ignore the evil1 because by making people neglectful it lets in disaster4 ,there is a dangerous optimism of ignorance and indifference4 ,it is not enough to say that the twentieth century is the best age in the history of mankind1 and to take refuge from the evils of the world in skyey dreams of good4 ,how many good men1 prosperous and contented1 looked around and saw naught but good1 while millions of their fellowmen were bartered and sold like cattle6 ,no doubt1 there were comfortable optimists who thought ,wilberforce a meddlesome fanatic when he was working with might and main to free the slaves4 ,i distrust the rash optimism in this country that cries1 ,hurrah1 we're all right6 ,this is the greatest nation on earth1 when there are grievances that call loudly for redress4 ,that is false optimism4 ,optimism that does not count the cost is like a house builded on sand4 ,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 him4 ,i know what evil is4 ,once or twice ,i have wrestled with it1 and for a time felt its chilling touch on my life2 so ,i speak with knowledge when ,i say that evil is of no consequence1 except as a sort of mental gymnastic4 ,for the very reason that ,i have come in contact with it1 ,i am more truly an optimist4 ,i can say with conviction that the struggle which evil necessitates is one of the greatest blessings4 ,it makes us strong1 patient1 helpful men and women4 ,it lets us into the soul of things and teaches us that although the world is full of suffering1 it is full also of the overcoming of it4 ,my optimism1 then1 does not rest on the absence of evil1 but on a glad belief in the preponderance of good and a willing effort always to coperate with the good1 that it may prevail4 ,i try to increase the power ,god has given me to see the best in everything and every one1 and make that ,best a part of my life4 ,the world is sown with good2 but unless ,i turn my glad thoughts into practical living and till my own field1 ,i cannot reap a kernel of the good4 ,thus my optimism is grounded in two worlds1 myself and what is about me4 ,i demand that the world be good1 and lo1 it obeys4 ,i proclaim the world good1 and facts range themselves to prove my proclamation overwhelmingly true4 ,to what is good ,i open the doors of my being1 and jealously shut them against what is bad4 ,such is the force of this beautiful and wilful conviction1 it carries itself in the face of all opposition4 ,i am never discouraged by absence of good4 ,i never can be argued into hopelessness4 ,doubt and mistrust are the mere panic of timid imagination1 which the steadfast heart will conquer1 and the large mind transcend4 ,as my college days draw to a close1 ,i find myself looking forward with beating heart and bright anticipations to what the future holds of activity for me4 ,my share in the work of the world may be limited2 but the fact that it is work makes it precious4 ,nay1 the desire and will to work is optimism itself4 ,two generations ago ,carlyle flung forth his gospel of work4 ,to the dreamers of the ,revolution1 who built cloud-castles of happiness1 and1 when the inevitable winds rent the castles asunder1 turned pessimists--to those ineffectual ,endymions1 ,alastors and ,werthers1 this ,scots peasant1 man of dreams in the hard1 practical world1 cried aloud his creed of labor4 ,be no longer a ,chaos1 but a ,world4 ,produce6 produce6 ,were it but the pitifullest infinitesimal fraction of a product1 produce it1 in ,god's name6 ',tis the utmost thou hast in thee2 out with it1 then4 ,up1 up6 whatsoever thy hand findeth to do1 do it with thy whole might4 ,work while it is called ,to-day2 for the ,night cometh wherein no man may work4 ,some have said ,carlyle was taking refuge from a hard world by bidding men grind and toil1 eyes to the earth1 and so forget their misery4 ,this is not ,carlyle's thought4 ,fool6 he cries1 the ,ideal is in thyself2 the ,impediment is also in thyself4 ,work out the ,ideal in the poor1 miserable ,actual2 live1 think1 believe1 and be free6 ,it is plain what he says1 that work1 production1 brings life out of chaos1 makes the individual a world1 an order2 and order is optimism4 ,i1 too1 can work1 and because ,i love to labor with my head and my hands1 ,i am an optimist in spite of all4 ,i used to think ,i should be thwarted in my desire to do something useful4 ,but ,i have found out that though the ways in which ,i can make myself useful are few1 yet the work open to me is endless4 ,the gladdest laborer in the vineyard may be a cripple4 ,even should the others outstrip him1 yet the vineyard ripens in the sun each year1 and the full clusters weigh into his hand4 ,darwin could work only half an hour at a time2 yet in many diligent half-hours he laid anew the foundations of philosophy4 ,i long to accomplish a great and noble task2 but it is my chief duty and joy to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble4 ,it is my service to think how ,i can best fulfil the demands that each day makes upon me1 and to rejoice that others can do what ,i cannot4 ,green1 the historian1#a tells us that the world is moved along1 not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes1 but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker2 and that thought alone suffices to guide me in this dark world and wide4 ,i love the good that others do2 for their activity is an assurance that whether ,i can help or not1 the true and the good will stand sure4 #a ,life and ,letters of ,john ,richard ,green4 ,edited by ,leslie ,stephen4 ,i trust1 and nothing that happens disturbs my trust4 ,i recognize the beneficence of the power which we all worship as supreme--,order1 ,fate1 the ,great ,spirit1 ,nature1 ,god4 ,i recognize this power in the sun that makes all things grow and keeps life afoot4 ,i make a friend of this indefinable force1 and straightway ,i feel glad1 brave and ready for any lot ,heaven may decree for me4 ,this is my religion of optimism4 ,part ii4 ,optimism ,without ,illustration ,part ii ,optimism ,without ,optimism1 then1 is a fact within my own heart4 ,but as ,i look out upon life1 my heart meets no contradiction4 ,the outward world justifies my inward universe of good4 ,all through the years ,i have spent in college1 my reading has been a continuous discovery of good4 ,in literature1 philosophy1 religion and history ,i find the mighty witnesses to my faith4 ,philosophy is the history of a deaf-blind person writ large4 ,from the talks of ,socrates up through ,plato1 ,berkeley and ,kant1 philosophy records the efforts of human intelligence to be free of the clogging material world and fly forth into a universe of pure idea4 ,a deaf-blind person ought to find special meaning in ,plato's ,ideal ,world4 ,these things which you see and hear and touch are not the reality of realities1 but imperfect manifestations of the ,idea1 the ,principle1 the ,spiritual2 the ,idea is the truth1 the rest is delusion4 ,if this be so1 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 mind4 ,philosophy gives to the mind the prerogative of seeing truth1 and bears us into a realm where ,i1 who am blind1 am not different from you who see4 ,when ,i learned from ,berkeley that your eyes receive an inverted image of things which your brain unconsciously corrects1 ,i began to suspect that the eye is not a very reliable instrument after all1 and ,i felt as one who had been restored to equality with others1 glad1 not because the senses avail them so little1 but because in ,god's eternal world1 mind and spirit avail so much4 ,it seemed to me that philosophy had been written for my special consolation1 whereby ,i get even with some modern philosophers who apparently think that ,i was intended as an experimental case for their special instruction6 ,but in a little measure my small voice of individual experience does join in the declaration of philosophy that the good is the only world1 and that world is a world of spirit4 ,it is also a universe where order is ,all1 where an unbroken logic holds the parts together1 where disorder defines itself as non-existence1 where evil1 as ,st4 ,augustine held1 is delusion1 and therefore is not4 ,the meaning of philosophy to me is not only in its principles1 but also in the happy isolation of its great expounders4 ,they were seldom of the world1 even when like ,plato and ,leibnitz they moved in its courts and drawing-rooms4 ,to the tumult of life they were deaf1 and they were blind to its distraction and perplexing diversities4 ,sitting alone1 but not in darkness1 they learned to find everything in themselves1 and failing to find it even there1 they still trusted in meeting the truth face to face when they should leave the earth behind and become partakers in the wisdom of ,god4 ,the great mystics lived alone1 deaf and blind1 but dwelling with ,god4 ,i understand how it was possible for ,spinoza to find deep and sustained happiness when he was excommunicated1 poor1 despised and suspected alike by ,jew and ,christian2 not that the kind world of men ever treated me so1 but that his isolation from the universe of sensuous joys is somewhat analogous to mine4 ,he loved the good for its own sake4 ,like many great spirits he accepted his place in the world1 and confided himself childlike to a higher power1 believing that it worked through his hands and predominated in his being4 ,he trusted implicitly1 and that is what ,i do4 ,deep1 solemn optimism1 it seems to me1 should spring from this firm belief in the presence of ,god in the individual2 not a remote1 unapproachable governor of the universe1 but a ,god who is very near every one of us1 who is present not only in earth1 sea and sky1 but also in every pure and noble impulse of our hearts1 the source and centre of all minds1 their only point of rest4 ,thus from philosophy ,i learn that we see only shadows and know only in part1 and that all things change2 but the mind1 the unconquerable mind1 compasses all truth1 embraces the universe as it is1 converts the shadows to realities and makes tumultuous changes seem but moments in an eternal silence1 or short lines in the infinite theme of perfection1 and the evil but a halt on the way to good4 ,though with my hand ,i grasp only a small part of the universe1 with my spirit ,i see the whole1 and in my thought ,i can compass the beneficent laws by which it is governed4 ,the confidence and trust which these conceptions inspire teach me to rest safe in my life as in a fate1 and protect me from spectral doubts and fears4 ,verily1 blessed are ye that have not seen1 and yet have believed4 ,all the world's great philosophers have been lovers of ,god and believers in man's inner goodness4 ,to know the history of philosophy is to know that the highest thinkers of the ages1 the seers of the tribes and the nations1 have been optimists4 ,the growth of philosophy is the story of man's spiritual life4 ,outside lies that great mass of events which we call ,history4 ,as ,i look on this mass1 ,i see it take form and shape itself in the ways of ,god4 ,the history of man is an epic of progress4 ,in the world within and the world without ,i see a wonderful correspondence1 a glorious symbolism which reveals the human and the divine communing together1 the lesson of philosophy repeated in fact4 ,in all the parts that compose the history of mankind hides the spirit of good1 and gives meaning to the whole4 ,far back in the twilight of history ,i see the savage fleeing from the forces of nature which he has not learned to control1 and seeking to propitiate supernatural beings which are but the creation of his superstitious fear4 ,with a shift of imagination ,i see the savage emancipated1 civilized4 ,he no longer worships the grim deities of ignorance4 ,through suffering he has learned to build a roof over his head1 to defend his life and his home1 and over his state he has erected a temple in which he worships the joyous gods of light and song4 ,from suffering he has learned justice2 from the struggle with his fellows he has learned the distinction between right and wrong which makes him a moral being4 ,he is gifted with the genius of ,greece4 ,but ,greece was not perfect4 ,her poetical and religious ideals were far above her practice2 therefore she died1 that her ideals might survive to ennoble coming ages4 ,rome1 too1 left the world a rich inheritance4 ,through the vicissitudes of history her laws and ordered government have stood a majestic object-lesson for the ages4 ,but when the stern1 frugal character of her people ceased to be the bone and sinew of her civilization1 ,rome fell4 ,then came the new nations of the ,north and founded a more permanent society4 ,the base of ,greek and ,roman society was the slave1 crushed into the condition of the wretches who labored1 foredone1 in the field and at the workshop1 like haltered horses1 if blind1 so much the quieter4 ,the base of the new society was the freeman who fought1 tilled1 judged and grew from more to more4 ,he wrought a state out of tribal kinship and fostered an independence and self-reliance which no oppression could destroy4 ,the story of man's slow ascent from savagery through barbarism and self-mastery to civilization is the embodiment of the spirit of optimism4 ,from the first hour of the new nations each century has seen a better ,europe1 until the development of the world demanded ,america4 ,tolstoi said the other day that ,america1 once the hope of the world1 was in bondage to ,mammon4 ,tolstoi and other ,europeans have still much to learn about this great1 free country of ours before they understand the unique civic struggle which ,america is undergoing4 ,she is confronted with the mighty task of assimilating all the foreigners that are drawn together from every country1 and welding them into one people with one national spirit4 ,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 earth4 ,london economists are alarmed at less than five hundred thousand foreign-born in a population of six million1 and discuss earnestly the danger of too many aliens4 ,but what is their problem in comparison with that of ,new ,york1 which counts nearly one million five hundred thousand foreigners among its three and a half million citizens8 ,think of it6 ,every third person in our ,american metropolis is an alien4 ,by these figures alone ,america's greatness can be measured4 ,it is true1 ,america has devoted herself largely to the solution of material problems--breaking the fields1 opening mines1 irrigating deserts1 spanning the continent with railroads2 but she is doing these things in a new way1 by educating her people1 by placing at the service of every man's need every resource of human skill4 ,she is transmuting her industrial wealth into the education of her workmen1 so that unskilled people shall have no place in ,american life1 so that all men shall bring mind and soul to the control of matter4 ,her children are not drudges and slaves4 ,the ,constitution has declared it1 and the spirit of our institutions has confirmed it4 ,the best the land can teach them they shall know4 ,they shall learn that there is no upper class in their country1 and no lower1 and they shall understand how it is that ,god and ,his world are for everybody4 ,america might do all this1 and still be selfish1 still be a worshipper of ,mammon4 ,but ,america is the home of charity as well as of commerce4 ,in the midst of roaring traffic1 side by side with noisy factory and sky-reaching warehouse1 one sees the school1 the library1 the hospital1 the park-works of public benevolence which represent wealth wrought into ideas that shall endure forever4 ,behold what ,america has already done to alleviate suffering and restore the afflicted to society--given sight to the fingers of the blind1 language to the dumb lip1 and mind to the idiot clay1 and tell me if indeed she worships ,mammon only4 ,who shall measure the sympathy1 skill and intelligence with which she ministers to all who come to her1 and lessens the ever-swelling tide of poverty1 misery and degradation which every year rolls against her gates from all the nations8 ,when ,i reflect on all these facts1 ,i cannot but think that1 ,tolstoi and other theorists to the contrary1 it is a splendid thing to be an ,american4 ,in ,america the optimist finds abundant reason for confidence in the present and hope for the future1 and this hope1 this confidence1 may well extend over all the great nations of the earth4 ,if we compare our own time with the past1 we find in modern statistics a solid foundation for a confident and buoyant world-optimism4 ,beneath the doubt1 the unrest1 the materialism1 which surround us still glows and burns at the world's best life a steadfast faith4 ,to hear the pessimist1 one would think civilization had bivouacked in the ,middle ,ages1 and had not had marching orders since4 ,he does not realize that the progress of evolution is not an uninterrupted march4 ,now touching goal1 now backward hurl'd1 ,toils the indomitable world4 ,i have recently read an address by one whose knowledge it would be presumptuous to challenge4#b ,in it ,i find abundant evidence of progress4 #b ,address by the ,hon4 ,carroll ,d4 ,wright before the ,unitarian ,conference1 ,september1 #aijc4 ,during the past fifty years crime has decreased4 ,true1 the records of to-day contain a longer list of crime4 ,but our statistics are more complete and accurate than the statistics of times past4 ,besides1 there are many offences on the list which half a century ago would not have been thought of as crimes4 ,this shows that the public conscience is more sensitive than it ever was4 ,our definition of crime has grown stricter1 our punishment of it more lenient and intelligent4 ,the old feeling of revenge has largely disappeared4 ,it is no longer an eye for an eye1 a tooth for a tooth4 ,the criminal is treated as one who is diseased4 ,he is confined not merely for punishment1 but because he is a menace to society4 ,while he is under restraint1 he is treated with humane care and disciplined so that his mind shall be cured of its disease1 and he shall be restored to society able to do his part of its work4 ,another sign of awakened and enlightened public conscience is the effort to provide the working-class with better houses4 ,did it occur to any one a hundred years ago to think whether the dwellings of the poor were sanitary1 convenient or sunny8 ,do not forget that in the good old times cholera and typhus devastated whole counties1 and that pestilence walked abroad in the capitals of ,europe4 ,not only have our laboring-classes better houses and better places to work in2 but employers recognize the right of the employed to seek more than the bare wage of existence4 ,in the darkness and turmoil of our modern industrial strifes we discern but dimly the principles that underlie the struggle4 ,the recognition of the right of all men to life1 liberty and the pursuit of happiness1 a spirit of conciliation such as ,burke dreamed of1 the willingness on the part of the strong to make concessions to the weak1 the realization that the rights of the employer are bound up in the rights of the employed--in these the optimist beholds the signs of our times4 ,another right which the ,state has recognized as belonging to each man is the right to an education4 ,in the enlightened parts of ,europe and in ,america every city1 every town1 every village1 has its school2 and it is no longer a class who have access to knowledge1 for to the children of the poorest laborer the school-door stands open4 ,from the civilized nations universal education is driving the dull host of illiteracy4 ,education broadens to include all men1 and deepens to reach all truths4 ,scholars are no longer confined to ,greek1 ,latin and mathematics1 but they also study science2 and science converts the dreams of the poet1 the theory of the mathematician and the fiction of the economist into ships1 hospitals and instruments that enable one skilled hand to perform the work of a thousand4 ,the student of to-day is not asked if he has learned his grammar4 ,is he a mere grammar-machine1 a dry catalogue of scientific facts1 or has he acquired the qualities of manliness8 ,his supreme lesson is to grapple with great public questions1 to keep his mind hospitable to new ideas and new views of truth1 to restore the finer ideals that are lost sight of in the struggle for wealth and to promote justice between man and man4 ,he learns that there may be substitutes for human labor--horse-power and machinery and books2 but there are no substitutes for common sense1 patience1 integrity1 courage4 ,who can doubt the vastness of the achievements of education when one considers how different the condition of the blind and the deaf is from what it was a century ago8 ,they were then objects of superstitious pity1 and shared the lowest beggar's lot4 ,everybody looked upon their case as hopeless1 and this view plunged them deeper in despair4 ,the blind themselves laughed in the face of ,hay when he offered to teach them to read4 ,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 mind6 ,but now1 behold the transformation2 see how institutions and industrial establishments for the blind have sprung up as if by magic2 see how many of the deaf have learned not only to read and write1 but to speak2 and remember that the faith and patience of ,dr4 ,howe have borne fruit in the efforts that are being made everywhere to educate the deaf-blind and equip them for the struggle4 ,do you wonder that ,i am full of hope and lifted up8 ,the highest result of education is tolerance4 ,long ago men fought and died for their faith2 but it took ages to teach them the other kind of courage1--the courage to recognize the faiths of their brethren and their rights of conscience4 ,tolerance is the first principle of community2 it is the spirit which conserves the best that all men think4 ,no loss by flood and lightning1 no destruction of cities and temples by the hostile forces of nature1 has deprived man of so many noble lives and impulses as those which his intolerance has destroyed4 ,with wonder and sorrow ,i go back in thought to the ages of intolerance and bigotry4 ,i see ,jesus received with scorn and nailed on the cross4 ,i see his followers hounded and tortured and burned4 ,i am present where the finer spirits that revolt from the superstition of the ,middle ,ages are accused of impiety and stricken down4 ,i behold the children of ,israel reviled and persecuted unto death by those who pretend ,christianity with the tongue2 ,i see them driven from land to land1 hunted from refuge to refuge1 summoned to the felon's place1 exposed to the whip1 mocked as they utter amid the pain of martyrdom a confession of the faith which they have kept with such splendid constancy4 ,the same bigotry that oppresses the ,jews falls tiger-like upon ,christian nonconformists of purest lives and wipes out the ,albigenses and the peaceful ,vaudois1 whose bones lie on the mountains cold4 ,i see the clouds part slowly1 and ,i hear a cry of protest against the bigot4 ,the restraining hand of tolerance is laid upon the inquisitor1 and the humanist utters a message of peace to the persecuted4 ,instead of the cry1 ,burn the heretic6 men study the human soul with sympathy1 and there enters into their hearts a new reverence for that which is unseen4 ,the idea of brotherhood redawns upon the world with a broader significance than the narrow association of members in a sect or creed2 and thinkers of great soul like ,lessing challenge the world to say which is more godlike1 the hatred and tooth-and-nail grapple of conflicting religions1 or sweet accord and mutual helpfulness4 ,ancient prejudice of man against his brother-man wavers and retreats before the radiance of a more generous sentiment1 which will not sacrifice men to forms1 or rob them of the comfort and strength they find in their own beliefs4 ,the heresy of one age becomes the orthodoxy of the next4 ,mere tolerance has given place to a sentiment of brotherhood between sincere men of all denominations4 ,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 over4 ,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 soul4 ,thus in my outlook upon our times ,i find that ,i am glad to be a citizen of the world1 and as ,i regard my country1 ,i find that to be an ,american is to be an optimist4 ,i know the unhappy and unrighteous story of what has been done in the ,philippines beneath our flag2 but ,i believe that in the accidents of statecraft the best intelligence of the people sometimes fails to express itself4 ,i read in the history of ,julius ,csar that during the civil wars there were millions of peaceful herdsmen and laborers who worked as long as they could1 and fled before the advance of the armies that were led by the few1 then waited until the danger was past1 and returned to repair damages with patient hands4 ,so the people are patient and honest1 while their rulers stumble4 ,i rejoice to see in the world and in this country a new and better patriotism than that which seeks the life of an enemy4 ,it is a patriotism higher than that of the battle-field4 ,it moves thousands to lay down their lives in social service1 and every life so laid down brings us a step nearer the time when corn-fields shall no more be fields of battle4 ,so when ,i heard of the cruel fighting in the ,philippines1 ,i did not despair1 because ,i knew that the hearts of our people were not in that fight1 and that sometime the hand of the destroyer must be stayed4 ,part iii4 ,the ,practice of ,optimism ,illustration ,part iii ,the ,practice of ,optimism ,the test of all beliefs is their practical effect in life4 ,if it be true that optimism compels the world forward1 and pessimism retards it1 then it is dangerous to propagate a pessimistic philosophy4 ,one who believes that the pain in the world outweighs the joy1 and expresses that unhappy conviction1 only adds to the pain4 ,schopenhauer is an enemy to the race4 ,even if he earnestly believed that this is the most wretched of possible worlds1 he should not promulgate a doctrine which robs men of the incentive to fight with circumstance4 ,if ,life gave him ashes for bread1 it was his fault4 ,life is a fair field1 and the right will prosper if we stand by our guns4 ,let pessimism once take hold of the mind1 and life is all topsy-turvy1 all vanity and vexation of spirit4 ,there is no cure for individual or social disorder1 except in forgetfulness and annihilation4 ,let us eat1 drink and be merry1 says the pessimist1 for to-morrow we die4 ,if ,i regarded my life from the point of view of the pessimist1 ,i should be undone4 ,i should seek in vain for the light that does not visit my eyes and the music that does not ring in my ears4 ,i should beg night and day and never be satisfied4 ,i should sit apart in awful solitude1 a prey to fear and despair4 ,but since ,i consider it a duty to myself and to others to be happy1 ,i escape a misery worse than any physical deprivation4 ,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 privileges8 ,the optimist cannot fall back1 cannot falter2 for he knows his neighbor will be hindered by his failure to keep in line4 ,he will therefore hold his place fearlessly and remember the duty of silence4 ,sufficient unto each heart is its own sorrow4 ,he will take the iron claws of circumstance in his hand and use them as tools to break away the obstacles that block his path4 ,he will work as if upon him alone depended the establishment of heaven on earth4 ,we have seen that the world's philosophers--the ,sayers of the ,word--were optimists2 so also are the men of action and achievement--the ,doers of the ,word4 ,dr4 ,howe found his way to ,laura ,bridgman's soul because he began with the belief that he could reach it4 ,english jurists had said that the deaf-blind were idiots in the eyes of the law4 ,behold what the optimist does4 ,he controverts a hard legal axiom2 he looks behind the dull impassive clay and sees a human soul in bondage1 and quietly1 resolutely sets about its deliverance4 ,his efforts are victorious4 ,he creates intelligence out of idiocy and proves to the law that the deaf-blind man is a responsible being4 ,when ,hay offered to teach the blind to read1 he was met by pessimism that laughed at his folly4 ,had he not believed that the soul of man is mightier than the ignorance that fetters it1 had he not been an optimist1 he would not have turned the fingers of the blind into new instruments4 ,no pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars1 or sailed to an uncharted land1 or opened a new heaven to the human spirit4 ,st4 ,bernard was so deeply an optimist that he believed two hundred and fifty enlightened men could illuminate the darkness which overwhelmed the period of the ,crusades2 and the light of his faith broke like a new day upon western ,europe4 ,john ,bosco1 the benefactor of the poor and the friendless of ,italian cities1 was another optimist1 another prophet who1 perceiving a ,divine ,idea while it was yet afar1 proclaimed it to his countrymen4 ,although they laughed at his vision and called him a madman1 yet he worked on patiently1 and with the labor of his hands he maintained a home for little street waifs4 ,in the fervor of enthusiasm he predicted the wonderful movement which should result from his work4 ,even in the days before he had money or patronage1 he drew glowing pictures of the splendid system of schools and hospitals which should spread from one end of ,italy to the other1 and he lived to see the organization of the ,san ,salvador ,society1 which was the embodiment of his prophetic optimism4 ,when ,dr4 ,seguin declared his opinion that the feeble-minded could be taught1 again people laughed1 and in their complacent wisdom said he was no better than an idiot himself4 ,but the noble optimist persevered1 and by and by the reluctant pessimists saw that he whom they ridiculed had become one of the world's philanthropists4 ,thus the optimist believes1 attempts1 achieves4 ,he stands always in the sunlight4 ,some day the wonderful1 the inexpressible1 arrives and shines upon him1 and he is there to welcome it4 ,his soul meets his own and beats a glad march to every new discovery1 every fresh victory over difficulties1 every addition to human knowledge and happiness4 ,we have found that our great philosophers and our great men of action are optimists4 ,so1 too1 our most potent men of letters have been optimists in their books and in their lives4 ,no pessimist ever won an audience commensurately wide with his genius1 and many optimistic writers have been read and admired out of all measure to their talents1 simply because they wrote of the sunlit side of life4 ,dickens1 ,lamb1 ,goldsmith1 ,irving1 all the well-beloved and gentle humorists1 were optimists4 ,swift1 the pessimist1 has never had as many readers as his towering genius should command1 and indeed1 when he comes down into our century and meets ,thackeray1 that generous optimist can hardly do him justice4 ,in spite of the latter-day notoriety of the ,rubiyt of ,omar ,khayym1 we may set it down as a rule that he who would be heard must be a believer1 must have a fundamental optimism in his philosophy4 ,he may bluster and disagree and lament as ,carlyle and ,ruskin do sometimes2 but a basic confidence in the good destiny of life and of the world must underlie his work4 ,shakespeare is the prince of optimists4 ,his tragedies are a revelation of moral order4 ,in ,lear and ,hamlet there is a looking forward to something better1 some one is left at the end of the play to right wrong1 restore society and build the state anew4 ,the later plays1 ,the ,tempest and ,cymbeline1 show a beautiful1 placid optimism which delights in reconciliations and reunions and which plans for the triumph of external as well as internal good4 ,if ,browning were less difficult to read1 he would surely be the dominant poet in this century4 ,i feel the ecstasy with which he exclaims1 ,oh1 good gigantic smile o' the brown old earth this autumn morning6 ,and how he sets my brain going when he says1 because there is imperfection1 there must be perfection2 completeness must come of incompleteness2 failure is an evidence of triumph for the fulness of the days4 ,yes1 discord is1 that harmony may be2 pain destroys1 that health may renew2 perhaps ,i am deaf and blind that others likewise afflicted may see and hear with a more perfect sense6 ,from ,browning ,i learn that there is no lost good1 and that makes it easier for me to go at life1 right or wrong1 do the best ,i know1 and fear not4 ,my heart responds proudly to his exhortation to pay gladly life's debt of pain1 darkness and cold4 ,lift up your burden1 it is ,god's gift1 bear it nobly4 ,the man of letters whose voice is to prevail must be an optimist1 and his voice often learns its message from his life4 ,stevenson's life has become a tradition only ten years after his death2 he has taken his place among the heroes1 the bravest man of letters since ,johnson and ,lamb4 ,i remember an hour when ,i was discouraged and ready to falter4 ,for days ,i had been pegging away at a task which refused to get itself accomplished4 ,in the midst of my perplexity ,i read an essay of ,stevenson which made me feel as if ,i had been outing in the sunshine1 instead of losing heart over a difficult task4 ,i tried again with new courage and succeeded almost before ,i knew it4 ,i have failed many times since2 but ,i have never felt so disheartened as ,i did before that sturdy preacher gave me my lesson in the fashion of the smiling face4 ,read ,schopenhauer and ,omar1 and you will grow to find the world as hollow as they find it4 ,read ,green's history of ,england1 and the world is peopled with heroes4 ,i never knew why ,green's history thrilled me with the vigor of romance until ,i read his biography4 ,then ,i learned how his quick imagination transfigured the hard1 bare facts of life into new and living dreams4 ,when he and his wife were too poor to have a fire1 he would sit before the unlit hearth and pretend that it was ablaze4 ,drill your thoughts1 he said2 shut out the gloomy and call in the bright4 ,there is more wisdom in shutting one's eyes than your copybook philosophers will allow4 ,every optimist moves along with progress and hastens it1 while every pessimist would keep the world at a standstill4 ,the consequence of pessimism in the life of a nation is the same as in the life of the individual4 ,pessimism kills the instinct that urges men to struggle against poverty1 ignorance and crime1 and dries up all the fountains of joy in the world4 ,in imagination ,i leave the country which lifts up the manhood of the poor and ,i visit ,india1 the underworld of fatalism--where three hundred million human beings1 scarcely men1 submerged in ignorance and misery1 precipitate themselves still deeper into the pit4 ,why are they thus8 ,because they have for thousands of years been the victims of their philosophy1 which teaches them that men are as grass1 and the grass fadeth1 and there is no more greenness upon the earth4 ,they sit in the shadow and let the circumstances they should master grip them1 until they cease to be ,men1 and are made to dance and salaam like puppets in a play4 ,after a little hour death comes and hurries them off to the grave1 and other puppets with other pasteboard passions and desires take their place1 and the show goes on for centuries4 ,go to ,india and see what sort of civilization is developed when a nation lacks faith in progress and bows to the gods of darkness4 ,under the influence of ,brahminism genius and ambition have been suppressed4 ,there is no one to befriend the poor or to protect the fatherless and the widow4 ,the sick lie untended4 ,the blind know not how to see1 nor the deaf to hear1 and they are left by the roadside to die4 ,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 existence4 ,if ,i had been born in the midst of these fatalistic doctrines1 ,i should still be in darkness1 my life a desert-land where no caravan of thought might pass between my spirit and the world beyond4 ,the ,hindoos believe in endurance1 but not in resistance2 therefore they have been subdued by strangers4 ,their history is a repetition of that of ,babylon4 ,a nation from afar came with speed swiftly1 and none stumbled1 or slept1 or slumbered1 but they brought desolation upon the land1 and took the stay and the staff from the people1 the whole stay of bread1 and the whole stay of water1 the mighty man1 and the man of war1 the judge1 and the prophet1 and the prudent1 and the ancient1 and none delivered them4 ,woe1 indeed1 is the heritage of those who walk sad-thoughted and downcast through this radiant1 soul-delighting earth1 blind to its beauty and deaf to its music1 and of those who call evil good1 and good evil1 and put darkness for light1 and light for darkness4 ,what care the weather-bronzed sons of the ,west1 feeding the world from the plains of ,dakota1 for the ,omars and the ,brahmins8 ,they would say to the ,hindoos1 ,blot out your philosophy1 dead for a thousand years1 look with fresh eyes at ,reality and ,life1 put away your ,brahmins and your crooked gods1 and seek diligently for ,vishnu the ,preserver4 ,optimism is the faith that leads to achievement2 nothing can be done without hope4 ,when our forefathers laid the foundation of the ,american commonwealths1 what nerved them to their task but a vision of a free community8 ,against the cold1 inhospitable sky1 across the wilderness white with snow1 where lurked the hidden savage1 gleamed the bow of promise1 toward which they set their faces with the faith that levels mountains1 fills up valleys1 bridges rivers and carries civilization to the uttermost parts of the earth4 ,although the pioneers could not build according to the ,hebraic ideal they saw1 yet they gave the pattern of all that is most enduring in our country to-day4 ,they brought to the wilderness the thinking mind1 the printed book1 the deep-rooted desire for self-government and the ,english common law that judges alike the king and the subject1 the law on which rests the whole structure of our society4 ,it is significant that the foundation of that law is optimistic4 ,in ,latin countries the court proceeds with a pessimistic bias4 ,the prisoner is held guilty until he is proved innocent4 ,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 guilt4 ,under our system1 it is said1 many criminals are acquitted2 but it is surely better so than that many innocent persons should suffer4 ,the pessimist cries1 ,there is no enduring good in man6 ,the tendency of all things is through perpetual loss to chaos in the end4 ,if there was ever an idea of good in things evil1 it was impotent1 and the world rushes on to ruin4 ,but behold1 the law of the two most sober-minded1 practical and law-abiding nations on earth assumes the good in man and demands a proof of the bad4 ,optimism is the faith that leads to achievement4 ,the prophets of the world have been of good heart1 or their standards would have stood naked in the field without a defender4 ,tolstoi's strictures lose power because they are pessimistic4 ,if he had seen clearly the faults of ,america1 and still believed in her capacity to overcome them1 our people might have felt the stimulation of his censure4 ,but the world turns its back on a hopeless prophet and listens to ,emerson who takes into account the best qualities of the nation and attacks only the vices which no one can defend or deny4 ,it listens to the strong man1 ,lincoln1 who in times of doubt1 trouble and need does not falter4 ,he sees success afar1 and by strenuous hope1 by hoping against hope1 inspires a nation4 ,through the night of despair he says1 ,all is well1 and thousands rest in his confidence4 ,when such a man censures1 and points to a fault1 the nation obeys1 and his words sink into the ears of men2 but to the lamentations of the habitual ,jeremiah the ear grows dull4 ,our newspapers should remember this4 ,the press is the pulpit of the modern world1 and on the preachers who fill it much depends4 ,if the protest of the press against unrighteous measures is to avail1 then for ninety-nine days the word of the preacher should be buoyant and of good cheer1 so that on the hundredth day the voice of censure may be a hundred times strong4 ,this was ,lincoln's way4 ,he knew the people2 he believed in them and rested his faith on the justice and wisdom of the great majority4 ,when in his rough and ready way he said1 ,you can't fool all the people all the time1 he expressed a great principle1 the doctrine of faith in human nature4 ,the prophet is not without honor1 save he be a pessimist4 ,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-doers4 ,even on ,christmas ,day do men remember that ,christ came as a prophet of good8 ,his joyous optimism is like water to feverish lips1 and has for its highest expression the eight beatitudes4 ,it is because ,christ is an optimist that for ages he has dominated the ,western world4 ,for nineteen centuries ,christendom has gazed into his shining face and felt that all things work together for good4 ,st4 ,paul1 too1 taught the faith which looks beyond the hardest things into the infinite horizon of heaven1 where all limitations are lost in the light of perfect understanding4 ,if you are born blind1 search the treasures of darkness4 ,they are more precious than the gold of ,ophir4 ,they are love and goodness and truth and hope1 and their price is above rubies and sapphires4 ,jesus utters and ,paul proclaims a message of peace and a message of reason1 a belief in the ,idea1 not in things1 in love1 not in conquest4 ,the optimist is he who sees that men's actions are directed not by squadrons and armies1 but by moral power1 that the conquests of ,alexander and ,napoleon are less abiding than ,newton's and ,galileo's and ,st4 ,augustine's silent mastery of the world4 ,ideas are mightier than fire and sword4 ,noiselessly they propagate themselves from land to land1 and mankind goes out and reaps the rich harvest and thanks ,god2 but the achievements of the warrior are like his canvas city1 to-day a camp1 to-morrow all struck and vanished1 a few pit-holes and heaps of straw4 ,this was the gospel of ,jesus two thousand years ago4 ,christmas ,day is the festival of optimism4 ,although there are still great evils which have not been subdued1 and the optimist is not blind to them1 yet he is full of hope4 ,despondency has no place in his creed1 for he believes in the imperishable righteousness of ,god and the dignity of man4 ,history records man's triumphant ascent4 ,each halt in his progress has been but a pause before a mighty leap forward4 ,the time is not out of joint4 ,if indeed some of the temples we worshipped in have fallen1 we have built new ones on the sacred sites loftier and holier than those which have crumbled4 ,if we have lost some of the heroic physical qualities of our ancestors1 we have replaced them with a spiritual nobleness that turns aside wrath and binds up the wounds of the vanquished4 ,all the past attainments of man are ours2 and more1 his day-dreams have become our clear realities4 ,therein lies our hope and sure faith4 ,as ,i stand in the sunshine of a sincere and earnest optimism1 my imagination paints yet more glorious triumphs on the cloud-curtain of the future4 ,out of the fierce struggle and turmoil of contending systems and powers ,i see a brighter spiritual era slowly emerge--an era in which there shall be no ,england1 no ,france1 no ,germany1 no ,america1 no this people or that1 but one family1 the human race2 one law1 peace2 one need1 harmony2 one means1 labor2 one taskmaster1 ,god4 ,if ,i should try to say anew the creed of the optimist1 ,i should say something like this3 ,i believe in ,god1 ,i believe in man1 ,i believe in the power of the spirit4 ,i believe it is a sacred duty to encourage ourselves and others2 to hold the tongue from any unhappy word against ,god's world1 because no man has any right to complain of a universe which ,god made good1 and which thousands of men have striven to keep good4 ,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 suffers4 ,these are the articles of my faith1 and there is yet another on which all depends--to bear this faith above every tempest which overfloods it1 and to make it a principle in disaster and through affliction4 ,optimism is the harmony between man's spirit and the spirit of ,god pronouncing ,his works good4 ,the ,end ,illustration