,,the                                   
,,bible ,,of ,,nature2                  
,,or1 ,,the                             
,,principles ,,of ,,secularism4         
,a ,contribution to the ,religion of the
 ,future4                               
,,by                                    
,,felix ,l4 ,,oswald4                   
8,light is help from ,heaven40--,g4 ,e4 
,lessing4                               
,new ,york3                             
,,the ,,truth ,,seeker ,,company1       
#bh ,,lafayette ,,place4                
,,to                               ,,the
 ,,memory ,,of                          
,,benedict ,,spinoza1                   
,,this ,,work ,,is ,,reverently         
,,dedicated                             
,,by ,,the ,,author4                    
,,contents4                             
,,page4      ,introduction1             
#i        ,,physical ,,maxims4          
,,chap4          ,i4      ,health1      
#ah          ,,ii4     ,strength1       
#cc          ,,iii4    ,chastity1       

#de          ,,iv4     ,temperance1     
#ef          ,v4      ,skill1           
#gc        ,,mental ,,maxims4           
,,vi4     ,knowledge1                   
#he          ,,vii4    ,independence1   
#ie          ,,viii4   ,prudence1       
#ajf          ,,ix4     ,perseverance1  
#aaf          ,x4      ,freethought1    
#abd        ,,moral ,,maxims4           
,,xi4     ,justice1                     
#acg          ,,xii4    ,truth1         
#adh          ,,xiii4   ,humanity1      
#afj          ,,xiv4    ,friendship1    
#agb          ,,xv4     ,education1     
#ahb        ,,objective ,,maxims4       
,,xvi4    ,forest ,culture1             
#aid          ,,xvii4   ,recreation1    
#bjc          ,,xviii4  ,domestic       
,reform1                    #bab        
,,xix4    ,legislative ,reform1         
#bba          ,,xx4     ,the ,priesthood
 of ,secularism1       #bca             
,,the ,,bible ,,of ,,nature2 ,,or1 ,,the
 ,,principles ,,of ,,secularism4        
,,introduction4      ,from the dawn of  

authentic history to the second century 
of our  chronological era the nations of
 antiquity were beguiled by the fancies 
of supernatural religions4 ,for fifteen 
hundred years the noblest  nations of   
the ,middle ,ages were tortured by the  
inanities of an  antinatural religion4  
,the time has come to found a ,religion 
of ,nature4    ,the principles of that  
religion are revealed in the monitions  
of our  normal instincts1 and have never
 been wholly effaced from the soul of   
man1 but for long ages the consciousness
 of their purpose has been  obscured by 
the mists of superstition and the       
systematic inculcation of  baneful      
delusions4 ,the first taste of alcohol  
revolts our normal  instincts2 nature   
protests against the incipience of a    
ruinous  poison-vice2 but the fables of 
the ,bacchus priests for centuries      
encouraged that vice and deified the    
genius of intemperance4 ,vice  itself   
blushed to mention the immoralities of  
the pagan gods whose  temples invited   

the worship of the heavenly-minded4     
,altars were erected  to a goddess of   
lust1 to a god of wantonness1 to a god  
of thieves4    ,that dynasty of         
scamp-gods was1 at last1 forced to      
abdicate1 but only  to yield their      
throne to a celestial ,phalaris1 a      
torture-god who  cruelly punished the   
gratification of the most natural       
instincts1 and  foredoomed a vast       
plurality of his children to an eternity
 of horrid  and hopeless torments4      
,every natural enjoyment was denounced  
as sinful4  ,every natural blessing was 
vilified as a curse in disguise4 ,mirth 
is  the sunshine of the human mind1 the 
loveliest impulse of life's truest      
children2 yet the apostle of            
,antinaturalism promised his heaven to  
the  gloomy world-despiser4 8,blessed   
are they that mourn40 8,if any man will 
come after me1 let him deny himself and 
take up his cross daily40 8,be          
afflicted1 and mourn and weep2 let your 
laughter be turned to mourning  and your

 joy to heaviness40 8,woe unto you that 
laugh40 8,if any man come  to me and    
hate not his father and mother1 his wife
 and children1 his  brothers and        
sisters1 yea1 and his own life also1 he 
cannot be my  disciple40    ,the love of
 health is as natural as the dread of   
pain and decrepitude4  ,the religion of 
,antinaturalism revoked the health laws 
of the ,mosaic  code1 and denounced the 
care even for the preservation of life  
itself4  8,take no thought for your     
life1 what ye shall eat or what ye shall
  drink1 nor yet for your body1 what ye 
shall put on40 8,bodily exercise        
profiteth but little40 8,there is       
nothing from without a man that1        
entering him1 can defile him40    ,the  
love of knowledge awakens with the dawn 
of reason2 a normal child  is naturally 
inquisitive2 the wonders of the visible 
creation invite  the study of every     
intelligent observer4 ,the enemies of   
nature  suppressed the manifestations of
 that instinct1 and hoped to enter      

their paradise by the crawling trail of 
blind faith4 8,blessed are they  that do
 not see and yet believe40 8,he that    
believeth and is baptized  shall be     
saved1 but he that believeth not shall  
be damned40 8,he that  believeth not is 
condemned already40    ,the love of     
freedom1 the most universal of the      
protective instincts1  was suppressed by
 the constant inculcation of passive    
resignation to  the yoke of 8the powers 
that be10 of abject submission to       
oppression  and injustice4 8,resist not 
evil40 8,of him that taketh away thy    
goods  ask them not again40 8,whosoever 
shall compel thee to go a mile1 go with 
him twain40 8,submit yourselves to the  
powers that be40    ,the love of        
industry1 the basis of social welfare1  
that manifests  itself even in social   
insects1 was denounced as unworthy of a 
true  believer3 8,take no thought1      
saying1 ,what shall we eat8 what shall  
we  drink8 or wherewithal shall we be   
clothed8 ,for after all these things  do

 the gentiles seek40 8,take no thought  
of the morrow1 for the morrow  shall    
take thought for the things of itself40 
8,ask and it shall be  given you10 i4e41
 stop working and rely on miracles and  
prayer4    ,the hope for the peace of   
the grave1 the last solace of the       
wretched  and weary1 was undermined by  
the dogmas of eternal hell1 and the     
prerdained damnation of all earth-loving
 children of nature3 8,he that  hateth  
not his own life cannot be my disciple40
 8,the children of the  kingdom shall be
 cast out into utter darkness1 there    
shall be weeping  and gnashing of       
teeth40 8,they shall be cast into a     
furnace of fire1  there shall be wailing
 and gnashing of teeth40 8,they shall be
 tormented  with fire and brimstone in  
the presence of the holy angels1 and in 
the  presence of the ,lamb40 8,and the  
smoke of their torment ascendeth        
forever and ever1 and they have no rest 
day nor night40    ,for fifteen         
centuries the pilot of the church lured 

our forefathers to  a whirlpool of      
mental and physical degeneration1 till  
the storms of the  ,protestant revolt   
enabled them to break the spell of the  
fatal eddies1  and1 like a swimmer      
saving his naked life1 mankind has      
struggled back  to the rescuing rocks of
 our mother earth4 ,lured by the twinkle
 of  reflected stars1 we have plunged   
into the maelstrom of ,antinaturalism1  
and after regaining the shore1 by utmost
 efforts1 it seems now time to  estimate
 the expenses of the adventure4    ,the 
suppression of science has retarded the 
progress of mankind by a  full thousand 
years4 ,for a century or two the        
,mediterranean peninsulas  still        
lingered in the evening twilight of     
pagan civilization1 but with  the       
confirmed rule of the church the gloom  
of utter darkness overspread  the homes 
of her slaves1 and the delusions of that
 dreadful night far  exceeded the worst 
superstitions of pagan barbarism4 8,the 
cloud of  universal ignorance10 says    

,hallam1 8was broken only by a few      
glimmering  lights1 who owe almost the  
whole of their distinction to the       
surrounding darkness4 ,we cannot        
conceive of any state of society more   
adverse to the intellectual improvement 
of mankind than one which  admitted no  
middle line between dissoluteness and   
fanatical  mortifications4 ,no original 
writer of any merit arose1 and learning 
may  be said to have languished in a    
region of twilight for the greater part 
of a thousand years4 ,in #iib it was    
asserted that scarcely a single  person 
was to be found1 in ,rome itself1 who   
knew the first elements of  letters4    
,not one priest of a thousand in ,spain1
 about the age of  ,charlemagne1 could  
address a common letter of salutation to
 another40  ,in that midnight hour of   
unnatural superstitions every           
torch-bearer was  persecuted as an enemy
 of the human race4 ,bruno1 ,campanella1
 ,kepler1  ,vanini1 ,galilei1           
,copernicus1 ,descartes1 and ,spinoza   

had to force their  way through a       
snapping and howling pack of monkish    
fanatics who beset  the path of every   
reformer1 and overcame the heroism of   
all but the  stoutest champions of light
 and freedom4 ,from the tenth to the end
 of  the sixteenth century not less than
 #c1jjj1jjj 8heretics10 i4e41  scholars 
and free inquirers1 had to expiate their
 love of truth in the  flames of the    
stake4    ,the systematic suppression of
 freedom1 in the very instincts of the  
human mind1 turned ,christian ,europe   
into a universal slave-pen of  bondage  
and tyranny2 there were only captives   
and jailers1 abject serfs  and their    
inhuman masters4 ,freedom found a refuge
 only in the  fastnesses of the         
mountains2 in the wars against the pagan
 ,saxons the  last freemen of the plains
 were slain like wild beasts2 a thousand
 of  their brave leaders were beheaded  
on the market square of ,quedlinburg1   
thousands were imprisoned in ,christian 
convents1 or dragged away to the        

bondage of feudal and ecclesiastic slave
 farms where they learned to  envy the  
peace of the dead and the freedom of the
 lowest savages4 8,one  sees certain    
dark1 livid1 naked1 sunburnt1 wild      
animals1 male and  female1 scattered    
over the country and attached to the    
soil1 which they  root and turn over    
with indomitable perseverance4 ,they    
have1 as it  were1 an articulate voice2 
and when they rise to their feet they   
show a  human face4 ,they are1 in fact1 
men2 they creep at night into dens1     
where they live on black bread1 water1  
and roots4 ,they spare other men  the   
labor of plowing1 sowing1 and           
harvesting1 and1 therefore1 deserve     
some small share of the bread they have 
grown4 ,yet they were the  fortunate    
peasants--those who had bread and       
work--and they were then the  few0      
7while half the arable territory of     
,france was in the hands of the         
church74 8,feudalism10 says ,blanqui1   
8was a concentration of all  scourges4  

,the peasant1 stripped of the           
inheritance of his fathers1  became the 
property of ignorant1 inexorable1       
indolent masters4 ,he was  obliged to   
travel fifty leagues with their carts   
whenever they required  it2 he labored  
for them three days in the week1 and    
surrendered to them  half the product of
 his earnings during the other three2   
without their  consent1 he could not    
change his residence or marry4 ,and why1
 indeed1  should he wish to marry1 if he
 could scarcely save enough to maintain 
himself8 ,the ,abbot ,alcuin had twenty 
thousand slaves called serfs1 who  were 
forever attached to the soil4 ,this is  
the great cause of the rapid            
depopulation observed in the ,middle    
,ages1 and of the prodigious  multitude 
of convents which sprang up on every    
side4 ,it was doubtless a  relief to    
such miserable men to find in the       
cloisters a retreat from  oppression2   
but the human race never suffered a more
 cruel outrage2  industry never received

 a wound better calculated to plunge the
 world  again into the darkness of the  
rudest antiquity4 ,it suffices to say   
that the prediction of the approaching  
end of the world1 industriously  spread 
by the rapacious monks at this time1 was
 received without  terror40    ,the     
joy-hating insanities of the unnatural  
creed blighted the lives of  thousands1 
and trampled the flowers of earth even  
on the bleak soil of  ,north ,britain1  
where the children of nature need every 
hour of respite  from cheerless toil4   
8,all social pleasures10 says ,buckle1  
8all  amusements and all the joyful     
instincts of the human heart1 were      
denounced as sinful4 ,the clergy looked 
on all comforts as sinful in            
themselves1 merely because they were    
comforts4 ,the great object of life  was
 to be in a state of constant           
affliction4 ,whatever pleased the       
senses was to be suspected4 ,it mattered
 not what a man liked2 the mere  fact of
 his liking it made it sinful4 ,whatever

 was natural was wrong40    ,the dogma  
of exclusive salvation by faith made    
forcible conversion  appear an act of   
mercy1 and stimulated those wars of     
aggression that  have cost the lives of 
more than thirty millions of our        
fellow-men4 ,in  the ,crusades alone    
five millions of victims were sacrificed
 on the  altar of fanaticism2 the       
extermination of the ,moriscos reduced  
the  population of ,spain by seven      
millions2 the man-hunts of the          
,spanish-,american priests almost       
annihilated the native population of    
the ,west ,indies and vast areas of     
,central and ,south ,america1 once as   
well-settled as the most fertile regions
 of ,southern ,europe4 ,the horrid      
butcheries in the land of the           
,albigenses1 in the mountain homes of   
the  ,vaudois1 and in the ,spanish      
provinces of the ,netherlands           
exterminated  the inhabitants of whole  
cities and districts1 and drenched the  
fields  of earth with the blood of her  

noblest children4    ,the neglect of    
industry and the depreciation of secular
 pursuits proved  the death-blow of     
rational agriculture4 ,the garden-lands 
of the ,old  ,world became sand-wastes1 
the soil of the neglected fields was    
scorched  by summer suns and torn by    
winter floods till three million square 
miles of once fruitful lands were turned
 into hopeless deserts4 8,the  fairest  
and fruitfulest provinces of the ,roman 
empire10 says ,professor                
,marsh--8precisely that portion of      
terrestrial surface1 in short1 which    
about the commencement of the ,christian
 era was endowed with the  greatest     
superiority of soil1 climate1 and       
position1 which had been  carried to the
 highest pitch of physical              
improvement--is now completely          
exhausted of its fertility4 ,a territory
 larger than all ,europe1 the  abundance
 of which sustained in bygone centuries 
a population scarcely  inferior to that 
of the whole ,christian world at the    

present day1 has  been entirely         
withdrawn from human use1 or1 at best1  
is thinly  inhabited4444 ,there are     
regions1 where the operation of causes1 
set in  action by man1 has brought the  
face of the earth to a state of         
desolation almost as complete as that of
 the moon2 and though within  that brief
 space of time which we call the        
historical period1 they are  known to   
have been covered with luxuriant woods1 
verdant pastures1 and  fertile meadows1 
they are now too far deteriorated to be 
reclaimable by  man1 nor can they become
 again fitted for his use except through
 great  geological changes or other     
agencies1 over which we have no         
control4444  ,another era of equal      
improvidence would reduce this earth to 
such a  condition of impoverished       
productiveness as to threaten the       
depravation1 barbarism1 and1 perhaps1   
even the extinction of the human        
species0 7,man and ,nature1 pp4 #d1     
#dc74    ,the experience of the ,middle 

,ages has1 indeed1 been bought at a     
price  which the world cannot afford to 
pay a second time4 ,the sacrifices of   
fifteen centuries have failed to        
purchase the millennium of the          
,galilean ,messiah1 and the time has    
come to seek salvation by a  different  
road4    ,the ,religion of the ,future  
will preach the ,gospel of ,redemption  
by  reason1 by science1 and by          
conformity to the laws of our           
health-protecting instincts4 ,its       
teachings will reconcile instinct and   
precept1 and make ,nature the ally of   
education4 ,its mission will seek  to   
achieve its triumphs1 not by the        
suppression1 but by the  encouragement  
of free inquiry2 it will dispense with  
the aid of pious  frauds2 its success   
will be a victory of truth1 of freedom1 
and  humanity2 it will reconquer our    
earthly paradise1 and teach us to       
renounce the ,eden that has to be       
reached through the gates of death4     
,i4--,,physical ,,maxims4      ,,chapter

 ,i4    ,,health4      ,a4--,,lessons   
,,of ,,instinct4    ,nature has guarded 
the health of her creatures by a        
marvelous system of  protective         
intuitions4 ,the sensitive membrane of  
the eye resents the  intrusion of every 
foreign substance4 ,an intuitive sense  
of discomfort  announces every injurious
 extreme of temperature4 ,to the        
unperverted  taste of animals in a state
 of nature wholesome food is pleasant1  
injurious substances repulsive or       
insipid4 ,captain ,kane found that only 
the rage of famine will tempt the foxes 
of the ,arctic coastlands to  touch     
spoiled meat4 ,in times of scarcity the 
baboons of the ,abyssinian  mountains   
greedily hunt for edible roots1 which an
 unerring faculty  enables them to      
distinguish from the poisonous          
varieties4 ,the  naturalist ,tschudi    
mentions a troop of half-tamed chamois  
forcing their  way through a shingle    
roof1 rather than pass a night in the   
stifling  atmosphere of a goat stable4  

,man in his primitive state had his full
 share of those protective  instincts1  
which still manifest themselves in      
children and  ,nature-guided savages4   
,it is a mistake to suppose that the    
lowest of  those savages are naturally  
fond of ardent spirits4 ,the travelers  
,park1  ,gerstaecker1 ,vambery1 ,kohl1  
,de ,tocqueville1 and ,brehm agree that 
the  first step on the road to ruin is  
always taken in deference to the        
example of the admired superior race1 if
 not in compliance with direct          
persuasion4 ,the negroes of the ,senegal
 highlands shuddered at the first  taste
 of alcohol1 but from a wish to         
conciliate the good will of their       
visitors hesitated to decline their     
invitations1 which subsequently1        
indeed1 became rather superfluous4 ,the 
children of the wilderness              
unhesitatingly prefer the hardships of a
 winter camp to the atmospheric  poisons
 of our tenement houses4 ,shamyl ,ben   
,haddin1 the ,circassian war  chief1    

whose iron constitution had endured the 
vicissitudes of  thirty-four campaigns1 
pathetically protested against the pest 
air of  his ,russian prison cell1 and   
warned his jailers that1 unless his     
dormitory was changed1 ,heaven would    
hold them responsible for the guilt  of 
his suicide4 ,i have known country boys 
to step out into a shower of  rain and  
sleet to escape from the contaminated   
atmosphere of a city  workshop1 and     
after a week's work in a spinning mill  
return to the  penury of their mountain 
homes1 rather than purchase dainties at 
the  expense of their lungs4    ,the    
word frugality1 in its original sense1  
referred literally to a diet  of tree   
fruits1 in distinction to carnivorous   
fare1 and nine out of ten  children     
still decidedly prefer ripe fruit and   
farinaceous dishes to  the richest      
meats4 ,they as certainly prefer easy1  
home-made clothes to  the constraint of 
fashionable fripperies4 ,the main tenets
 of our  dress-reformers are anticipated

 in the sensible garments of many       
half-civilized nations4 ,boys1 within   
reach of a free bathing river1 can      
dispense with the advice of the         
hydropathic school4 ,they delight in    
exercise2 they laugh at the imaginary   
danger of fresh-air draughts1 and  the  
perils of barefoot rambles in wet and   
dry4 ,they would cast their  vote in    
favor of the outdoor pursuit of hundreds
 of occupations which  custom1 rather   
than necessity1 now associates with the 
disadvantages of  indoor confinement4   
,the hygienic influence of arboreal     
vegetation has  been recognized by the  
ablest pathologists of modern times2    
avenues of  shade trees have been found 
to redeem the sanitary condition of many
 a  grimy city1 and the eminent         
hygienist1 ,schrodt1 holds that1 as a   
remedial institution1 a shady park is   
worth a dozen drug stores4 ,but  all    
these lessons only confirm an often     
manifested1 and too often  suppressed1  
instinct of our young children3 their   

passionate love of  woodland sports1    
their love of tree shade1 of greenwood  
camps1 of  forest life in all its forms4
 ,those who hold that 8nature0 is but a 
synonym of 8habit0 should witness the   
rapture of city children at first  sight
 of forest glades and shady meadow      
brooks1 and compare it with the  city   
dread of the ,swiss peasant lad or the  
,american backwoods boy1  sickened by   
the fumes and the uproar of a large     
manufacturing town4 ,a  thousands years 
of vice and abnormal habits have not yet
 silenced the  voice of the physical    
conscience that recalls our steps to the
 path of  ,nature1 and will not permit  
us to transgress her laws unwarned4     
,b4--,,rewards ,,of ,,conformity4       
,the reward of nature-abiding habits is 
not confined to the negative  advantage 
of escaping the discomforts of disease4 
,in the pursuit of  countless           
competitive avocations the ,art of      
,survival is a chief secret  of success1
 but in this age of sanitary abuses our 

lives are mostly  half-told tales4 ,our 
season ends before the trees of hope    
have time to  ripen their fruit2 before 
their day's work is done our toilers are
  overtaken by the shadows of           
approaching night4 ,sanitary reforms    
would  undoubtedly lengthen our average 
term of life1 and an increase of        
longevity alone would solve the most    
vexing riddles of existence3 the        
apparent injustice of fate1 the         
disproportion of merit and              
compensation1 the aimlessness1 the      
illusive promises and baffled hopes  of 
life4 ,for millions of our fellow-men an
 increase of health and  longevity would
 suffice to make life decidedly worth   
living4 ,health  lessens the temptations
 to many vices4 ,perfect health blesses 
its  possessor with a spontaneous       
cheerfulness almost proof against the   
frowns of fortune and the cares of      
poverty4 ,with a meal of barley cakes   
and milk1 a straw couch1 and scant      
clothing of homespun linen1 a           

shepherd-boy in the highlands of the    
,austrian ,alps may enjoy existence  to 
a degree that exuberates in frolic and  
jubilant shouts1 while all  the         
resources of wealth cannot recall the   
sunshine which sickness has  banished   
from the life of the dyspeptic glutton4 
,if happiness could be  computed by     
measure and weight1 it would be found   
that her richest  treasures are not     
stored in gilded walls1 but in the homes
 of frugal  thrift1 of rustic vigor and 
nature-loving independence4 ,the        
sweetness  of health reflects itself in 
grace of form and deportment1 and wins  
friends where the elegance of studied   
manners gains only admirers4  ,health is
 also a primary condition of that       
clearness of mind the  absence of which 
can be only partially compensated by the
 light of  learning4 ,health is the     
basis of mental as of bodily vigor2     
country-bred boys have again and again  
carried off the prizes of  academical   
honors from the pupils of refined       

cities1 and the foremost  reformers of  
all ages and countries have been men of 
the people2  low-born1 but not the less 
well-born1 sons of hardy rustics and    
mechanics1 from ,moses1 ,socrates1      
,epictetus1 ,jesus ,ben ,josef1 and     
,mohammed1 to ,luther1 ,rousseau1       
,thomas ,paine1 and ,abraham ,lincoln4  
,c4--,,perversion4    ,habitual sin     
against the health-laws of ,nature was  
originally chiefly a  consequence of    
untoward circumstances4 ,slaves1        
paupers1 immigrants to  the inhospitable
 climes of the higher latitudes1 were   
forced to adopt  abnormal modes of life 
which1 in the course of time1 hardened  
into  habits4 ,man1 like all the        
varieties of his four-handed relatives1 
is a  native of the tropics1 and the    
diet of our earliest manlike ancestors  
was1 in all probability1 frugal3        
tree-fruits1 berries1 nuts1 roots1 and  
edible herbs and gums4 ,but the first   
colonists of the winter lands were      
obliged to eke out an existence by      

eating the flesh of their               
fellow-creatures1 and a carnivorous diet
 thus became the habitual and1  in many 
countries1 almost the exclusive diet of 
the nomadic  inhabitants4    ,alcohol is
 a product of fermentation1 and the     
avarice of a cruel master  may have     
forced his slaves to quench their thirst
 with fermented must  or hydromel till  
habit begot a baneful second nature1 and
 the at first  reluctant victims of     
intoxication learned to prefer spoiled  
to fresh  grape-juice4 ,sedentary       
occupations1 however distasteful at     
first1 are  apt to engender a sluggish  
aversion to physical exercise1 and even 
habitual confinement in a vitiated      
atmosphere may at last become a  second 
nature1 characterized by a morbid dread 
of fresh air4 ,the slaves  of the ,roman
 landowners had to pass their nights in 
prison-like  dungeons1 and may have     
contracted the first germ of that mental
 disease  known as the night-air        
superstition1 the idea1 namely1 that    

after dark  the vitiated atmosphere of a
 stifling dormitory is preferable to the
  balm of the cooling night wind4    ,in
 modern times an unprecedented          
concurrence of circumstances has        
stimulated a feverish haste in the      
pursuit of wealth1 and thus  indirectly 
led to the neglect of personal hygiene4 
,the abolition of the  public festivals 
by which the potentates of the pagan    
empires  compensated their subjects for 
the loss of political freedom1 the      
heartless egotism of our wealthy        
,pharisees1 venal justice1 and the dire 
bondage of city life all help to        
stimulate a headlong race toward the    
goal of the promised land of ease and   
independence--a goal reached only  by a 
favored few compared with the multitudes
 who daily drop down  wayworn and       
exhausted4    ,but the deadliest blow to
 the cause of health was struck by the  
anti-natural fanaticism of the ,middle  
,ages1 the world-hating  infatuation of 
the maniacs who depreciated every       

secular blessing as a  curse in         
disguise1 and despised their own bodies 
as they despised  nature1 life1 and     
earth4 ,the disciples of the            
world-renouncing messiah  actually      
welcomed disease as a sign of divine    
favor1 they gloried in  decrepitude and 
deformity1 and promoted the work of     
degeneration with a  persevering zeal   
never exceeded by the enlightened       
benefactors of the  human race4 ,for a  
period of fifteen hundred years the     
ecclesiastic  history of ,europe is the 
history of a systematic war against the 
interests of the human body2 the        
8mortification of the flesh0 was        
enjoined as a cardinal duty of a true   
believer2 health-giving  recreations    
were suppressed1 while health-destroying
 vices were  encouraged by the example  
of the clergy2 domestic hygiene was     
utterly  neglected1 and the founders of 
some twenty-four different monastic     
orders vied in the invention of new     
penances and systematic outrages  upon  

the health of the poor convent-slaves4  
,their diet was confined to  the        
coarsest and often most loathsome food2 
they were subjected to  weekly          
bleedings1 to profitless hardships and  
deprivations2 their sleep  was broken   
night after night2 fasting was carried  
to a length which  often avenged itself 
in permanent insanity2 and their only   
compensation  for a daily repetition of 
health-destroying afflictions was the   
permission to indulge in spiritual      
vagaries and spirituous poisons3 the    
same bigots who grudged their followers 
a night of unbroken rest or a  mouthful 
of digestible food indulged them in     
quantities of alcoholic  beverages that 
would have staggered the conscience of a
 modern  beer-swiller4    ,the bodily   
health of a community was held so       
utterly below the  attention of a       
,christian magistrate that every large  
city became a  hotbed of contagious     
diseases2 small-pox and scrofula became 
pandemic  disorders2 the pestilence of  

the ,black ,death ravaged ,europe from  
end to  end--nay1 instead of trying to  
remove the cause of the evil1 the       
wretched victims were advised to seek   
relief in prayer and  self-torture1 and 
a philosopher uttering a word of protest
 against such  illusions would have     
risked to have his tongue torn out by   
the roots  and his body consigned to the
 flames of the stake4    ,mankind has   
never wholly recovered from that reign  
of insanity4  ,indifference to many of  
the plainest health-laws of nature is   
still the  reproach of our so-called    
civilization4 ,our moralists rant about 
the  golden streets of the ,new         
,jerusalem1 but find no time to         
expurgate the  slums of their own       
cities2 our missionary societies spend  
millions to  acquaint the natives of    
distant islands with the ceremony of    
baptism1  but refuse to contribute a    
penny to the establishment of free      
public  baths for the benefit of their  
poor neighbors1 whose children are      

scourged or caged like wild beasts for  
trying to mitigate the martyrdom  of the
 midsummer season by a bath in the      
waters of the next river4  ,temperance1 
indeed1 is preached in the name of the  
miracle-monger who  turned water into   
alcohol2 but millions of toilers who    
seek to drown  their misery in the      
,lethe of intoxication are deprived of  
every  healthier pastime2 the           
magistrates of our wealthy cities rage  
with  penal ordinances against the      
abettors of public amusements on the day
  when nine-tenths of our laborers find 
their only leisure for  recreation4     
,poor factory children who would spend  
the holidays in the  paradise of the    
green hills are lured into the baited   
trap of a  ,sabbath-school and bribed to
 memorize the stale twaddle of ,hebrew  
ghost-stories or the records of         
fictitious genealogies2 but the offer   
to enlarge the educational sphere of our
 public schools by the  introduction of 
a health primer would be scornfully     

rejected as an  attempt to divert the   
attention of the pupils from more       
important  topics4                      
,d4--,,penalties ,,of ,,neglect4    ,but
 the laws of ,nature cannot be outraged 
with impunity1 and the aid of           
supernatural agencies has never yet     
protected our ghost-mongers from  the   
consequences of their sins against the  
monitions of their physical  conscience4
 ,the neglect of cleanliness avenges    
itself in diseases which  no prayer can 
avert2 during the most filthful and     
prayerful period of  the ,middle ,ages1 
seven out of ten city-dwellers were     
subject to  scrofula of that especially 
malignant form that attacks the glands  
and  the arteries as well as the skin4  
,medical nostrums and clerical          
hocus-pocus of the ordinary sort were1  
indeed1 so notoriously  unavailing      
against that virulent affection that    
thousands of sufferers  took long       
journeys to try the efficacy of a king's
 touch1 as recorded  by the unanimous   

testimony of contemporary writers1 as   
well as in the  still current term of a 
sovereign remedy4 ,a long foot-journey1 
with its  opportunities for physical    
exercise1 outdoor camps1 and changes of 
diet1 often really effected the desired 
result2 but1 on their return to  their  
reeking hovels1 the convalescents       
experienced a speedy relapse1  and had  
either to repeat the wearisome journey  
or resign themselves to  the 8mysterious
 dispensation0 of a ,providence which   
obstinately refused  to let miracles    
interfere with the normal operation of  
the  physiological laws recorded in the 
protests of instinct4 ,stench1  nausea1 
and sick-headaches might1 indeed1 have  
enforced those protests  upon the       
attention of the sufferers2 but the     
disciples of  ,antinaturalism had been  
taught to mistrust the promptings of    
their  natural desires1 and to accept   
discomforts as signs of divine favor1   
or1 in extreme cases1 to trust their    
abatement to the intercession of  the   

saints1 rather than to the profane      
interference of secular science4    ,the
 dungeon-life of the monastic maniacs1  
and the abject submission to  the       
nuisance of atmospheric impurities1     
avenged themselves in the  ravages of   
pulmonary consumption2 the votaries of  
dungeon-smells were  taught the value of
 fresh air by the tortures of an        
affliction from  which only the removal 
of the cause could deliver a victim1 and
  millions of orthodox citizens died    
scores of years before the  attainment  
of a life-term which a seemingly        
inscrutable dispensation of  ,heaven    
grants to the unbelieving savages of the
 wilderness4 ,the  cheapest of all      
remedies1 fresh air1 surrounded them in 
immeasurable  abundance1 craving        
admission and offering them the aid     
which ,nature  grants even to the       
lowliest of her creatures1 but a son of 
a  miracle-working church had no concern
 with such things1 and was  enjoined to 
rely on the efficacy of mystic          

ceremonies3 8,if any man is  sick among 
you1 let him call for the elders of the 
church1 and let them  pray over him1    
anointing him with oil in the name of   
the ,lord40 8,and  the prayer of faith  
shall cure the sick1 and the ,lord shall
 raise him  up40    ,thousands of the   
fatuous bigots who prayed for 8meekness 
of spirit0  continued to gorge          
themselves with the food of carnivorous 
animals1 and  thus inflamed their       
passions with the sanguinary1           
remorseless  propensities of those      
brutes4 ,luigi ,cornaro1 the ,italian   
reformer1  assures us that it was no    
uncommon thing for a nobleman or prelate
 of  his century to swallow fourteen    
pounds of strong meats at a single      
meal1 and that1 after invoking the      
blessing of ,heaven upon such a  repast1
 the devourer of meat-pies would rise   
with his paunch distended  8like the    
hide of a drowned dog40 ,the 8,love of  
,enemies10 8forgiveness  and meekness10 
were on their lips2 but those fourteen  

pounds of  meat-pie worked out their    
normal result2 and among the carnivorous
  saints of that age we accordingly find
 men whose fiendish inhumanity  would   
have appalled the roughest legionary of 
pagan ,rome4 ,csar ,borgia1  the son of 
a highest ecclesiastic dignitary1 a     
disciple of a priestly  training-school1
 and himself a prince of the church1    
seems to have  combined the stealthy    
cunning of a viper with the bloodthirst 
of a  hyena4 ,four times he made and    
broke the most solemn treaties1 in order
  to get an opportunity to invade the   
territory of an unprepared  neighbor4   
,his campaigns were conducted with a    
truculence denounced even  by his own   
allies2 with his own hand he poisoned   
fourteen of his boon  companions1 in    
order to possess himself of their       
property2 twenty-three  of his political
 and clerical rivals were removed by the
 dagger of  hired assassins or executed 
upon the testimony of suborned          
perjurers4  ,he tried to poison his     

brother-in-law1 ,prince ,alphonso of    
,aragon1 in  order to facilitate his    
design of seducing his own sister2 he   
made  repeated1 and at last partly      
successful1 attempts to poison the      
brother  of his mother and his own      
father1 the pope4    ,the heartless     
neglect of sanitary provisions for the  
comfort of the  poor avenges itself in  
epidemics that visit the abodes of      
wealth as  well as the hovels of misery4
 ,a stall-fed preacher of our southern  
seaport towns may circulate a petition  
for the suppression of ,sunday          
excursions1 in order to prevent the     
recreation-needing toilers of his       
community from leaving town on ,st4     
,collection ,day2 he may advocate the   
arrest of bathing schoolboys1 in order  
to suppress an undue love of  physical  
enjoyments1 or to gratify a female      
tithe-payer who seeks an  opportunity of
 displaying her prudish virtue at the   
expense of the  helpless2 he may vote to
 suppress outdoor sports in the cool of 

the  late evening1 when the inhabitants 
of the tenement streets are trying  to  
enjoy an hour of extra ,sabbatarian     
recreation--a privilege to be  reserved 
for the saints who can rest six days out
 of seven1 and on the  seventh harvest  
the fruits of other men's labor4 ,but   
epidemics refuse  to recognize such     
distinctions1 and the vomit of yellow   
fever will  force the most reverend     
monopolist to disgorge the proceeds of  
the  tithes coined from the misery of   
consumptive factory children4 ,nor can  
wealth purchase immunity from the       
natural consequences of habitual  vice4 
,the dyspeptic glutton is a ,tantalus   
who starves in the midst of  abundance4 
,the worn-out tradesman1 whose restless 
toil in the mines of  mammon has led to 
asthma or consumption1 would vainly     
offer to barter  half his gold for half 
a year of health4 ,thousands of families
 who deny  themselves every recreation1 
who linger out the summer in the        
sweltering city1 and toil and save 8for 

the sake of our dear children10  have   
received ,nature's verdict on the wisdom
 of their course in the  premature death
 of those children4                     
,e4--,,redemption4    ,it has often been
 said that the physical regeneration of 
the human race  could be achieved       
without the aid of a miracle1 if its    
systematic  pursuit were followed with  
half the zeal which our stock-breeders  
bestow upon the rearing of their cows   
and horses4 ,a general observance  of   
the most clearly recognized laws of     
health would1 indeed1 abundantly        
suffice for that purpose4 ,there is1 for
 instance1 no doubt that the  morbid    
tendency of our indoor modes of         
occupation could be counteracted  by    
gymnastics1 and the trustees of our     
education fund should build a  gymnasium
 near every town school4 ,as a condition
 of health1 pure air is  as essential as
 pure water and food1 and no house-owner
 should be  permitted to sow the seeds  
of deadly diseases by crowding his      

tenants  into the back rooms of unaired 
and unairable slum-prisons4 ,new cities 
should be projected on the plan of      
concentric rings of cottage suburbs     
7interspersed with parks and gardens71  
instead of successive strata of         
tenement flats4    ,in every large town 
all friends of humanity should unite for
 the  enforcement of ,sunday freedom1   
and spare no pains to brand the ,sabbath
  bigots as enemies of the human race4  
,we should found ,sunday gardens1  where
 our toil-worn fellow-citizens could    
enjoy their holidays with  outdoor      
sports and outdoor dances1 free museums1
 temperance drinks1  healthy            
refreshments1 collections of botanical  
and zological  curiosities4 ,country    
excursions on the only leisure day of   
the laboring  classes should be as free 
as air and sunshine1 and every civilized
  community should have a ,recreation   
,league for the promotion of that       
purpose4    ,in the second century of   
our chronological era the cities of the 

,roman  empire vied in the establishment
 of free public baths4 ,antioch alone   
had fourteen of them2 ,alexandria not   
less than twelve1 and ,rome itself  at  
least twenty1 some of them of such      
magnificence and extent that  their     
foundations have withstood the ravages  
of sixteen centuries4 ,many  of those   
establishments were entirely free1 and  
even the ,therm1 or  luxurious ,warm    
,baths1 of ,caracalla admitted visitors 
for a gate-fee  which all but the       
poorest could afford4 ,our boasted      
civilization will  have to follow such  
examples before it can begin to deserve 
its name2  and even the free circus     
games 7by no means confined to the      
combats of  armed prize-fighters7 were  
preferable to the fanatical suppression 
of  all popular sports which made the   
age of ,puritanism the dreariest  period
 of that dismal era known as the ,reign 
of the ,cross4    ,the preservation of  
health is at least not less important   
than the  preservation of ,hebrew       

mythology2 and communities who force    
their  children to sacrifice a large    
portion of their time to the study of   
,asiatic miracle legends might well     
permit them to devote an occasional     
hour or two to the study of modern      
physiology4 ,we should have health      
primers and teachers of hygiene1 and the
 most primitive district school  should 
find time for a few weekly lessons in   
the rudiments of sanitary  science1 such
 as the importance of ventilation1 the  
best modes of  exercise1 the proper     
quality and quantity of our daily food1 
the  significance of the stimulant      
habit1 the use and abuse of dress1 etc4 
,such text-books would prepare the way  
for health lectures1 for health         
legislation and the reform of municipal 
hygiene4 ,the untruth that 8a  man can  
not be defiled by things entering him   
from without0 has been  thoroughly      
exploded by the lessons of science1 and 
should no longer  excuse the neglect of 
that frugality which in the times of the

 pagan  republics formed the best       
safeguard of national vigor4 ,milk1     
bread1 and  fruit1 instead of greasy    
viands1 alcohol1 and narcotic drinks1   
would  soon modify the mortality        
statistics of our large cities1 and we  
should  not hesitate to recognize the   
truth that the remarkable longevity of  
the ,jews and ,mohammedans has a great  
deal to do with their dread of  impure  
food4                    ,,chapter ,,ii4
    ,,strength4      ,a4--,,lessons ,,of
 ,,instinct4    ,bodily vigor is the    
basis of mental and physical health4    
,strength is  power1 and the instinctive
 love of invigorating exercise manifests
  itself in the young of all but the    
lowest brutes4 ,the bigot who           
undermines the health of his children by
 stinting their outdoor sport  as       
8worldly vanity10 and 8exercise that    
profiteth but little10 is  shamed by    
animals who lead their young in races   
and trials of strength4  ,thus the      
female fox will train her cubs2 the doe 

will race and romp  with her fawn1 the  
mare with her colt4 ,monkeys 7like the  
squirrels of  our northern forests7 can 
be seen running up and down a tree and  
leaping from branch to branch1 without  
any conceivable purpose but the         
enjoyment of the exercise itself2 dogs  
run races1 young lions wrestle  and paw 
each other in a playful trial of        
prowess2 even birds can be  seen        
sporting in the air1 and dolphins on the
 play-fields of the ocean4  ,in nearly  
all classes of the vertebrate animals   
the rivalry of the  males is decided by 
a trial of strength1 and the female     
unhesitatingly  accepts the victor as   
the fittest representative of his       
species4    ,normal children are        
passionately fond of athletic sports4   
,in western  ,yucatan ,i saw ,indian    
girls climb trees with the agility of a 
spider-monkey1 and laughingly pelt each 
other with the fruits of the  ,adansonia
 fig4 ,the children of the ,south-sea   
,islanders vie in aquatic  gymnastics4  

,spartan girls joined in the foot-races 
of their brothers1  and by the laws of  
,lycurgus were not permitted to marry   
till they had  attained a prescribed    
degree of proficiency in a number of    
athletic  exercises4 ,race-running and  
wrestling were the favorite pastimes of 
young ,romans in the undegenerate age of
 the republic2 and1 in spite of  all    
restraints1 similar propensities still  
manifest themselves in our  school-boys4
 ,they pass the intervals of their      
study-hours in  competitive athletics1  
rather than in listless inactivity1 and 
brave  frosts and snowstorms to get the 
benefit of outdoor exercise even in     
midwinter4 ,they love health-giving     
sports for their own sake1 as if        
instinctively aware that bodily strength
 will further every victory in  the     
arena of life4    ,the enthusiasm that  
gathered about the heroic games of      
,olympia made  those festivals the      
brightest days in the springtime of the 
human race4  ,the million-voiced cheers 

that hailed the victor of the pentathlon
 have  never been heard again on earth  
since the manliest and noblest of all   
recreations were suppressed by order of 
a crowned bigot4 ,the rapture of        
competitive athletics is a bond which   
can obliterate the rancor of all  baser 
rivalries1 and still unites hostile     
tribes in the arena of pure  manhood3 as
 in ,algiers1 where the ,bedouins joined
 in the gymnastic  prize-games of their 
,french foemen3 the same foemen whose   
banquets they  would have refused to    
share even at the bidding of starvation4
 ,in  ,buda-,pesth ,i once witnessed a  
performance of the ,german athlete      
,weitzel1 and still remember the        
irrepressible enthusiasm of two         
broad-shouldered ,turks who crowded to  
the edge of the platform1 and1  with    
waving kerchiefs1 joined in the cheers  
of the uncircumcised  spectators4       
,b4--,,rewards ,,of ,,conformity4       
,the 8survival of the fittest0 means1 in
 many important respects1 the  survival 

of the strongest4 ,in a state of nature 
weakly animals yield to  their stronger 
rivals2 the stoutest lion1 the swiftest 
tiger1 has a  superior chance of        
obtaining prey2 the stouter bulls of the
 herd defy  the attack of the wolves who
 overcome the resistance of the weaker  
individuals2 the fleetest deer has the  
best chance to escape the  pursuit of   
the hunter4    ,a state of civilization 
does only apparently equalize such      
differences4  ,the invention of         
gunpowder has armed the weak with the   
power of a  giant2 but the issue of     
international wars will always be biased
 by the  comparative strength of sinew  
and steadiness of nerve of the men that 
handle those improved weapons4 ,in the  
last ,franco-,prussian war the  ,french 
were favored by an undoubted superiority
 of arms1 but they were  utterly beaten 
by a nation whose sons had devoted their
 youth to  gymnastics4 ,the arms of the 
,gothic giants were of the rudest       
description3 hunting-spears and clumsy  

battle-axes2 but those axes  broke the  
ranks of the ,roman legionaries1 with   
their polished swords  and elaborate    
tactics4 ,for the last two thousand     
years the wars that  decided the        
international rivalries of ,asia1       
,europe1 and ,north ,america  nearly    
always ended with the victory of a      
northern nation over its  southern      
neighbors4 ,the men of the north could  
not always boast a  superiority in      
science or arms1 nor in number1 nor in  
the advantage of  a popular cause2 but  
the rigor of their climate exacts a     
valiant effort  in the struggle for     
existence1 and steels the nerves even of
 an  otherwise inferior race4 8,fortis  
,fortuna adjuvat10 said a ,roman        
proverb1 which means literally that     
,fortune favors the strong1 and  which  
has been well rendered in the paraphrase
 of a modern translator3  8,force begets
 fortitude and conquers fortune40 ,nor  
is that bias of fate  confined to the   
battles of war4 ,in the contests of     

peace1 too1 other  things being equal1  
the strong arm will prevail against the 
weak1 the  stout heart against the      
faint4 ,bodily strength begets          
self-reliance4  8,blest are the strong1 
for they shall possess the kingdom of   
the  earth10 would be an improved       
variation of the gospel text4 ,the      
,germanic  nations 7including the       
,scandinavian and ,anglo-,saxon7 who    
have most  faithfully preserved the once
 universal love of manly sports1 have   
prevailed against their rivals in the   
arena of industry and science1 as  well 
as of war4    ,an ,american             
manufacturer1 who established a branch  
of his business at  ,havre1 ,france1    
hired ,american and ,british workmen at 
double wages1  maintaining that he found
 it the cheapest plan1 since one of his 
expensive laborers could do the work of 
three natives4 ,in the seaport  towns1  
even of ,south ,america and ,southern   
,europe1 a ,british sailor is  always at
 a premium4 ,american industry is       

steadily forcing its way  further south1
 and may yet come to limit the fields of
 its enterprise  only by the boundaries 
of the ,american continent4 ,from the   
smallest  beginnings1 a nation of       
iron-fisted rustics has repeatedly risen
 to  supremacy in arms and arts4 ,two   
hundred years before the era of ,norman 
conquests in ,france1 ,italy1 and ,great
 ,britain1 the natives of ,norway  were 
but a race of hardy hunters and         
fishermen4 ,a century after the  battle 
of ,xeres de la ,frontera1 the          
half-savage followers of ,musa and      
,tarik had founded high schools of      
science and industry4 ,and1 as the      
fairest flower springs from the hardy   
thorn1 the brightest flowers of  art and
 poetry have immortalized the lands of  
heroic freemen1 rather  than of languid 
dreamers4 ,the same nation that carried 
the banners of  freedom through the     
battle-storm of ,marathon and ,salamis1 
adorned its  temples with the sculptures
 of ,phidias and its literature with the

  masterpieces of ,sophocles and        
,simonides4    ,physical vigor is also  
the best guarantee of longevity4 ,nature
 exempts  the children of the south from
 many cares2 yet in the stern climes of 
the higher latitudes ,health seems to   
make her favorite home2 in spite  of    
snowstorms and bitter frosts the robust 
,scandinavian outlives the  languid     
,italian4 ,in spite of a rigorous       
climate1 ,i say1 for that his  length of
 life is the reward of hardy habits is  
proved by the not less  remarkable      
longevity of the hardy ,arab and the    
manful ,circassian1 in  climes that     
differ from that of ,norway as ,mexico  
and ,virginia differ  from ,labrador4   
,men of steeled sinews overcome disease 
as they brave the  perils of wars and   
the hardships of the wilderness2        
hospital-surgeons  know how readily the 
semi-savages of a primitive borderland  
recover  from injuries that would send  
the effeminate city-dweller to the land 
of the shades4 ,toil-hardened laborers1 

too1 share such immunities4 ,on  the    
#beth of ,march1 #ahhg1 ,thomas         
,mc,guire1 the foreman of a number of   
laborers employed at the night-shift of 
the ,croton ,aqueduct1 fell to  the     
bottom of the pit1 a distance of        
ninety-five feet1 and was drawn up  in a
 comatose condition1 literally drenched 
in his own blood4 ,at the  ,bellevue    
,hospital 7city of ,new ,york7 the      
examining surgeon found him  still      
alive1 but gave him up for lost when he 
ascertained the extent of  his injuries4
 ,both his arms were broken near the    
shoulder1 both thighs  were fractured1  
his skull was horribly shattered about  
the left temple  and frontal region1 six
 of his ribs were broken and their      
splinters  driven into the lungs4 ,there
 seemed no hope whatever for him1 and1  
after the administration of an          
anesthetic1 he was put in a cot and left
  alone to die4 ,to the utter surprise  
of the attending surgeon1 the next      
morning found the mass of broken bones  

still breathing4 ,his fever  subsided2  
he survived a series of desperate       
operations1 survived an  apparently     
fatal hemorrhage1 and continued to      
improve from day to day1  till about the
 middle of ,june he recovered his       
complete consciousness1  and was able to
 sit up and answer the questions of the 
medical men who1  in ever increasing    
numbers1 had visited his bedside for the
 last three  weeks4 ,as a newspaper     
correspondent sums up his case3 8,his   
strong  constitution had repulsed the   
assaults of death1 till finally the grim
  monster went away to seek a less      
obstinate victim40 ,and1 moreover1 the  
exercise of athletic sports lessens the 
danger of such accidents3 a  trained    
gymnast will preserve his equilibrium   
where a weakling would  break his neck4 
,according to the mythus of the         
,nature-worshiping ,greeks1 the darling 
of  ,venus was a hunter 7not a tailor or
 a hair-dresser71 and the gift of       
beauty is1 indeed1 bestowed on the      

lovers of health-giving sports1 far     
oftener than on the votaries of fashion4
 ,supreme beauty is  country-bred2 the  
daughters of peasants1 of village       
squires1 of  fox-hunting barons1 have   
again and again eclipsed the galaxies of
 court  belles4 ,country boys have won  
hearts that seemed proof against the    
charm of city gallants4 8,i have seen   
many a handsome man in my time10  says  
old ,mrs4 ,montague in ,barry           
,cornwall's 8,table ,talk10 8but never  
such a pair of eyes as young ,robbie    
,burns kept flashing from under his     
beautiful brow40 8,women will condone   
many a moral blemish in a suitor10  says
 ,arthur ,schopenhauer2 8they will      
pardon rudeness1 egotism1 and           
intellectual poverty2 they will forgive 
even homeliness sooner than  effeminacy4
 ,instinct seems to tell them that in   
the result of marriage  a mother's      
influence can neutralize any defect but 
that40          ,c4--,,perversion4      
,the history of ,antinaturalism is the  

history of a persistent war  against the
 manlier instincts of the human race4   
,buddha and his  ,galilean disciples    
considered the body the enemy of the    
soul4 ,according  to their system of    
ethics1 ,nature and all natural         
instincts are wholly  evil2 the         
renunciation of earth and all earthly   
hopes is their price of  salvation1 and 
the chief endeavor of their insane zeal 
is directed  against the interests of   
the human body4 ,the gospel of ,buddha  
,sakiamuni1 and its revamp1 the 8,new   
,testament0 of the ,galilean messiah1   
abound with the ravings of an           
anti-physical fanaticism as unknown to  
the ethics of the manly ,hebrews as to  
the philosophy of the  earth-loving     
,greeks and ,romans4 ,the duty of       
physical education and  health-culture  
was entirely ignored in the gospel of   
the life-despising  ,nazarene4 8,a      
healthy mind in a healthy body10 was the
 ideal of the  ,grecian philosopher4 ,a 
world-renouncing mind in a crushed body1

 was the  ideal of the ,christian       
moralists4 ,the sculptors and painters  
of the  ,middle ,ages vied in the       
representation of cadaverous saints1    
hollow-eyed devotees1 and ghastly       
self-torturers4 ,physical training was  
tolerated as a secular evil             
indispensable for such purposes of the  
militant church as the hunting of       
heretics and the invasion of  ,mussulman
 empires2 but its essential importance  
was vehemently  disclaimed2 the superior
 merit of sacrificing health to the     
interests  of a body-despising soul was 
constantly commended1 and the founders  
of  the monastic orders that superseded 
the pagan schools of philosophy did  not
 hesitate to enforce their dogmas by    
aggressive measures2 the  wretched      
convent slaves had to submit to weekly  
bleedings and  strength-reducing        
penances2 their novices were barbarously
 scourged for  the clandestine          
indulgence of a lingering love for      
health-giving  sports--wrestling in the 

vacant halls of their cloister-prison1  
or  racing conies on their way to their 
begging-grounds4 ,the ,olympic          
festivals were suppressed by order of a 
,christian emperor4 ,the fathers  of the
 church lost no opportunity to inveigh  
with rancorous invectives  against the  
pagan culture of the manly powers1 8so  
inimical to true  contriteness of spirit
 and meek submission to the yoke of the 
gospel40  ,the followers of ,origenes   
actually practiced castration as the    
most  effectual means of taming the     
stubborn instincts of unregenerate boys4
  ,their exemplar1 who had recommended  
that plan for years1 came at last  to   
suspect the necessity of eradicating a  
germ of worldliness in his  own mind1   
and proceeded to accomplish that purpose
 by emasculating  himself4 ,the         
anti-physical principle of ,european    
,buddhism manifests  itself likewise in 
the fanaticism of the ,scotch ascetics  
who raged  against the scant physical   
recreations of a people already         

sufficiently  afflicted by climatic     
vicissitudes and the parsimony of an    
indigent  soil4 ,it still survives in   
the bigotry of those modern zealots who 
groan at sight of a horse-race or       
wrestling-match1 and would fain         
suppress the undue worldliness of       
ball-playing children4 ,manly pastimes  
were banished from the very dreams of a 
world to come2 and while the  heroes of 
,walhalla contest the prizes of martial 
sports1 and the guests  of ,olympus     
share in the joyful festivals of the    
gods1 the saints of our  priest-blighted
 heaven need the alternative of an      
eternal hell to enjoy  the prospect of  
an everlasting ,sabbath-school4         
,trials of strength and of skill1       
,rewarded by festive assemblies1        
,feasts in the halls of gods1 where the 
voice of the muses      ,answered in    
songs to the ravishing lyre of ,apollo1 
quotes a ,german poet from the ,vulgata1
 8when suddenly10 he adds1 8a  gaunt1   
blood-streaming ,jew rushed in with a   

crown of thorns on his head  and a huge 
wooden cross on his shoulder1 which     
cross he dashed on the  banquet table of
 the appalled gods1 who turned paler and
 paler till  they finally faded away    
into a pallid mist4 ,and a dreary time  
then  began2 the world turned chill and 
bleak4 ,the merry gods had departed2    
,olympus became a ,golgotha1 where      
sickly1 skinned1 and roasted deities    
sneaked about mournfully1 nursing their 
wounds and chanting doleful  hymns4     
,religion1 once a worship of joy1 became
 a whining worship of  sorrow40         
,d4--,,penalties ,,of ,,neglect4    ,but
 ,nature had her revenge1 and the       
despisers of their own bodies  became so
 truly contemptible that in comparison  
the rudest barbarians  of antiquity     
seemed respectable men4 ,the neglect of 
physical exercise  avenged itself in    
loathsome diseases1 the perverted       
instincts exploded  in vices2 the       
monkish self-abasers became caricatures 
of manhood3  bloated1 whining1 mean1 and

 viciously sensual wretches1 the        
laughing-stock of foreign nations and   
the curse and disgrace of their  own4   
,physically1 mentally1 and morally1 the 
earth-despising convent  drone          
represented the vilest type of          
degeneration to which the manhood  of   
our race has ever been degraded1 and the
 enforced veneration of such  monsters1 
as exemplars of perfection1 has         
perverted the ethical  standards of     
mankind to a degree for which our       
present generation is as  yet far from  
having wholly recovered4 ,the love of   
athletic recreations  is still smirched 
with the stigma of the ,middle ,ages2   
8respectability0  is too often mistaken 
for a synonym of pedantry and           
conventional  effeminacy2 parents still 
frown upon the health-giving sports of  
their  children2 vice still sneaks in   
the disguise of saintliness and         
world-renouncing aversion to physical   
recreations4    ,the degeneration of    
many once manful races has reached an   

incurable  phase3 the listless          
resignation to physical abasement and   
decrepitude4  ,earth has spurned her    
despisers2 millions of priest-slaves in 
southern  ,europe have lost the         
inheritance of their fathers1 and have  
to till the  soil for aliens and        
despots4 ,the arbitrament of war has    
made them taste  the lowest dregs of    
national humiliation2 the life-long     
worshipers of  whining saints appealed  
in vain to the ,god of ,battles1 and    
were forced  to eat dust at the feet of 
the despised ,infidel and heretic4 ,the 
ships  of the ,spanish ,armada were     
consecrated by a chorus of ranting      
priests  commending them to the         
miraculous protection of heaven2 and    
heaven's  answer came in the blast of   
the hurricane that buried their fleet in
  the depths of the sea4 ,the same      
nation once more invoked the aid of the 
saints for the protection of an armament
 against the great naval powers  of the 
nineteenth century4 ,the ships were     

ceremoniously baptized with  the most   
fulsomely pious names3 8,the ,holy      
,savior of the ,world10 8,saint         
,maria10 8,saint ,joseph10 8,the ,most  
,holy ,trinity10 and sent forth in full 
reliance on the protection of           
supernatural agencies4 ,but in the      
encounter with ,nelson's self-relying   
veterans the sacred bubble at once      
collapsed4 ,st4 ,joseph's impotence     
howled in vain for the assistance of    
the ,holy ,ghost4 ,the ,savior of the   
,world could save himself only by a     
shameful flight1 and the ,most ,holy    
,trinity succumbed to a decided  surplus
 of holes4          ,e4--,,redemption4  
,in the work of physical regeneration   
,nature meets the reformer more  than   
half-way4 ,our children need but little 
encouragement to break the  fetters of  
the fatuous restraint that dooms them to
 a life of physical  apathy4 ,they ask  
nothing but time and opportunity to     
redeem the coming  generation from the  
stigma of unmanliness and debility4     

,physical and  intellectual education   
should again go hand in hand if we would
 promote  the happiness of a redeemed   
race on the plan that made the age of   
,grecian philosophy and gymnastics the  
brightest era in the history of         
mankind4 ,physical reform should be     
promoted by the systematic              
encouragement of athletic sports2 every 
township should have a free  gymnasium1 
every village a free foot-race park2 by 
prize-offers for  supremacy in          
competitive gymnastics wealthy          
philanthropists could turn  thousands of
 boy topers into young athletes4 ,we    
should have athletic  county meetings1  
state field-days1 and national or       
international  ,olympiads4              
,educational ethics should fully        
recognize the rights of the body4 ,we   
should admit the unorthodox1 but also   
undeniable1 truth that an upright  and  
magnanimous disposition is a concomitant
 of bodily strength1 while  fickleness1 
duplicity1 and querulous injustice are  

the characteristics  of debility4 ,we   
should teach our children that a healthy
 mind can dwell  only in a healthy body1
 and that he who pretends to find no    
time to  take care of his health is a   
workman who thinks it a waste of time to
  take care of his tools4               
,,chapter ,,iii4    ,,chastity4         
,a4--,,lessons ,,of ,,instinct4    ,the 
manifestations of the sexual instinct   
are guided by the plain and  emphatic   
monitions of a physical conscience1     
developed partly with the  primordial   
evolution of our organism1 partly by the
 hereditary  experience transmitted     
during the social development of our    
species4  ,the guardians of our         
prevailing system of ethics1 too1 have  
enforced  the regulations of their added
 supervision with a zeal apparently     
justified by the importance of its      
purpose2 but an analysis of those       
regulations strikingly illustrates the  
perils of abandoning the plain  path of 
,nature1 to follow the vagaries of      

hyper-physical dogmatists4  ,the        
,nature-guided bias of sexual intuitions
 refers to time1 selection1  and        
circumstantial restrictions4 ,the       
control of our clerical moralists       
ignores the first and second law of     
modification1 while their  recognition  
of the third involves a large number of 
irrelevant and  irrational precepts4    
,in a state of nature1 instinct and     
circumstances coperate in the           
prevention of sexual precocity4 ,active 
exercise furnishes a vent to  those     
potential energies which physical sloth 
forces to explode in  sensual excesses4 
,the adult males of all species of      
vertebrate animals  fiercely resent the 
encroachments of immature rivals4       
,savages postpone  their nuptials to a  
period of life when the possession of   
property or  prestige enables them to   
undertake the adequate support of a     
family4 ,in  countries where both sexes 
spend a large portion of their time in  
outdoor occupations1 precocious         

prurience is very rare4 ,in the pastoral
  highlands of the ,austrian ,alps      
7,styria1 ,salzburg1 and the ,tyrol71   
boys  and girls meet only at church     
festivals1 but enjoy their amusements   
apart1 the girls in dances and          
singing-picnics2 the boys in            
shooting-matches1 foot-races1 and       
mountain excursions4 ,a lad under       
eighteen caught in flirtations is at    
once laughed back to manlier  pastimes1 
while girls even more jealously guard   
the exclusiveness of  their festivals1  
and would chase away an intrusive       
bachelor as promptly  as a trespassing  
boy4 ,lycurgus fixes the marriageable   
age of a groom at  thirty years1 of a   
bride at twenty4 ,among the martial     
,visigoths thirty  and twenty-five years
 were the respective minima4    ,the    
importance of limiting the license of   
precocious passion has never  been      
directly denied1 but the significance of
 the instinct of sexual  selection seems
 to have been unaccountably             

misunderstood4 ,marriages  without the  
sanction1 and even against the direct   
protest1 of that  instinct are          
constantly encouraged4 8,love matches10 
in the opinion of  thousands of         
,christian parents1 seem to be thought  
fit only for the  characters of a       
sentimental romance1 or the heroes of   
the stage4 ,the  overpowering sway of a 
passion which asserts its claims against
 all  other claims whatever ought       
sufficiently to proclaim the importance 
of  its purpose and the absurdity of the
 mistake which treats its appeals  as a 
matter of frivolous fancy4    ,and1 in  
fact1 only the universality of that     
passion transcends the  importance of   
its direction4 ,for1 while the sexual   
instinct1 per se1  guarantees the       
perpetuation of the species1 the        
instinct of selection  refers to the    
composition of the next generation1 of  
which it thus  determines the quality as
 the other determines the quantity4 ,and
 just  as the vital powers of the       

individual organism strive back from    
disease  to health1 the genius of the   
species seeks to restablish the         
perfection of the type1 and to          
neutralize the effects of degenerating  
influences4 ,we accordingly find that   
the individuals of each sex seek  the   
complement of their own defects4 ,small 
women prefer tall men2  fickle men      
worship strong-minded women2 dark grooms
 select fair brides2  practical business
 men are attracted by romantic girls2   
city belles  admire a rustic ,hercules1 
and vice versa4 ,exceptional intensity  
of  mutual passion denotes exceptional  
fitness of the contemplated union1  or  
rather the results of that union2 for1  
here as elsewhere1 ,nature1 in  a choice
 of consequences1 will sacrifice the    
interests of individuals  to the        
interests of the species4 ,passionate   
love1 accordingly1 is ever  ready to    
attain its purpose at the price of the  
temporary advantages of  life1 nay1 of  
life itself2 and the voluntary          

renunciation of such  advantage is1     
therefore1 in the truest sense a        
self-sacrifice for the  benefit of      
posterity1 a surrender of personal      
interests to the welfare  of the        
species4 ,in spite of the far-gone      
perversion of our ethical  standards1 we
 accordingly find an instinctive        
recognition of such truth  in the       
popular verdict that applauds heroic    
loyalty to a higher law  when lovers    
break the fetters of sordid interest or 
caste restrictions4  ,in their hearts1  
the very flatterers condemn the decision
 of a bride  who has sacrificed love to 
wealth1 even in obedience to a parental 
mandate1 or the monitions of            
,nature-estranged moralists4    ,in     
extremes of adverse circumstances1 love 
itself1 however1 will often  voluntarily
 withdraw its claim4 ,hopeless          
inequality of station1  disease1 and    
irremediable disabilities will          
extinguish the flame of a  passion that 
would have defied time and torture4 ,a  

lover struck with a  cureless malady    
will shrink from transmitting his       
affliction2 a proud  barbarian will     
refuse to make a refined bride the      
witness of his  humiliations4 ,the      
perils of consanguinity may reveal      
themselves to a  sort of hereditary 7if 
not aboriginal7 instinct2 and the       
discovery of  an unsuspected            
relationship has more than once deadened
 desire as if by  magic1 and turned love
 into self-possessed friendship4        
,b4--,,rewards ,,of ,,conformity4    ,in
 the oldest chronicle of the human race 
the historian of the  patriarchs has    
preserved a genealogical record which   
seems to have been  transmitted for the 
special purpose of showing the casual   
connection of  continence and longevity4
 ,that record 7the fifth chapter of     
,genesis7  states the age and the       
marriage date of the progenitors of ten 
different generations1 with a regularly 
correspondent decrease of  period in    
both respects1 from the first to the    

sixth1 when both  increase in a single  
instance and then decrease to the end of
 the list4  ,the lessons of that record 
might be read in every branch of every  
genealogical chronicle from ,noah to the
 latest posterity of his sons4  ,in all 
countries1 among all nations of all     
times1 premature courtship  has courted 
premature death4 ,continence during the 
years of development  rewards itself in 
health and vigor1 both of body and of   
mind4 ,success  in every line of        
endeavor is the reward of reserved      
strength4 ,that  strength becomes       
available in the needs of after years1  
and is the  chief basis of that love of 
independence and impatience of tyranny  
found only among manful and continent   
nations4 ,the love of the gentlest      
females is reserved for the manliest    
males of their species1 while           
precocious coveters of such prizes meet 
with humiliations and  disappointments4 
,those who forbear to anticipate the    
promptings of  ,nature can rely on the  

favor of her undiminished aid2 and to   
such only  is given the power of that   
8love that spurs to exertions40    ,and 
if marriages are planned in heaven1 that
 heaven manifests its will  in the      
appeals of love1 and not in the counsels
 of avarice or  expedience4 ,if the     
sorrows of poverty-straitened love could
 be measured  against the misery of     
disgust blighted wealth1 it would be    
admitted  that the course of true love  
is1 after all1 the smoothest1 in the    
long  run as well as in the beginning4  
,for the inspirations of genuine love   
will resist the assaults of misfortune  
as they defied its menace1 and  the ban 
of prejudice can detract but little from
 the happiness of a  union hallowed by  
the sanction of ,nature4                
,c4--,,perversion4    ,the enemies of   
,nature have not failed to pervert an   
instinct which they  could not wholly   
suppress4 ,that this suppression was    
actually attempted  in the first        
outbreak of antinatural insanity is     

abundantly proved by  the history of the
 early ,christian sects1 the ,novatians1
 the  ,marcionites1 and the followers of
 self-mutilating ,origenes4 ,absolute   
abstinence from sexual intercourse was  
made the chief text of  8unworldliness40
 ,novices were brought up in strict     
seclusion2  mutilation was the usual    
penalty of violated vows1 but was also  
practiced as an -priori safeguard       
against the awakening of the sexual     
instinct4 ,st4 ,clemens of ,alexandria1 
one of the few semi-rational  leaders of
 the patristic era1 gives an appalling  
account of the  consequences of those   
crimes against ,nature1 and vehemently  
denounces  the fatuous dogma1 which was 
nevertheless only modified1 but never   
wholly renounced1 by the moralists of a 
church whose ethics were  undoubtedly   
derived from the physical nihilism of   
,buddha ,sakiamuni4 ,the  ,galilean     
apostle of ,antinaturalism indirectly   
inculcates the superior  merit of       
suppression in his allusions to 8eunuchs

 for the kingdom of  heaven's sake10 and
 the saints 8who neither marry nor are  
given in  marriage10 as well as in the  
example of his personal asceticism2 and 
,paul distinctly informs us that        
marriage is only a lesser evil1 a       
compromise with the passions of the     
unregenerate1 which perfect virtue      
should forbear to gratify3 8,it is good 
for a man not to touch a woman2         
nevertheless to avoid 44410 etc4 ,such  
dogmas bore their natural fruit  in the 
society-shunning fanaticism of hermits  
and anchorites2 in  aberrations  la     
,origenes1 and in that dreadful source  
of unnatural  vice1 the enforced        
celibacy of monks and priests4    ,in   
the philosophy of those moralists1 the  
physical interests of mankind  were of  
no moment whatever4 ,the church that    
burnt nuns and priests for  yielding to 
the power of an irrepressible instinct1 
has in millions of  cases sanctioned the
 nuptials of immature minors and the    
nature-insulting unions of avarice and  

flunkeyism4 ,for the sake of a  small   
fee it has encouraged the marriage of   
reluctant paupers1 but  howled its      
anathemas against the unions of orthodox
 ,christians with  gentiles1 ,jews1 or  
,christian dissenters4 ,thus encouraged1
 ,christian  parents have not hesitated 
to sacrifice the highest interests of   
their  children and children's children 
to considerations of 8expedience40 ,in  
,spanish ,america thousands of          
baby-brides--girls of twelve and        
thirteen2  nay1 even of ten years--are  
delivered to the marital tyranny of     
wealthy  old debauchees2 in ,france1    
,italy1 and ,austria millions of        
mutually  reluctant boys and girls are  
compelled to wed in obedience to the    
decision of a business committee of     
relatives and panders4 ,in the  cities  
of the northland nations marriages of   
expedience1 though rarer1  are still of 
daily occurrence4 8,whatever is natural 
is wrong10 was the  shibboleth of the   
medieval dogmatists1 and the protests of

 instinct  were suppressed in the name  
of morality4          ,d4--,,penalties  
,,of ,,neglect4    ,next to dietetic    
abuses1 premature and unfit marriage is 
undoubtedly  the most fruitful cause of 
the degeneration of the human species4  
,the  penalties of ,nature1 which every 
husbandman knows to avoid in the case   
of his cattle1 are recklessly risked by 
parents and guardians of  helpless      
children--perhaps in the vague hope that
 the normal  consequences might be      
averted by the intercession of          
supernatural  agencies4 ,but miracles   
have ceased to suspend the operation of 
,nature's  laws1 and it would not be an 
over-estimate to say that a hundred     
million ,christians annually incur the  
penalty of moral or physical  sufferings
 and premature death1 as a retribution  
of their own or their  parents' outrages
 against the laws of the sexual         
instinct4 ,premature  intercourse of the
 sexes stunts the further development of
 the organism  and entails physical     

defects on the offspring of a series of 
successive  generations4 ,puny1 weakly1 
and scrofulous children people the      
cities of  southern ,europe from ,havre 
to ,messina1 though infant mortality has
  assumed proportions which partly      
counteract the evil by the sternest of  
,nature's remedies4 ,our fatuous modes  
of indoor education1 combined with  the 
influence of a stimulating diet 7meat1  
pepper-sauces1 and coffee1  instead of  
fruit1 bread1 and milk7 systematically  
promote premature  prurience4 ,our      
school-boys are thus driven to vices of 
which they know  neither the name nor   
the physiological significance1 though1 
like the  victims of convent-life1 they 
suffer the consequences--               
,losing their beauty and their native   
grace1      with but a small chance of  
subsequent redemption by healthier      
occupations4 ,the monasteries of        
southern ,europe are foster-schools of  
even more baneful vices--crimes against 
,nature1 which in the slave-dens  of the

 ,middle ,ages were more frequent than  
in the most dissolute cities  of pagan  
antiquity4 ,dr4 ,layton's report on the 
result of the 8,royal  ,commission of   
,investigation0 7#aech7 describes the   
moral status of the  ,british convents  
as an absolute ne plus ultra of         
imaginable corruption4  ,the memoirs of 
,guiccardini and ,pedro ,sanchez depict 
a depth of  immorality that would have  
revolted the libertines of the ,neronic 
era4  ,the indictment of ,pope ,john    
,,xxii4 contains forty-six              
specifications  that can hardly be      
quoted in ,latin4 ,jordanus ,bruno1     
however1 sums up  the secret of such    
aberrations3                   ,insani  
fugiant mundum1 immundumque sequuntur4  
7,the maniacs1 despising earth1 stray   
into unearthly abominations47      ,the 
absurd interdictions of marriage on     
account of a difference in  speculative 
opinions were for centuries enforced    
with all the  truculence of             
,inquisitorial butcher-laws2 the        

espouser of a ,jewess or a  ,morisca was
 burnt at the stake1 together with his  
bride2 even  clandestine intercourse    
with an unbelieving paramour was        
punished with  barbarous severity2 and a
 similar prejudice still frowns upon the
 loves  of ,catholics and ,protestants1 
of ,christians and ,mohammedans1 and    
even  ,freethinkers4 ,in ,ireland the   
priest-encouraged custom of early       
marriages has filled the rural districts
 with starving children2 in  thousands  
of cities marriages of expedience invoke
 the curse of ,nature  on the traitors  
to the highest interests of our species4
 ,every  marriage1 unsanctioned by love1
 avenges itself on several generations  
of innocent offspring1 as well as       
directly in blighted hopes and years  of
 unavailing regrets4                    
,e4--,,reform4    ,before we can hope to
 abate the prevalence of genetic abuses 
we must  promote a more general         
recognition of the truth that the       
organism of  the human body is subject  

to the same laws that govern the organic
  functions of our fellow-creatures2 and
 that health does not dispense  its     
blessings as a reward of prayer and     
theological conformity1 but of          
conformity to the promptings of our     
sanitary intuitions4 ,we must dispel    
the delusion which hopes to conciliate  
the favor of a miracle-working  deity by
 sacrificing the physical interests of  
our species to the  interests of a      
clerical dogma4    ,like the seductions 
of ,intemperance1 the temptations of    
precocious  ,incontinence may be        
counteracted by more abundant           
opportunities of  diverting pastimes4   
,according to the significant allegory  
of a ,grecian  myth1 ,diana1 the goddess
 of hunters and forest-dwellers1 was the
  adversary of ,venus1 and outdoor      
exercise is1 indeed1 the best           
preventive of sexual aberrations4       
,athletes are instinctively continent4  
,sensuality seems incompatible with a   
hardy1 active mode of life1 as  that of 

hunters1 trappers1 and backwoodsmen4    
,the stigma of public  opinion alone    
would1 however1 suffice to reduce the   
frequency of  premature marriages2 for1 
in the island of ,corsica1 where the    
recognition of their baneful tendency is
 based on purely economical             
considerations 7the perils of           
over-population71 the dread of social   
ostracism has proved more deterrent than
 the fear of poverty and  starvation4   
,in a community of ,reformants 7as the  
,german philosopher ,schelling  proposed
 to call the friends of reform7         
twenty-five and thirty years  should be 
accepted as the lawful minima of a      
marriage age1 and the  teachers of      
,secularism should lose no opportunity  
to plead the cause of  ,nature against  
the usurpations of priestcraft and      
conventionalism4  ,public opinion should
 be trained to the recognition of the   
truth that  the sacrifice of love to    
lucre1 caste-prejudice1 and bigotry is a
 crime  against the genius of mankind1  

and that a marriage1 vetoed by the      
verdict of ,nature1 cannot be hallowed  
by the mumbling of a priest4            
,,chapter ,,iv4    ,,temperance4        
,a4--,,lessons ,,of ,,instinct4         
,instinct is hereditary experience4 ,the
 lessons derived from the  repetition of
 pleasant or painful impressions have   
been transmitted  from an infinite      
number of generations1 till impending   
dangers have  come to proclaim          
themselves by instinctive dread1        
opportune benefits by  instinctive      
desire4 ,the shudder that warns us to   
recede from the brink  of a steep cliff 
is felt even by persons who have never  
personally  experienced the peril of    
falling from the rocks of a precipice4  
,mountain breezes are more attractive   
than swamp odors2 the fumes of a  foul  
dungeon warn off a child who has had as 
yet no opportunity to  ascertain the    
danger of breathing contaminated air4 ,a
 few years ago ,i  bought a pet fox1    
with a litter of cubs1 who were soon    

after orphaned  by the escape of their  
mother4 ,they had to be fed by hand2    
and1 among  other proceeds of a forage1 
my neighbor's boy once brought them a   
bundle of lizards1 and a dead           
rattlesnake4 ,for the possession of     
those  lizards there was at once an     
animated fight1 but at sight of the     
serpent the little gluttons turned tail 
and retreated to the farther  end of    
their kennel4 ,they were not a month old
 when ,i bought them1 and  could not    
possibly have seen a rattlesnake before 
or known the effects  of its bite from  
personal experience2 but instinct at    
once informed  them that an encounter   
with a reptile of that sort had brought 
some of  their forefathers to grief4    
,the vegetable kingdom1 that provides   
food for nine-tenths of all living      
creatures1 abounds with an endless      
variety of edible fruits1 seeds1 and    
herbs1 but also with injurious and even 
deadly products1 often closely          
resembling the favorite food-plants of  

animals2 which in a state of  ,nature   
are nevertheless sure to avoid mistake1 
and select their food by  a faculty of  
recognizing differences that might      
escape the attention  even of a trained 
botanist4 ,the chief medium of that     
faculty is the  sense of smell in the   
lower1 and the sense of taste in the    
higher  animals4 ,in monkeys1 for       
instance1 the olfactory organs are      
rather  imperfectly developed1 and ,i   
have often seen them peel an unknown    
fruit  with their fingers and then      
cautiously raise it to their lips and   
rub  it to and fro before venturing to  
bring their teeth into play4 ,the       
preliminary test1 however1 always       
sufficed to decide the question in a    
couple of seconds4 ,the ,abyssinian     
mountaineers who catch baboons by       
fuddling them with plum brandy have to  
disguise the taste of the liquor  with a
 large admixture of syrup before they   
can deceive the warning  instincts of   
their victims4 ,where copper mines      

discharge their drainage  into a        
water-course1 deer and other wild       
animals have been known to go  in quest 
of distant springs rather than quench   
their thirst with the  polluted water4  
,that protective instincts of that sort 
are shared even by the lowest  animals  
is proved by the experiment of the      
philosopher ,ehrenberg1 who  put a drop 
of alcohol into a bottle of pond water1 
and under the lens  of his microscope   
saw a swarm of infusoria precipitate    
themselves to  the bottom of the vessel4
    ,animals in a state of ,nature      
rarely or never eat to an injurious     
excess2 the apparent surfeits of wolves1
 serpents1 vultures1 etc41  alternate   
with long fasts1 and are digested as    
easily as a hunter1  after missing his  
breakfast and dinner1 would be able to  
digest an  abundant supper4 ,instinct   
indicates even the most propitious time 
for  indulging in repletion4 ,the noon  
heat of a midsummer day seems to        
suspend the promptings of appetite2 cows

 can be seen resting drowsily  at the   
foot of a shade-tree2 deer doze in      
mountain glens and come out  to browse  
in moonlight2 panthers cannot afford to 
miss an opportunity  to slay their game 
at noon1 but are very apt to hide the   
carcass and  come back to devour it in  
the cool of the evening4    ,the        
products of fermentation are so         
repulsive to the higher animals  that   
only the distress of actual starvation  
would tempt a monkey to  touch a rotten 
apple or quench his thirst with         
acidulated grape-juice4  ,poppy fields  
need no fence2 tobacco leaves are in no 
danger of being  nibbled by browsing    
cattle4 ,nature seems to have had no    
occasion for  providing instinctive     
safeguards against such out-of-the-way  
things as  certain mineral poisons2 yet 
the taste of arsenic1 though not        
violently  repulsive 7like that of the  
more common1 and therefore more         
dangerous1  vegetable poisons71 is      
certainly not attractive1 but rather    

insipid1  and a short experience seems  
to supplement the defects of instinct in
  that respect4 ,trappers know that     
poisoned baits after a while lose  their
 seductiveness1 and old rats have been  
seen driving their young  from a dish of
 arsenic-poisoned gruel4    ,certainly  
no animal would feel any natural        
inclination to seek arsenic  or alcohol 
for its own sake1 and there is no reason
 to suppose that  man1 in that respect1 
differs from every known species of his 
fellow-creatures4 ,our clerical         
temperance lecturers rant about 8the    
lusts of the unregenerate heart10 the   
8weakness of the flesh10 the  8danger of
 yielding to the promptings of          
appetite10 as if ,nature  herself would 
tempt us to our ruin1 and the path of   
safety could be  learned only from      
preternatural revelation4 ,but the truth
 is that to  the palate of a child1 even
 the child of a habitual drunkard1 the  
taste  of alcohol is as repulsive as    
that of turpentine or bitterwood4       

,tobacco  fumes and the stench of       
burning opium still nauseate the        
children of  the habitual smoker as they
 would have nauseated the children of   
the  patriarchs4 ,the first cigar       
demonstrates the virulence of nicotine  
by  vertigo and sick headaches2 the     
first glass of beer is rejected by the  
revolt of the stomach2 the fauces       
contract and writhe against the first   
dram of brandy4 ,nature records her     
protest in the most unmistakable        
language of instinct1 and only the      
repeated and continued disregard of     
that protest at last begets the abnormal
 craving of that poison-thirst  which   
clerical blasphemers ascribe to the     
promptings of our natural  appetites4   
,they might as well make us believe in a
 natural passion for  dungeon air1      
because the prisoners of the ,holy      
,inquisition at last lost  their love of
 liberty and came to prefer the stench  
of their  subterranean black-holes to   
the breezes of the free mountains4      

,the craving for hot spices1 for strong 
meats1 and such abominations as  fetid  
cheese and fermented cabbage have all to
 be artificially  acquired2 and in      
regard to the selection of our proper   
food the  instincts of our young        
children could teach us more than a     
whole  library of ascetic twaddle4 ,not 
for the sake of 8mortifying the flesh10 
but on the plain recommendation of the  
natural senses that prefer  palatable to
 disgusting food1 the progeny of ,adam  
could be guided in  the path of reform  
and learn to avoid forbidden fruit by   
the symptoms  of its forbidding taste4  
,b4--,,rewards ,,of ,,conformity4       
,there is a tradition that the ancient  
,thessalians made it a rule that  the   
guests of their banquets must get drunk 
on pain of expulsion4 ,to  let anyone   
remain sober1 they argued1 would not be 
just to the  befuddled majority1 of     
whose condition he might be tempted to  
take all  sorts of advantage4 ,if the   
evils of drunkenness were undeserved    

afflictions1 it would certainly be true 
that sobriety would give an  individual 
an almost unfair advantage over the rest
 of his fellow-men4  ,he would be an    
archer trying his skill against         
hoodwinked rivals1 a  runner challenging
 the speed of shackled competitors4     
,there is not a  mechanical or          
industrial avocation in which sobriety  
does not give a  man the advantage which
 health and freedom confer over         
crippling  disease4 ,for the baneful    
effects of intemperance are by no means 
limited to the moments of actual        
intoxication1 but react on the          
half-lucid intervals1 and even on the   
after years of the reformed  toper4     
,temperance1 in the widest sense1 of    
abstinence from unfit food  and drink1  
would be the best gift which the fairies
 could bestow on a  favorite child1 for 
the blessing of frugal habits includes  
almost all  other blessings whatever4   
,spontaneous gayety1 the sunshine of the
  unclouded soul1 is dimmed by the      

influence of the first poison-habit1    
and the regretful retrospects to the    
8lost paradise of childhood0 are        
founded chiefly on the contrast of      
poison-engendered distempers with  the  
moral and physical health of earlier    
years4 ,temperance prolongs  that       
sunshine to the evening of life4 ,by    
temperance alone the demon of           
life-weariness can be kept at bay in    
times of fiercest tribulation3          
,undimmed eyes can more easily recognize
 the gleam of sunshine behind  the      
cloudy4 ,the prisoners of the outlawed  
,circassian insurgents  admitted that1  
in spite of hunger1 hardships1 and      
constant danger1  their captors         
contrived to enjoy life better than     
their enemies in the  brandy-reeking    
abundance of their headquarters4 ,the   
myth of the  ,lotos-eaters described a  
nation of vegetarians who passed life so
  pleasantly that visitors refused to   
leave them1 and renounced their  native 
lands4 ,the religion of ,mohammed makes 

abstinence from  intoxicating drinks a  
chief duty of a true believer1 and that 
law alone  has prevented the physical   
degeneration of his followers4 ,with all
  their mental sloth and the enervating 
influence of their harem life1  the     
,turks are still the finest             
representatives of physical manhood4 ,at
  the horse fairs of ,bucharest ,i saw  
specimens of their broad-shouldered1    
proud-eyed rustics1 whose appearance    
contrasted strangely with that of  the  
sluggish boors and furtive traffickers  
of the neighboring natives4  ,after     
twelve hundred years of exhaustive wars1
 alternating with periods  of luxury and
 tempting wealth1 the descendants of the
 ,arabian  conquerors are still a hardy1
 long-lived race1 physically far        
superior  to the rum-drinking foreigners
 of their coast towns4 ,for more than   
six  hundred years the temperate        
,moriscos held their own in war and     
peace  against all nations of           
,christendom4 ,their ,semitic descent   

gave them no  natural advantage over    
their ,caucasian rivals2 but they       
entered the  arena of life with clear   
eyes and unpalsied hearts1 and in an age
 of  universal superstition made their  
country a garden of science and         
industry4 ,their cities offered a refuge
 to the scholars and  philosophers of   
three continents1 and in hundreds of    
pitched battles  their indomitable valor
 prevailed against the wine-inspired    
heroism of  their adversaries4          
,frugality has cured diseases which     
defied all other remedies4 ,for         
thousands of reformed gluttons it has   
made life worth living1 after the       
shadows of misery already threatened to 
darken into the gloom of  approaching   
night4 ,luigi ,cornaro1 a ,venetian     
nobleman of the sixteenth  century1 had 
impaired his health by gastronomic      
excesses till his  physicians despaired 
of his life1 when1 as a last resort1 he 
resolved  to try a complete change of   
diet4 ,his father1 his uncles1 and two  

of  his brothers had all died before the
 attainment of their fiftieth year2  but
 ,luigi determined to try conclusions   
with the demon of unnaturalism1  and at 
once reduced his daily allowance of meat
 to one-tenth of the  usual quantity1   
and his wine to a stint barely          
sufficient to flavor a  cup of ,venetian
 cistern-water4 ,after a month of his   
new regimen he  regained his appetite4  
,after ten weeks he found himself able  
to take  long walks without fatigue1 and
 could sleep without being awakened by  
nightmare horrors4 ,at the end of a year
 all the symptoms of chronic            
indigestion had left him1 and he        
resolved to make the plan of his cure   
the rule of his life4 ,that life was    
prolonged to a century--forty years  of 
racking disease followed by sixty years 
of unbroken health1 undimmed  clearness 
of mind1 unclouded content4 ,habitual   
abstinence from  unnatural food and     
drink saves the trials of constant      
self-control and  the alternative pangs 

of repentance4 8,blessed are the pure1  
for they  can follow their inclinations 
with impunity40                         
,c4--,,perversion4    ,the poison-habit1
 as we might call the craving for the   
stimulus of  unnatural diet1 is the     
oldest vice1 and in some of its forms   
has been  practiced by almost every     
nation known to history or tradition4   
,thousands of years before ,lot got     
drunk on home-made wine1 the  ancestors 
of the ,brahmans fuddled with           
soma-juice2 ,zoroaster enacts  laws     
against habitual intoxication2 the art  
of turning grape-juice from  a blessing 
into a curse seems to have been known to
 the nations of  ,iran1 to the ,parsees1
 and to the first agricultural colonists
 of the  lower ,nile4 ,nunus1 the       
,arabian ,noah1 is said to have planted 
vineyards  on the banks of the ,orontes2
 the worship of ,bacchus was introduced 
into  ,asia ,minor several centuries    
before the birth of ,homer4 ,the origin 
of  the opium habit antedates the       

earliest records of ,chinese history2   
for  immemorial ages the ,tartars have  
been addicted to the use of ,koumis     
7fermented mare's milk71 the ,germanic  
nations to beer1 the natives of  ,siam  
to tea and sago-wine4 ,intoxication and 
the excessive use of animal  food were  
prevalent vices1 especially in the      
larger cities1 of pagan  ,greece and    
,rome4    ,yet the ancients sinned with 
their eyes half open4 ,their recognition
 of  dietetic abuses was expressed in   
the word frugality1 which literally     
meant subsistence on tree fruits--or1 at
 least1 vegetable products--in          
distinction from the habitual use of    
flesh-food4 ,the advantages of          
temperate habits were never directly    
denied2 the law of ,pythagoras  enjoins 
total abstinence from wine and flesh1   
and the name of a  8,pythagorean0 became
 almost a synonym of 8philosopher40 ,in 
all but the  most depraved centuries of 
,imperial ,rome1 wine was forbidden to  
children and women4 ,the festival of the

 ,bona ,dea commemorated the fate  of a 
,roman matron who had yielded to the    
temptation of intoxicating  drink1 and  
was slain by the hand of her stern      
husband4 ,lycurgus  recommends the plan 
of letting the pupils of the military   
training-schools witness the bestial    
conduct of a drunken ,helot1 in  order  
to inspire them with an abhorrence of   
intoxication4 ,the bias of  public      
opinion always respected the emulation  
of patriarchal frugality  and frowned   
upon the excesses of licentious         
patricians4    ,but the triumph of an   
anti-physical religion removed those    
safeguards4  ,mistrust in the competence
 of our natural instincts formed the    
keystone  of the ,galilean dogma4 ,the  
importance of physical welfare was      
systematically depreciated4 ,the        
health-laws of the ,mosaic code were    
abrogated4 ,the messiah of              
,antinaturalism sanctioned the use of   
alcoholic drinks by his personal        
example--nay1 by the association of     

that practice with the rites of a       
religious sacrament4 ,the habit of      
purchasing mental exaltation--even of a 
fever-dream--at the expense of  the     
body1 agreed perfectly with the         
tendencies of a ,nature-despising       
fanaticism1 and during the long night of
 the ,middle ,ages monks and  priests   
vied in an unprecedented excess of      
alcoholic riots4 ,nearly  every one of  
the thick-sown convents from ,greece to 
,portugal had a  vineyard and a wine    
cellar of its own4 ,the monastery of    
,weltenburg on  the upper ,danube       
operated the largest brewery of the     
,german empire4 ,for  centuries         
spiritual tyranny and spirituous license
 went hand in hand1  and as the church  
increased in wealth1 gluttony was added 
to the  unnatural habits of the         
priesthood1 and only the abject poverty 
of the  lower classes prevented         
intemperance from becoming a universal  
vice4 ,as  it was1 the followers of the 
,nature-despising messiah lost no       

opportunity to drown their better       
instincts in alcohol4 ,they could  plead
 the precedence of their moral          
exemplars1 and vied in sowing the  seeds
 of bodily diseases which their system  
of ethics welcomed as  conducive to the 
welfare of a world-renouncing soul4     
,among the slaves of the ,scotch        
kirk-tyrants the long-continued         
suppression of all healthier pastimes   
contributed its share to the  increase  
of intemperance4 ,on the day when the   
laboring classes found  their only      
chance of leisure1 outdoor sports were  
strictly prohibited4  ,dancing was      
considered a heinous1 and on the        
,sabbath almost an  unpardonable1 sin4  
,the tennis-halls were closed from      
,saturday night to  ,monday morning4    
,bathing was sinful4 ,mountain          
excursions1 strolls along  the beach1 or
 in the open fields1 were not permitted 
on the day of the  ,lord4 ,dietetic     
excesses1 however1 escaped control1 and 
thus became the  general outlet for the 

cruelly suppressed craving for a        
diversion from  the deadly monotony of  
drudgery and church-penance4 ,for       
8,nature will  have her revenge1 and    
when the most ordinary and harmless     
recreations  are forbidden as sinful1 is
 apt to seek compensation in indulgences
  which no moralist would be willing to 
condone1 444 and the strictest          
observance of all those minute and      
oppressive ,sabbatarian regulations  was
 found compatible with consecrating the 
day of rest to a quiet but  unlimited   
assimilation of the liquid which        
inebriates but does not  cheer0         
7,saturday ,review1 ,july #ai1 #ahgi74  
8,everyone10 says ,lecky1 8who          
considers the world as it really exists1
 must have convinced himself  that in   
great towns public amusements of an     
exciting order are  absolutely          
necessary1 and that to suppress them is 
simply to plunge an  immense portion of 
the population into the lowest depths of
 vice40    ,clerical despotism is still 

a potent ally of intemperance4 ,in      
hundreds  of ,british and ,north        
,american cities the dearth of better   
pastimes  drives our workingmen to the  
pot-house4 ,they drink to get drunk1 as 
the  only available means of escaping   
tedium and the consciousness of their   
misery4 ,nature craves recreation1 and  
the suppression of that instinct  has   
avenged itself by its perversion4       
,d4--,,penalties ,,of ,,neglect4        
,dietetic abuses have contributed more  
to the progress of human  degeneration  
than all other causes taken together4   
,our infants are  sickened with drastic 
drugs4 ,the growth of young children is 
stunted  with narcotic beverages2 the   
suppression of healthier pastimes drives
  our young men to the rum-shop2        
intemperance has become the ,lethe in   
which the victims of social abuses seek 
to drown their misery4 ,the  curse of   
the poison-habit haunts us from the     
cradle to the grave1 and  for millions  
of our fellow-men has made the burdens  

of life to outweigh  its blessings4     
,there is a doubt if the 8years0 of     
,genesis should be  understood in the   
present meaning of the word2 but        
historians and  biologists agree that   
the average longevity of our race has   
been  enormously reduced within the last
 twenty centuries1 and intemperance  is 
the chief cause of that decrease4 ,our  
average stature has been  reduced even  
below that of the ancient natives of an 
enervating  climate1 like that of the   
lower ,nile1 as proved by ,d',arnaud's  
measurements of the ,egyptian           
mummy-skeletons4 ,on our own continent1 
outdoor life in the struggle with the   
perils of the wilderness has  somewhat  
redeemed our loss of physical manhood2  
but what are the men of  modern ,europe 
compared with their iron-fisted         
ancestors1 the athletic  ,greeks1 the   
world-conquering ,romans1 the           
,scandinavian giants1 the  heroic       
,visigoths8 ,like a building collapsing 
under the progress of a  devouring fire1

 the structure of the human body has    
shrunk under the  influence of the      
poison-habit2 and there is no doubt that
 the moral  vigor of our race has       
undergone a corresponding               
impairment--appreciable  in spite of the
 recent revival of intellectual activity
 and the  constant increase of general  
information4    ,the tide is turning2   
the victims of anti-physical dogmas are 
awakening  to the significance of their 
delusion2 the power of public opinion   
has  forced the dupes of the            
alcohol-brewing ,galilean to join the   
crusade of  the temperance movement2    
diet-reform has become a chief problem  
of  civilization2 but the upas-tree of  
the poison-habit is too deeply  rooted  
to be eradicated in a single generation1
 and the task of  redemption will be the
 work of centuries4 ,as yet the probing 
of the  wound has only revealed the     
appalling extent of the canker-sore4    
,the  statistics of the liquor traffic  
have established the fact that the      

value of the resources wasted on the    
gratification of the poison-vice  far   
exceeds the aggregate amount of the     
yearly expenditure for  educational1    
charitable1 and sanitary purposes--nay1 
that the abolition  of that traffic     
would save a sum sufficient for all     
reforms needed to  turn earth into a    
physical and social paradise4 ,and yet  
that waste  expresses only the indirect 
and smaller part of the damage caused by
  the curse of the poison-habit4 ,the   
loss in health and happiness cannot  be 
estimated in coin2 but if the sum thus  
expended in the purchase of  disease    
were devoted to the promotion of arson  
and robbery1 the utmost  possible extent
 of the consequent mischief would       
probably fall short of  the present     
result4 ,the stimulant habit in all its 
forms clouds the  sunshine of life like 
an all-pervading poison-vapor4 ,alcohol 
undermines  the stamina of manhood2     
narcotic drinks foster a complication of
  nervous diseases2 opium and tobacco   

impair the vigor of the cerebral        
functions4 ,the excessive use of animal 
food1 too1 avenges itself in all  sorts 
of moral and physical disorders4 ,it    
inflames passions which no  prayer can  
quench4 8,alas6 what avails all theology
 against a diet of  bull-beef80 ,father 
,smeth wrote from the ,sioux missions2  
and the almost  exclusive use of flesh  
food has1 indeed1 afflicted our ,indians
 with the  truculence of carnivorous    
beasts4 ,the same cause has produced the
 same  effects in western ,europe4 ,the 
carnivorous saints of medieval ,spain   
delighted in matanzas and heretic-hunts1
 as their carnivorous ancestors  in the 
butcher sports of the circus1 and their 
,british contemporaries  in bear-baits  
and ,tyburn spectacles4                 
,e4--,,reform4    ,the consequences of  
intemperance have at all times provoked 
protests  against the more ruinous forms
 of the poison-habit1 but the advance   
from special to general principles is   
often amazingly slow2 and even  now the 

cause of temperance is hampered by the  
shortsightedness of  reformers who hope 
to eradicate the ,upas-tree by clipping 
and hacking  its more prominent         
branches4 ,they would limit prohibition 
to the more  deadly stimulants1 not     
dreaming that the fatal habit is sure to
  reproduce its fruit from the smallest 
germs2 that the poison-vice1 in  fact1  
is infallibly progressive1 ever tending 
to goad the morbid  craving of the toper
 to stronger and stronger poisons or to 
a constant  increase in the quantity of 
the wonted stimulant3 from cider to     
brandy1  from laudanum to morphine1 from
 tonic bitters to rum1 from a glass of  
wine to a dozen bottles1 from beer and  
tobacco to the vilest tipples of  the   
dram-shop4 8,principiis obsta0 7,resist 
the beginnings7 was a ,latin  maxim of  
deep significance4 ,the cumulative      
tendency of the stimulant  vice may be  
resisted1 but only by constant          
vigilance1 constant  self-denial1       
constant struggles with the revivals of 

a morbid  appetency1 all of which might 
be saved by the total renunciation of   
all  abnormal stimulants whatever1 for  
only in that sense is it true that      
8abstinence is easier than temperance40 
,we must accustom our boys to avoid the 
poison-vice as a loathsome  disease1    
rather than as a forbidden luxury which 
could ever be indulged  without paying  
the penalty of ,nature in a distressing 
reaction1 far  outweighing the pleasures
 of the morbid and momentary exaltation4
 ,we  must teach them that the artifice 
by which the toper hopes to cheat       
,nature out of an access of abnormal    
enjoyment is under all  circumstances a 
losing game1 which at last fails to     
produce1 even for  the moment of the    
fever-stimulus1 a glimpse of happiness  
at all  comparable to the unclouded     
sunshine of temperance4    ,but before  
we can hope to redeem the victims of the
 poison-vender1 we  must learn to make  
virtue more attractive than vice4 ,we   
must counteract  the attractions of the 

rum-shop by inviting reforming topers1  
not to  the whining conventicles of a   
,sabbath-school1 but to temperance      
gardens1 resounding with music 7dance   
music1 if 8sacred concerts0  should     
pall7 and the jubilee of romping        
children1 and shortening summer  days   
with free museums1 picture galleries1   
swings1 ball grounds1 and  foot-race    
tracks4 ,the gods of the future will    
contrive to outbid the  devil4    ,it   
would be unfair1 though1 to depreciate  
the services of the ,christian          
ministers who in a choice between dogma 
and reform have bravely sided  with     
,nature1 and1 defying the wrath both of 
spiritual and spirituous                
poison-mongers1 of rum-sellers and      
heretic-hunters1 are trying their       
utmost to undo the mischief of their    
antinatural creed1 by frankly  admitting
 that a man can be defiled by 8things   
that enter his mouth10  and that the    
sacrament of eucharistic alcohol should 
be abandoned to  the rites of           

devil-worshipers4    ,but the religion  
which pretends to inculcate a           
peace-making spirit of  meekness has    
been strangely remiss in opposing the   
excessive use of a  diet which is       
clearly incompatible with the promotion 
of that virtue4  ,in ,christians1 as in 
,turks1 ,tartars1 and ,north ,american  
,redskins1 a  chiefly carnivorous diet  
engenders the instincts of carnivorous  
beasts1  and a ,peace ,congress         
celebrating its banquets with sixteen   
courses of  flesh food might as well    
treat a vigilance committee to sixteen  
courses  of opium4 8,frugality0 should  
again be promoted in the ancient sense  
of  the word2 in a community of         
reformants temperance and vegetarianism 
should go hand in hand4 ,or rather1 the 
word 8temperance0 should be used  in the
 extended sense that would make it a    
synonym of ,abstinence from  all kinds  
of unnatural food and drink2 and ,dr4   
,schrodt's rule should  become the canon
 of every dietetic reform league4       

8,avoid10 he says1  8all drinks and     
stimulants repulsive to the palate of an
 unseduced  child1 but also all         
comestibles that need artificial        
preparation to  make them palatable40   
,the first part of that rule would      
exclude opium1  tobacco1 alcoholic      
beverages1 tea1 coffee1 absinthe1 fetid 
cheese1 and  caustic spices4 ,the second
 would abolish many kinds of animal     
food1 but  sanction milk1 butter1 eggs1 
honey1 and other 8semi-animal0          
substances1  condemned by the extreme   
school of vegetarians4 8,from the egg to
 the  apple10 is an old ,latin phrase   
which proves that the frugality of the  
ancient ,romans never went to such      
extremes4 ,milk1 eggs1 and vegetable    
fats1 in their combination with         
farinaceous dishes1 might amply replace 
the flesh food of the northern nations1 
and1 considering the infinite  variety  
of fruits and vegetables known to modern
 horticulture1 there  seems no reason   
why a vegetarian diet should necessarily

 be a  monotonous one4 ,the ,religion of
 ,nature will require the renunciation  
of  several deep-rooted prejudices1 but 
its path of salvation will in no  sense 
be a path of thorns4                    
,,chapter ,v4    ,,skill4               
,a4--,,lessons ,,of ,,instinct4    ,the 
organic faculties of each species of    
animals are marvelously  adapted to its 
peculiar mode of life1 but only in the  
lower creatures  the skilful exercise of
 those faculties appears to be an inborn
 gift4  ,the young bee builds its first 
hexagon with mathematical precision4    
,the  young ant needs no instructor to  
aid her choice of proper                
building-material1 of proper food to be 
stored for winter use or  distributed in
 the nurseries of the larv4 ,the young  
butterfly1 an hour  after issuing from  
the shell of the chrysalis1 can use its 
wings as  well as at the end of the     
summer1 and displays the same skill in  
steering its way through the maze of a  
tangled forest4    ,young birds1 on the 

other hand1 have to acquire such        
accomplishments by  long practice4      
,instead of driving them back to their  
nests1 their  parents encourage their   
attempts at longer and longer flights1  
and seem  to know that occasional       
mishaps will prove a useful lesson for  
future  emergencies4 ,the mother fox    
carries half-crippled game to her burrow
  and sets her cubs a-scampering in     
pursuit1 allowing the best runner to    
monopolize the tidbits4 ,young kittens  
practice mouse-catching by  playing with
 balls2 puppies run after grasshoppers1 
young squirrels  play at nest-building  
by gathering handfuls of leaves and     
moss4 ,a  ,british naturalist1 who had  
domesticated a young beaver1 one day    
caught  his pet building a dam across   
the floor of his study4 ,the little     
engineer had dragged up a cartload of   
books1 papers1 sticks of wood1  etc41   
and piled them up to best advantage1    
placing the heavier volumes  in the     
bottom stratum and the lighter ones     

higher up1 and filling out  the         
interspaces with letters and journals4  
,every now and then he would  8stand    
off0 to scrutinize the solidity of the  
structure and return to  mend a         
misarrangement here and there4          
,children manifest early symptoms of a  
similar instinct4 ,infants of two  or   
three years can be seen squatting in the
 sand1 excavating tunnels1  or building 
prairie-dog towns4 ,young ,indians      
insist on the privilege of  breaking    
colts2 the youngsters of the ,bermuda   
,islanders straddle a  plank and paddle 
around with a piece of driftwood1 if    
their parents are  too poor to afford   
them a canoe of their own4 ,to a normal 
,american boy  a tool-box is a more     
welcome present than a velvet copy of   
,dor's  ,illustrated ,bible4 ,swiss     
peasant lads practice sharp-shooting    
with  self-constructed cross-bows4 ,the 
old ,english law which required the son 
of a yeoman to practice archery for     
three hours a day was probably the  most

 popular statute of the ,british code4  
,on new railroads1 bridges1  etc41      
artisans1 plying their trade in the open
 air1 are generally  surrounded by      
crowds of young rustics1 who forego the 
pleasures of  nutting and nest-hunting  
for the sake of watching the            
manipulations of  a new handicraft4     
,even in after years the instinct of    
constructiveness  frequently breaks the 
shackles of etiquette1 and princes and  
prelates  have defied the gossip of     
their flunkeys by getting a set of tools
 and  passing whole days in the         
retirement of an amateur workshop4 ,the 
emperor ,henry ,i4 invented a number of 
ingenious hunting-nets and  bird-traps4 
,mohammed ,,ii41 the conqueror of       
,constantinople1 forged his  own        
chain-armor4 ,charles ,v41 the arbiter  
of ,europe1 preferred  watchmaking to   
every other pastime4 ,cardinal de ,retz 
delighted in the  construction of       
automatons4 ,peter the ,great was the   
best ship-carpenter  of his empire4     

,b4--,,rewards ,,of ,,conformity4       
,the ,english word king1 like ,danish   
kong and ,german ,knig1 are derived     
from knnen 7practical knowledge71 and   
the first ruler was the most  skilful1  
as likely as the strongest1 man of his  
tribe4 ,skill1 whether  in the sense of 
bodily agility or of mechanical         
cleverness1 established  the superiority
 of man over his fellow-creatures1 and  
is still in many  respects a test of    
precedence between man and man4 ,supreme
 physical  dexterity is always at a     
premium1 in peace as in war1 in the     
sports of  princes1 in the pastimes of  
pleasure-seekers1 in the adventures of  
travelers1 in moments of danger1 in     
camps1 in the wilderness and on the     
sea1 as well as in smithies and         
workshops4 ,conscious skill and agility 
form the basis of a kind of             
self-reliance which wealth can only     
counterfeit4 ,in a cosmopolitan sea-port
 town of western ,europe ,i once        
overheard a controversy on the          

comparative value of protective weapons4
  ,revolvers1 stilettos1 air guns1      
slung-shots1 and bowie knives found     
clever advocates1 but all arguments     
yielded to the remark of an old         
sea-captain1 who had faced danger in    
four different continents4  8,there's a 
use for all that1 no doubt10 said he1   
8but1 ,i tell you1  mynheers1 in a close
 row the best thing to rely upon is a   
pair of quick  fists40 ,for the         
efficacy1 even of the best weapons1     
depends to a large  degree on the       
expertness of the handler1 the panoply  
of a weakling  being as unprofitable as 
the library of an idiot4 8,presence of  
mind0 is  often only the outcome of such
 expertness1 and in sudden emergencies  
theories are shamed by the prompt       
expedients of a practical man4 ,in war  
the issue of a doubtful campaign has    
more than once been decided by the      
superior constructiveness of an army    
that could bridge a river while  their  
opponents waited for the subsiding of a 

flood4 ,the conquest of  ,canada was    
achieved by the skill of a ,british     
soldier who devised a  plan for hauling 
cannon to the top of a steep plateau4   
,the fate of the  ,byzantine empire was 
decided by the mechanical expedient of a
 ,turkish  engineer who contrived a     
tramway of rollers and greased planks1  
as an  overland road for a fleet of war 
ships4 ,by the invention of the chain   
grappling-hook ,duilius transferred the 
empire of the ,mediterranean from       
,carthage to ,rome4    ,even for the    
sake of its hygienic influence the      
development of  mechanical skill        
deserves more general encouragement4    
,crank-work  gymnastics are apt to pall1
 but in pursuit of a favorite handicraft
  even an invalid can beguile himself   
into a good deal of health-giving       
exercise1 and1 besides1 the versatile   
development of the muscular  system     
reacts on the functions of the vital    
organs1 and thus explains  the robust   
health of active mechanics often        

laboring under the  disadvantage of     
indoor confinement4 ,the poet ,goethe1  
whose intuitions  of practical          
philosophy rival those of ,bacon and    
,franklin1 records the  opinion that    
every brain-worker should have some     
mechanical by-trade in  order to obviate
 one-sidedness1 and mental as well as   
physical  debility4 ,every handicraft   
reveals by-laws of ,nature which no     
cyclopedia can teach an inquirer2 manual
 labor is a school of practical  wisdom1
 and sound 8common sense10 as the       
,english language happily  expresses the
 sum of that wisdom1 is a prerogative of
 farmers and  mechanics far1 far oftener
 than of speculative philosophers4      
,nor are such benefits limited to       
emergencies from which wealth could     
dispense its possessor4 ,an amateur     
handicraft is the best safeguard        
against the chief bane of wealth3 ennui1
 with its temptations to folly  and     
vice4 ,nabobs can do worse than imitate 
the example of ,carlo  ,boromeo1 who    

spent every leisure hour of his         
philanthropic life in  practical        
landscape gardening1 and turned a large 
and once barren  lake-island into the   
loveliest paradise of southern ,europe4 
8,heroum  filii noxae10 8the sons of the
 great are apt to be nuisances10 would  
be  less true if ,goethe's advice were  
heeded by our fashionable educators1    
and the benefits of his plan would      
extend to emergencies for which         
fashionable accomplishments afford only 
a dubious safeguard4 8,a  mechanical    
trade10 says ,jean ,jacques ,rousseau1  
8is the best basis of  safety against   
the caprices of fortune4 ,classical     
scholarship may go  begging1 where      
technical skill finds its immediate     
reward4 ,a distressed  savant may       
recover his loss in the course of years2
 a skilful mechanic  need only enter the
 next workshop and show a sample of his 
handiwork4  #8,well1 let's see you try1'
 the reply will be2 #8step this way and 
pitch  in4'0    ,thus1 too1 gymnastic   

agility is the best safeguard against   
numberless  perils4 ,a mother who hopes 
to protect her boy by keeping him at    
home  and guarding him from the rough   
sports of his playmates1 forgets that   
her apron-strings cannot guide him      
through the perils of after years2  and 
a better plan was that of ,cato1 the    
statesman1 warrior1 and  philosopher1   
who1 in the midst of his manifold       
duties1 found time to  instruct his     
young sons in leaping ditches1 and      
swimming rapid rivers1  in order to     
8teach them to overcome danger that     
could not be  permanently avoided40     
,c4--,,perversion4    ,the absurd       
contempt of mechanical accomplishments  
is due partly to the  direct influence  
of anti-physical dogmas1 partly to the  
indirect  tendency of that caste spirit 
which has for ages fostered the         
antagonism of wealth and labor4 ,the    
opulent ,brahmans of ancient  ,hindostan
 thought themselves so immeasurably     
superior to the children  of toil that a

 ,sudra was not permitted to approach a 
priest without  ample precautions       
against the defilement of the worshipful
 entity4 ,the  temples of high-caste    
devotees were closed against low-caste  
believers4  ,the very breath of a ,sudra
 was supposed to pollute articles of    
food to  such an extent that a ,brahman 
had always to take his meals alone4     
,the secret of such prejudices was      
probably the supposed antagonism of     
body and soul and the imagined necessity
 of emphasizing that contrast  by       
constant insults to the representatives 
of physical interests and  occupations4 
,for in ,europe1 too1 the propagation of
 an anti-physical  creed went hand in   
hand with the systematic depreciation of
 secular  work1 excepting1 perhaps1 the 
trade of professional manslaughter1 the 
military caste1 which here1 as in       
,india1 found always means to enforce   
respect by methods of their own4 ,during
 the most orthodox centuries of  the    
,middle ,ages industrial burghers were  

valued only as tax-payers2  peasants    
were treated little better than beasts  
of burden--in many  respects decidedly  
worse1 for after drudging all day for an
 inexorable  master1 the serf had often 
to work by moonlight1 in order to get a 
little bread for himself and his family4
 ,the proposition to join in any  manual
 occupation 7the handling of a whip1    
perhaps1 excepted7 would  have been     
resented as a gross insult by every     
little baron or priest of  ,christian   
,europe4 ,paul ,courier describes the   
indignation of a ,french  nobleman who  
caught a tutor instructing his boys in  
botany and the  secret of improving     
trees by grafting3 8,going to make a    
clown of him8  ,you had better get an   
assistant-teacher with a manure cart40  
,the  manual-labor dread of several     
medieval princes went to the length of  
employing special chamberlains for every
 detail of their toilet3 a  chief and   
assistant shirt-warmer1 a wig-adjuster1 
a hand-washer1 a  foot-bather1 a        

foot-dryer4 ,german barons thought      
mechanical labor an  incomparable       
disgrace--more shameful1 in fact1 than  
crime--for the same  ,ritter who would  
have starved rather than put his hand to
 a plow1 had  no hesitation in eking out
 an income by highway robbery4 ,the     
princes of  the church thought it below 
their dignity to walk afoot1 and kept   
sedan-bearers to transport them to      
church and back4 ,they kept writing  and
 reading clerks1 and now and then fought
 a duel by proxy1 or sent a  vicar to   
lay the corner-stone of a new           
court-house1 in order to convey  the    
impression that their spiritual duties  
left them no time for  secular concerns4
    ,that sort of other-worldliness     
still seems to bias our plans of        
education4 ,colleges that would fear to 
lose prestige by devoting a few  minutes
 a week to technical work or            
horticulture1 surrender dozens of  hours
 to the bullying propaganda of a        
clerical miracle-monger4  ,mechanical   

mastership 7after all1 the basis of all 
science7 is denied a  place among the   
honorable 8faculties0 of our            
high-schools4 ,fashionable  parents     
would be shocked at the vulgar taste of 
a boy who should visit  joiner-shops and
 smithies1 instead of following his     
aristocratic  friends to the club-house4
 ,they would bewail the profanation of  
his  social rank1 if he should accept an
 invitation to impart his skill to  the 
pupils of a mechanical training-school2 
but would connive at the  mental        
prostitution of a young sneak who should
 try to restablish a  sanctimonious     
reputation by volunteering his          
assistance to the managers  of a        
mythology-school4                       
,d4--,,penalties ,,of ,,neglect4        
,neglected development1 either of       
physical or mental faculties1 avenges   
itself in ennui1 modified1 for the      
benefit of the poor1 by the less        
monotonous afflictions of care4 ,there  
is no doubt that the feeling of         

emptiness that seeks refuge in the fever
 of passion or intoxication1 is  a      
wholly abnormal condition1 as unknown to
 the children of the  wilderness1 who   
never feel the craving of unemployed    
faculties1 as to  the truly civilized   
man1 who finds means to satisfy that    
craving4  ,unemployed muscles1 like idle
 talents1 rebel against continued       
neglect  and goad the sluggard to seek  
relief in the morbid excitement of vice1
  and the father who thinks it a waste  
of money to invest a dollar in a        
tool-box may have to spend hundreds for 
the settlement of rum bills and         
gambling debts4    ,both the effect and 
the cause of such excesses were rather  
rare in the  prime of the ,north        
,american republic1 when nearly every   
colonist was a  farmer1 and every farm a
 polytechnicum of home-taught trades2   
but  ,european luxuries introduced      
,european habits1 and our cities now    
abound  with plutocrats who are ashamed 
of the toil by which their forefathers  

laid the foundation of their wealth4    
,our cities have bred the vices  faster 
than the refinements of wealth1 and have
 become acquainted with  ennui--        
,we lack the word but have the thing2   
and thousands who would fail to find    
relief on the classical  hunting-grounds
 of ,peter ,bayle might imitate his     
landlord1 who  practiced sharp-shooting 
with a medieval hunting-bow till he     
could  challenge the best pistol shots  
of the neighboring garrison4 ,in a      
choice of evils the most puerile game of
 skill is1 indeed1 clearly  preferable  
to games of chance2 but to that last    
resort of inanity the  traditional      
aversion to manual employments has      
actually driven  thousands of city      
idlers4 ,yet our ,american towns have   
never sunk to the  abject effeminacy of 
,european cities1 where physical apathy 
has become  a test of good breeding and 
a taste for mechanical accomplishments a
  stigma of eccentricity1 and where1    
consequently1 social prestige has to  be

 purchased at the price of practical    
helplessness1 of dependence in  all     
mechanical questions of life on the aid 
and the judgment of  hirelings4         
,life-endangering accident may now and  
then illustrate the disadvantages  of   
physical incapacity2 a drowning bather  
may be inclined to admit that  the      
saving influence of a swimming-school   
might compare favorably with  that of   
the baptismal miracle tank2 but the     
survivors will persist in  relying on   
the vicarious omnipotence of coin1      
ignoring the clearest  illustrations of 
the truth that physical incapacity      
avenges itself in  every waking hour1   
even of the wealthiest weakling1 while  
the  guardian-spirit of ,skill          
accompanies its wards from the workshop 
to the  playground and follows them over
 mountains and seas4                    
,e4--,,reform4    ,the growing          
impatience with the dead-language system
 of our monkish  school-plan will soon  
lead to a radical reform of college     

education1  and a fair portion of the   
time gained should be devoted to the    
culture  of mechanical arts4 ,for boys  
in their teens the 8instinct of         
constructiveness0 would still prove to  
retain enough of its native  energy to  
make the change a decidedly popular one1
 as demonstrated by  the success of the 
mechanical training schools that have   
attracted many  pupils who have to find 
the requisite leisure by stinting       
themselves in  their recreations4       
8,applied gymnastics0 7riding1 swimming1
 etc47 would  be still more popular1 and
 greatly lessen the yearly list of      
accidents  from the neglect of such     
training4    ,the bias of fashion would 
soon be modified by the precedence of   
its  leaders1 as in ,prussia1 where the 
royal family set a good example by      
educating their princes 7in addition to 
the inevitable military  training7 in   
the by-trade of some mechanical         
accomplishment 7carpentry1  sculpture1  
bookbinding1 etc471 the choice of       

handicraft being optional  with the     
pupil4 ,no model residence should be    
deemed complete without a  polytechnic  
workshop1 furnished with a panoply of   
apparatus for the  practice of all sorts
 of amateur chemical and mechanical     
pursuits--a  plan by which the          
,hungarian statesman-author1 ,maurus    
,jockar1 has  banished the specter of   
ennui from his hospitable country seat4 
,his  private hobby is ,black ,art1 as  
he calls his experiments in recondite   
chemistry1 but any one of his guests is 
welcome to try his hand at              
wood-carving1 glass-painting1           
metallurgy1 or any of the more primitive
  crafts1 for which the laboratory      
furnishes an abundance of apparatus4    
,private taste might1 of course1 modify 
the details of that plan1 and  even     
without regard to eventual results1 its 
proximate benefits if once  known would 
alone insure its general adoption in the
 homes of the  ennui-stricken classes4  
,the educational advantages of          

mechanical  training1 though1 can1      
indeed1 hardly be overrated4 ,a scholar 
with  nerveless arms and undextrous     
hands is as far from being a complete   
man  as a nimble savage with an         
undeveloped brain4                      
,,ii4--,,mental ,,maxims4      ,,chapter
 ,,vi4    ,,knowledge4                  
,a4--,,lessons ,,of ,,instinct4    ,in  
the arena of life animal instinct       
triumphs over the elemental forces  of  
,nature1 as human intelligence triumphs 
over instinct1 and the secret  of that  
superiority is knowledge4 ,skill is     
well-directed force4  ,prudence is      
well-applied reason4 ,the efficiency of 
that directing  faculty depends on      
experience1 as we call the accumulation 
of  recollected facts4 ,knowledge is    
stored light1 as helpful in the         
narrowest as in the widest sphere of    
conscious activity1 and the  instinctive
 appreciation of that advantage         
manifests itself in the  lowest species 
of vertebrate animals1 nay1 perhaps even

 in the winged  insects that swarm in   
from near and far to explore the mystery
 of a  flickering torch4 ,curiosity1    
rather than the supposed love of rhythm1
  tempts the serpent to leave its den at
 the sound of the conjurer's  flute4    
,dolphins are thus attracted by the din 
of a kettledrum1  river-fish by the     
glare of a moving light4 ,where deer    
abound1 a  pitchwood fire1 kindled in a 
moonless night1 is sure to allure them  
from all parts of the forest4 ,antelope 
hunters can entice their game  within   
rifle-shot by fastening a red kerchief  
to a bush and letting it  flutter in the
 breeze4 ,when the first telegraph lines
 crossed the  plateau of the ,rocky     
,mountains1 herds of bighorn sheep were 
often seen  trotting along the singing  
wires as if anxious to ascertain the    
meaning  of the curious innovation4     
,every abnormal change in the features  
of a  primitive landscape--the erection 
of a lookout-tower1 a clearing in the   
midst of a primeval forest--attracts    

swarms of inquisitive birds1 even  crows
 and shy hawks1 who seem to recognize   
the advantage of  reconnoitering the    
topography of their hunting-grounds4 ,in
 some of the  higher animals            
inquisitiveness becomes too marked to   
mistake its  motive1 as when a troop of 
colts gathers about a new dog1 or a pet 
monkey pokes his head into a            
cellar-hole1 and wears out his          
finger-nails to ascertain the contents  
of a brass rattle4    ,for the          
intelligence of children1 too1          
inquisitiveness is a pretty sure  test4 
,infants of ten months may be seen      
turning their eyes toward a new  piece  
of furniture in their nursery4          
,kindergarten pets of three years  have 
been known to pick up a gilded pebble   
from the gravel road and  call their    
teacher's attention to the color of the 
abnormal specimen4  ,with a little      
encouragement that faculty of           
observation may develop  surprising     
results4 ,the wife of a ,mexican        

missionary of my  acquaintance1 who had 
taken charge of an ,indian orphan boy1  
and made a  point of answering every    
pertinent question of the bright-eyed   
youngster1 was one day surprised to hear
 him usher in a stranger and  invite him
 to a seat in the parlor4 8,how could   
you know it was not a  tramp80 she asked
 her little chamberlain after the       
visitor had left4  8,oh1 ,i could tell  
by his clean finger-nails10 said ,master
 ,five-years1  8and also by his straight
 shoes4 ,tramps always get their heels  
crooked60    ,the shrewd remarks of boy 
naturalists and girl satirists often    
almost  confirm the opinion of ,goethe  
that every child has the innate gifts of
  genius1 and that subsequent           
differences are only the result of more 
or  less propitious educational         
influences4 ,and in spite of most       
discouraging circumstances1 the love of 
knowledge sometimes revives in  after   
years with the energy almost of a       
passionate instinct4 ,on the  veranda of

 a new hotel in a railroad town of      
southern ,texas1 ,i once  noticed the   
expression of rapt interest on the face 
of a young hunter1  a lad of eighteen or
 nineteen1 who here for the first time  
came in  contact with the               
representatives of a higher civilization
 and with  breathless attention drank in
 the conversation of two far-traveled   
strangers4 8,if they would hire me for a
 dog-robber 7a low menial71 ,i  would do
 it for a dime a day10 he muttered1     
8just for the chance to  hear them      
talk40    8,but if they should take you 
to some smoky1 crowded1 big city80      
8,i don't care10 said he1 with an oath1 
8,i would let them lock me up in  a     
jail1 if ,i could get an education like 
theirs40    ,it would1 indeed1 be a     
mistake to suppose that the thirst for  
mental  development is the exclusive    
product of advanced culture4 ,in the    
thinly  settled highlands of our western
 territories1 miners and herders have   
been known to travel ten miles a day    

over rough mountain roads to get  the   
rudiments of a school education4        
,missionaries who have mastered the     
language of a barbarous tribe have more 
than once been followed by  converts    
whom the charm of general knowledge 7far
 more than any special  theological     
motive7 impelled to forsake the home of 
their fathers and  follow the white     
stranger to the land of his omniscient  
countrymen4          ,b4--,,rewards ,,of
 ,,conformity4    ,knowledge is power1  
even in the contests of brutes4         
,superior  topographical knowledge      
enables the chasing wolf to intercept   
the  flight of his game2 a well-chosen  
ambush makes the tiger the master of    
his would-be slayer4 ,familiarity with  
the habits of enemies and rivals        
decides success in the struggle for     
existence4    ,the advantage of superior
 knowledge is not limited to the        
prestige of  superlative scholarship1   
but asserts itself in the chances of    
every  competitive pursuit1 so          

infallibly1 indeed1 as to justify       
,diderot's  paradox that there is no    
need of any such thing as love of       
science for  its own sake1 since all    
knowledge repays its acquisition by     
collateral  benefits4 ,a farmer's boy   
studying statute law1 a lawyer          
collecting  market reports1 will sooner 
or later find a chance to profit by     
their  study4 ,the infinite interaction 
of human affairs connects the interests 
of all branches of human knowledge1 and 
makes the humblest handicraft  amenable 
to scientific improvement4 ,knowledge   
has never hindered the  successful      
pursuit of any manual vocation4 ,fifty  
years ago several  states of the        
,american ,union made it a penal offense
 to teach a slave  reading and writing2 
and if the planter valued his laborers  
in  proportion to their canine          
submissiveness1 he was perhaps right    
that  8education spoils a nigger40 ,it  
qualified his servility1 and by making  
him a better man1 made him perhaps a    

less available dog4 ,but with that      
single exception1 ignorance is a        
disadvantage1 and knowledge an          
advantage1 both to its possessor and his
 employers4 ,in the solitudes of  the   
,australian bush-land1 ,frederick       
,gerstcker found a herdsman reading     
,aristophanes in the original4 ,neither 
the sheep nor their owners were  any the
 worse for that incidental              
accomplishment of the poor shepherd1    
who found his study a sufficient source 
of pastime1 while his comrades  were apt
 to drown their ennui in bad rum4 ,james
 ,cook1 the greatest of  modern maritime
 discoverers1 served his apprenticeship 
on board of a  coal-barge and employed  
his leisure in studying works on        
geography and  general history4 ,the    
knowledge thus acquired might seem of no
 direct  advantage1 but three years     
after1 on board of the ,eagle frigate1  
the  erudition of the brawny young      
sailor soon attracted the attention of  
two intelligent officers whose          

recommendations proved the              
stepping-stones of his successful       
career4 ,mohammed ,baber ,khan1 the     
emperor of the ,mogul empire1 owed his  
triumphs to his topographical  studies  
of a region which afterward became the  
battleground of his  great campaigns4   
,mohammed the ,prophet gained the       
confidence of his  first employer by his
 familiarity with the commercial customs
 of  neighboring nations4 ,superior     
knowledge compels even an unwilling     
recognition of its prestige4 ,in the    
,middle ,ages1 when ,moslems and        
,trinitarians were at daggers drawn1    
,christian kings sent respectful        
embassies to solicit the professional   
advice of ,ibn ,rushd 78,averroes071    
the ,moorish physician4 ,during the     
progress of the life-and-death  struggle
 of ,france and ,great ,britain1 the    
discoveries of ,sir ,humphrey  ,davy    
impelled the ,academie ,franaise to send
 their chief prize to  ,england4 ,the   
benefits of great inventions are too    

international to  leave room for that   
envy that pursues the glory of military 
heroes1 and  the triumphs of science    
have often united nations whom a unity  
of  religion had failed to reconcile4   
,c4--,,perversion4    ,there is a       
tradition that a year before the        
conversion of ,constantine  the son of  
the prophetess ,sospitra was praying in 
the temple of  ,serapis1 when the spirit
 of his mother came over him and the    
veil of  the future was withdrawn4 8,woe
 to our children60 he exclaimed1 when he
  awakened from his trance1 8,i see a   
cloud approaching1 a great darkness  is 
going to spread over the face of the    
world40 ,that darkness proved a         
thirteen hundred years' eclipse of      
common sense and reason4 ,there is a    
doubt if the total destruction of all   
cities of the civilized world  could    
have struck a more cruel blow to        
,science than the dogma of  salvation by
 faith and abstinence from the pursuit  
of free inquiry4 ,the  ethics of the    

world-renouncing fanatic condemned the  
love of secular  knowledge as they      
condemned the love of health and the    
pursuit of  physical prosperity1 and the
 children of the next fifty generations 
were systematically trained to despise  
the highest attribute of the  human     
spirit4 ,spiritual poverty became a test
 of moral worth2  philosophers and free 
inquirers were banished1 while mental   
castrates  were fattened at the expense 
of toiling rustics and mechanics2       
science  was dreaded as an ally of      
skepticism1 if not of the arch-fiend in 
person2 the suspicion of sorcery        
attached to the cultivation of almost   
any intellectual pursuit1 and the       
,emperor ,justinian actually passed a   
law for the 8suppression of             
mathematicians40    ,when the tyranny of
 the church reached the zenith of its   
power1 natural  science became almost a 
tradition of the past4 ,the pedants of  
the  convent schools divided their time 
between the forgery of miracle  legends 

and the elaboration of insane dogmas4   
,the most extravagant  absurdities were 
propagated under the name of historical 
records2  medleys of nursery-tales and  
ghost-stories which the poorest village 
school-teacher of pagan ,rome would have
 rejected with disgust were  gravely    
discussed by so-called scholars4        
,buckle1 in his 8,history of            
,civilization10 quotes samples of such  
chronicles which might be  mistaken for 
products of satire1 if abundant evidence
 of contemporary  writers did not prove 
them to have been the current staple of 
medieval  science4    ,when the gloom of
 the dreadful night was broken by the   
first gleam of  modern science1 every   
torch-bearer was persecuted as an       
incendiary4  ,astronomers were forced to
 recant their heresies on their bended  
knees4  ,philosophers were caged like   
wild beasts4 ,religious skeptics were   
burnt  at the stake1 as enemies of ,god 
and the human race4 ,it was1 indeed1    
almost impossible to enunciate any      

scientific axiom that did not  conflict 
with the dogmas of the                  
revelation-mongers who had for          
centuries subordinated the evidence of  
their own senses to the rant of         
epileptic monks and maniacs4 ,and when  
the sun of ,reason rose visibly  above  
the horizon of the intellectual world1  
its rays struggled  distorted through   
the dense mist of superstition which    
continued to  brood over the face of the
 earth1 and was only partially dispersed
 even  by the storms of the ,protestant 
revolt4    ,the light of modern science 
has brought its blessings only to the   
habitants of the social highlands2 the  
valley dwellers still grope  their way  
through the gloom of inveterate         
superstitions and prejudices1  and      
centuries may pass before the world has 
entirely emerged from the  shadow of the
 life-blighting cloud which the son of  
,sospitra recognized  in the rise of the
 ,galilean delusion4                    
,d4--,,penalties ,,of ,,neglect4    ,of 

all the sins of ,antinaturalism1 the    
suppression of human reason has  brought
 down the curse of the direst           
retribution4 ,it is the  unpardonable   
sin against the ,holy ,spirit4 ,the     
actual extinction of  their local       
sunshine could hardly have entailed     
greater misery upon the  slaves of the  
,christian church4 ,the victims of a    
permanent ,egyptian  darkness might have
 taken refuge in the ,goshen of their   
neighbors1 in  the sunny garden-homes of
 the ,parsees and ,spanish ,moriscos1   
but the  jealousy of the clerical       
tyrants closed every gate of escape1 and
 for  thirteen centuries the nations of 
,christian ,europe suffered all the     
horrors of enforced ignorance and       
superstition4 ,the history of that      
dismal night is1 indeed1 the darkest    
page in the records of the human  race1 
and its horrors bind the duties of every
 sane survivor to a war  of             
extermination upon the dogmas of the    
insane fanatic whose priests  turned the

 paradise of southern ,europe into a    
hell of misery and  barbarism4    ,the  
battle against the demon of darkness    
became a struggle for  existence1 in    
which the powers of ,nature at last     
prevailed1 but for  millions of our     
fellow-men the day of deliverance has   
dawned too late2  spring-time and       
morning returned in vain for many a once
 fertile land  where the soil itself had
 lost its reproductive power1 where the 
outrages of ,antinaturalism had turned  
gardens into deserts and freemen  into  
callous slaves4 ,the storm that awakened
 the nations of northern  ,europe from  
the dreams of their poison-fever could  
not break the spell  of a deeper        
slumber1 and the moral desert of the    
,mediterranean  coast-lands remains to  
warn the nations of the future1 as the  
bleaching  bones of a perished caravan  
remain to warn the traveler from the    
track  of the simoom4    ,the religion  
of ,mohammed1 with its health-laws and  
encouragements to  martial prowess1 has 

produced no ruinous results of physical 
degeneration1 but the entire neglect of 
mental culture has not failed  to avenge
 itself in the loss of national         
prestige4 ,for after the  northern      
nations of ,christendom had broken the  
yoke of their spiritual  tyrants1 the   
children of ,islam remained faithful to 
the task-masters of  their less grievous
 bondage1 but also to its total         
indifference to  secular science1 and   
from that day the crescent of the       
prophet became a  waning moon4          
,e4--,,reform4    ,the experience of the
 ,middle ,ages has made the separation  
of church and  state the watchword of   
all true ,liberals4 ,but the divorce of 
church and  school is a duty of hardly  
less urgent importance4 ,while many of  
our  best ,freethinkers waste their time
 in hair-splitting metaphysics1         
,catholic and ,protestant ,jesuits      
coperate for a purpose which they have  
shrewdly recognized as the main hope of 
obscurantism3 ,the perversion of        

primary education by its re-subjection  
to the control of the clergy4  ,the     
definite defeat of those intrigues      
should be considered the only  permanent
 guarantee against the revival of       
spiritual feudalism4 ,a  perhaps less   
imminent1 but hardly less serious1      
danger to the cause of  ,science is the 
stealthy revival of mysticism4 ,under   
all sorts of  nomenclatural             
modifications1 the specter-creed of the 
ancient ,gnostics  is again rearing its 
head1 and menacing reason by an appeal  
to the  hysterical and sensational      
proclivities of ignorance4    ,in the   
third place1 there is no doubt that     
under the present  circumstances of     
educational limitations the adoption of 
female  suffrage would prove a          
death-blow to intellectual progress and 
re-doom  mankind to the tutelage of a   
clerical ,inquisition2 but rather than  
perpetuate a twofold system of          
oppression1 we should complete the work 
of emancipation by admitting our sisters

 to all available social and            
educational advantages1 as well as to   
the privilege of the polls4 ,from  the  
suffrage of educated women we have      
nothing to fear and much to  hope4      
,it has long been a mooted question if  
the progress of knowledge can be        
promoted by arbitrary encouragement1    
such as prize offers and  sinecures1 but
 the preponderance of logic seems on the
 side of those  who hold that science   
should be left to its normal rewards1   
and that  the proper sphere of          
legislation does not extend beyond the  
duty of  securing the full benefit of   
those rewards by the removal of absurd  
disabilities and unfair discriminations 
in support of worm-eaten  dogmas4       
,reason may be safely left to fight its 
own battle1 if the arms  of ,un-reason  
cease to be strengthened by statutes    
which enable every  village ghost-monger
 to silence the exponents of science by 
an appeal  to medieval heretic-laws4    
,,chapter ,,vii4    ,,independence4     

,a4--,,lessons ,,of ,,instinct4    ,if  
the scale of precedence in the mental   
development of our  fellow-creatures can
 be determined by any single test1 that 
test is the  instinctive love of        
,independence4 ,many of the lower       
animals may  surprise us by constructive
 achievements that rival the products of
  human science1 but their instinct of  
freedom is quite imperfectly  developed4
 ,the caterpillar of the silk-moth will 
spin its satin  winter-gown in a box    
full of mulberry leaves as skilfully as 
in the  freedom of the tropical forests4
 ,in the hive of their captor a swarm of
  wild bees will continue to build      
hexagons and store up honey as          
diligently as in the rocks or hollow    
trees of the wilderness4 ,captive       
river-fish will eat and pair a day after
 their transfer to a fishpond4  ,birds1 
on the other hand1 mourn their lost     
liberty for weeks4 ,during  the first   
half-month of its captivity1 a caged    
hawk rarely accepts any  food2 sea-birds

 and eagles starve with a persistence as
 if they were  thus trying to end an    
affliction from which they see no other 
way of  escape4 ,wild cows can be       
domesticated in a month2 wild elephants 
hardly  in a year4 ,several species of  
the larger carnivora can be trained only
  if caught in their cub-hood1 as in    
after years they become almost  wholly  
untamable4 ,the lower varieties of      
quadrumana1 the ,brazilian  capuchin    
monkeys and ,east ,indian macaques1 seem
 almost to invite  capture by the       
frequency of their visits to the        
neighborhood of human  dwellings1 while 
the apes proper are1 without any        
exception1 the shyest  creatures of the 
virgin woods4 ,the gorilla is so rarely 
seen in the  vicinity of human          
settlements that its very existence was 
long  considered doubtful4 ,sir         
,stamford ,raffles asserts that at the  
distant  sound of an ax the orang of    
,sumatra at once abandons its favorite  
haunts in the coast jungles4 ,on the    

west coast of ,borneo a large orang  was
 once surprised by the crew of an       
,english trading-vessel1 but fought     
with a desperation that obliged its     
would-be captors to riddle it with      
rifle-balls1 though they knew that a    
living specimen of that size would  be  
worth its weight in silver4    ,that    
same resolution in defense of their     
liberties has always  distinguished the 
nobler from the baser tribes of the     
human race4 ,the  natives of the ,gambia
 ,valley have no hesitation in selling  
their  relatives to the ,portuguese     
slave-traders1 while the liberation of a
  single countryman 7whom the enemy had 
determined to hold as a hostage7        
impelled the ,circassian highlanders to 
risk their lives in a series of         
desperate assaults upon the ramparts of 
a ,russian frontier post4 ,the  hope of 
covering the retreat of their fleeing   
wives and children  inspired the heroes 
of ,thermopyl to make a stand against   
six-thousandfold odds4 ,the crimps of   

the ,christian church-despots found  no 
difficulty in foisting their yoke upon  
the former vassals of the  ,roman       
empire1 but when they attempted to cross
 the border of the ,saxon  ,landmark1   
the kidnappers were slain like rabid    
wolves2 and when the  neighboring       
ruffian-counts1 and at last ,charlemagne
 in person1 marched  to the support of  
the clerical slave-hunters1 they met    
with a  resistance the record of which  
will forever remain the proudest page in
  the chronicle of the ,germanic races4 
,cornfields were burnt1 villages  were  
leveled with the ground2 for hundreds of
 miles the means of human  subsistence  
were utterly destroyed2 but the council 
of the ,saxon  chieftains refused to    
submit1 and when the homes of their     
forefathers  were devastated1 they      
carried their children to the           
inaccessible wilds  of the ,harz        
highlands1 where they grimly welcomed   
the aid of the winter  snows1 and defied
 frost and starvation1 rather than crawl

 to cross 7zu  ,kreuze kriechen71 as    
their vernacular stigmatized the        
cowardice of  their crucifix-kissing    
neighbors4 ,and when the ,frankish      
autocrat had  shackled their land with a
 chain of forts1 they thrice rebelled   
with  persistent disregard of           
consequences2 nay1 after the loss of the
 last  murderous battle1 the prisoners  
of war refused to accept the ultimatum  
of the conqueror1 and rather than crawl 
to cross four thousand of their  captive
 noblemen mounted the scaffold of the   
executioner on the  market-square of    
,quedlinburg4 ,the bodies of the heroes 
were thrown to  the birds of the        
wilderness2 but their deathless spirits 
revived in the  philippics of ,martin   
,luther and the battle-shout of ,ltzen  
and  ,oudenaarde1 and will yet ride the 
storm destined to hurl the last cross   
from the temples of the ,germanic       
nations4          ,b4--,,rewards ,,of   
,,conformity4    ,since the dawn of     
history the lands of freedom have       

produced fruits and  flowers that       
refused to thrive on any other soil4    
,for several centuries  civilization was
 confined to a small country of         
republics3 ,attic and  ,theban ,greece4 
8,study the wonders of that age10 says  
,byron to his  friend ,trelawney1 8and  
compare them with the best ever done    
under  masters40 ,switzerland1 in spite 
of its rocky soil1 has for centuries    
been the happiest1 as well as the       
freest1 country of ,europe4 ,the        
prosperity of the ,united ,states of    
,america1 since the establishment of    
their independence1 stands unparalleled 
in the history of the last  eighteen    
hundred years2 and1 moreover1 the degree
 of that prosperity  has been locally   
proportioned to the degree of social    
freedom1 and has  begun to become       
general only since the general abolition
 of slavery4  ,freedom blesses the      
poorest soil1 as despotism blights the  
most  fertile1 and it is only an        
apparent exception from that rule that  

,italy  continued to flourish during the
 first two centuries of the empire4 ,the
  change in the form of government was  
at first nominal1 rather than  real1 and
 under the rule of ,augustus1 ,trajan1  
,hadrian1 and the  ,antonines1 ,rome    
enjoyed more real liberty than many a   
so-called  republic of modern times4    
,when despotism became a systematic and 
chronic actuality1 the sun of fortune   
was soon eclipsed1 and the social       
climate became as unfavorable to art and
 literature as to valor and  patriotism4
    ,personal independence is a not less
 essential condition of individual      
happiness4 ,bondage in any form1 and of 
silken or gilded1 as well as of  iron1  
fetters1 is incompatible with the       
development of the highest  mental and  
moral faculties4 ,the genius of ,poland 
and modern ,italy has  produced its best
 fruit in exile4 ,the progress of modern
 civilization  dates only from the time 
when knowledge once more flourished in a
  ,republic of ,letters2 and for a      

thousand years the monastery system of  
medieval literature produced hardly a   
single work of genius4 ,within the      
period of the last three or four        
generations the sun of freedom has      
ripened better and more abundant fruit  
in any single decade than the           
dungeon-air of despotism during a series
 of centuries4 ,all foreign  travelers  
agree in admiring 7or condemning7 the   
early mental  development of ,american  
children1 who have a chance to exercise 
their  intellectual faculties in an area
 untrammeled by the barriers of caste   
divisions and social restraints4 ,they  
may yield to the pupils of the  best    
,european colleges in special branches  
of scholarship1 but in  common sense1   
general intelligence1 general           
information1 in  self-respect1 in       
practical versatility and               
self-dependence1 an ,american  boy of   
twelve is1 as a rule1 more than a match 
for a  continental-,european boy of     
sixteen2 and the same holds good of the 

average intelligence and self-dependence
 of our country population4  ,with the  
rarest exceptions the political         
economists of our ,southern  states     
agree that the agricultural negro as a  
freeman is a more  valuable laborer than
 as a slave1 and that emancipation1 in  
the long  run1 has benefited the planter
 as well as his serf4 ,i venture even to
  add the verdict of ,professor         
,hagenbeck1 the founder of the great    
zological supply depot1 that            
menagerie-trainers of the least despotic
  methods are the most successful4      
,turf-men know that the best horses do  
not come from the unequaled perennial   
pastures of the lower ,danube1 but  from
 ,england and ,araby1 where pet colts   
enjoy almost the freedom of a  pet      
child4          ,c4--,,perversion4      
,the ethics of ,anti-naturalism include 
the ,buddhistic doctrine of             
self-abasement1 as an indispensable     
condition of salvation4 ,that  salvation
 meant extinction1 the utter            

renunciation of earthly hopes and       
desires1 the mortification of all       
natural instincts1 including the        
instinct of freedom4 ,abject submission 
to injustice1 the subordination  of     
reason to dogma1 the sinfulness of      
rebellion against the 8powers  that be10
 were inculcated with a zeal that made  
the church an  invaluable ally of       
despotism4 ,for centuries a scepter     
combining the  form of a cross and a    
bludgeon was the significant emblem of  
tyranny4  ,with the aid1 nay1 in the    
name1 of the ,christian hierarchy1 the  
despots  of the ,middle ,ages elaborated
 a system of subordination of personal  
freedom to autocratic caprices1 which1  
by comparison1 makes the tyranny  of the
 ,csars a model of liberalism4 ,every   
important function of social  and       
domestic life was subjected to the      
control of arbitrary  functionaries1    
armed with irresponsible power or with a
 system of  oppressive penal by-laws4   
,censors suppressed every symptom of    

visible  or audible protest4 ,every     
school was a prison1 every judgment-seat
 a  star-chamber4 ,peasants and         
mechanics had no voice in the councils  
of  their rulers4 ,the merit of official
 employees was measured by the  degree  
of their flunkeyism4 ,but the           
ne-plus-ultras of physical and  moral   
despotism were combined in the slavery  
of the monastic convents4  ,the attempt 
of reviving the outrages which abbots   
for centuries  practiced on the         
unfortunates whom a rash vow 7or often  
the mandate of  a bigoted parent7 had   
submitted to their power1 would         
certainly expose  the manager of a      
modern convent to the risk of being     
mobbed and torn  limb from limb4        
,novices were subjected to all sorts of 
wanton tortures  and arbitrary          
deprivation of his scant privileges2    
they were compelled  to perform shameful
 and ridiculous acts of self-abasement1 
all merely  to 8break their worldly     
spirit10 i4e41 crush out the last       

vestige of  self-respect and life-love1 
in order to prepare them for the        
consolations of other-worldliness4 ,the 
moral emasculation of the human  race   
seems1 indeed1 to have been the main    
purpose of the educational  policy which
 the priests of the ,nature-hating      
,galilean pursued wherever  the union of
 ,church and ,state put children and    
devotees at the mercy of  their         
dogmatists4          ,d4--,,penalties   
,,of ,,neglect4    ,voluntary slavery   
means voluntary renunciation of the     
chief privilege  of human reason3 the   
privilege of self-control4 ,the         
spendthrift divests  himself of external
 advantages2 the miser yields up his    
life-blood for  gold2 but he who        
surrenders his personal liberty has sold
 his soul1 as  well as his body4        
,bondage circumscribes every sphere of  
activity4  ,political despotism impedes 
the progress of industry as galling     
fetters  impede the circulation of the  
blood4 ,enterprising autocrats of the   

,frederic and ,peter type have as       
utterly failed in the attempt of        
enforcing a flourishing state of        
commerce1 as they would have failed in  
the attempt of enforcing the growth of a
 stunted tree by the tension of  iron   
chains4 ,in free ,america a voluntary   
pledge of abstinence has  accomplished  
what in medieval ,europe the most       
,draconic temperance and  anti-tobacco  
laws failed to achieve4    ,the         
educational despotism of moral pedants  
has ever defeated its own  purpose1 and 
succeeded only in turning frank1        
merry-souled children  into hypocrites  
and sneaks4 ,the idea that a barbarous  
system of  military discipline could    
develop model warriors has been refuted 
on  hundreds of battle-fields1 where the
 machine-soldiers of despotic kings     
were routed by the onset of enthusiastic
 patriots1 half-trained1  perhaps1 and  
ill-armed1 but assembled by an          
enlistment of souls as well  as of      
bodies4 ,the unparalleled intellectual  

barrenness of the ,middle  ,ages was    
well explained by the indictment of a   
modern ,english poet4  8,the bondage of 
the ,christian doctrine10 says ,percy   
,shelley1 8is fatal  to the development 
of originality and genius40 ,the curse  
of mediocrity  has1 indeed1 for ages    
rested upon every literary product      
devoted to the  promotion of clerical   
interests4 ,the ,muses refuse to        
assemble on  ,golgotha4 ,pegasus        
declines to be yoked with the ass of the
 ,galilean  ascetic4 ,outspoken         
skepticism is almost as rare as true    
genius1 and it  is not possible to      
mistake the significance of the fact    
that the great  poets and philosophers  
of the last seven generations were1     
almost  without an exception1 persistent
 and outspoken skeptics4 ,rousseau1     
,voltaire1 ,diderot1 ,d',alembert1      
,holbach1 ,leibnitz1 ,lessing1 ,kant1   
,fichte1 ,hegel1 ,schiller1 ,heine1     
,schopenhauer1 ,humboldt1 ,pope1 ,hume1 
,byron1 ,shelley1 ,keats1 ,gibbon1      

,buckle1 and ,darwin have all inscribed 
their names in the temple o6            
,liberalism2 and ,wolfgang ,goethe1 the 
primate of ,european literature1 was at 
once the most consistent and the  most  
anti-,christian of modern thinkers4     
8,his personal appearance10 says        
,heinrich ,heine1 8was as harmonious as 
his mind4 ,a proudly erect body1  never 
yet bent by ,christian worm-humility2   
classic features1 never  distorted by   
,christian contrition2 eyes that had    
never been dimmed by  ,christian        
sinner-tears or the apathy of monkish   
resignation40    ,that resignation was  
for centuries enforced as the first of  
moral  duties2 but ,nature has had her  
revenge1 and even the fallen hierarchy  
would hesitate to recover the loss of   
their prestige by a return to the  moral
 desert which for ages marked the empire
 of a mind-enslaving  dogma4            
,e4--,,reform4    ,not all slaves can be
 freed by breaking their shackles2 the  
habit of  servitude may become a        

hereditary vice1 too inveterate for     
immediate  remedies4 ,the pupils of     
,freedom's school may be required to    
unlearn1 as  well as to learn1 many     
lessons2 the temples of the future will 
have to  remove several aphoristic      
tablets to make room for such mottoes as
  8,self-,reliance10 8,liberty10        
8,independence40 ,victor ,jacquemont    
tells a  memorable story of a ,hindoo   
village1 almost depopulated by a famine 
caused by the depredations of sacred    
monkeys1 that made constant raids  on   
the fields and gardens of the           
superstitious peasants1 who would see   
their children starve to death rather   
than lift a hand against the            
long-tailed saints4 ,at last the        
,british stadtholder saw a way to       
relieve their distress4 ,he called a    
meeting of their sirdars and  offered   
them free transportation to a monkeyless
 island of the ,malay  archipelago4     
,learning that the land of the proposed 
colony was fertile  and thinly settled1 

the survivors accepted the proposal with
 tears of  gratitude2 but when the band 
of gaunt refugees embarked at the mouth 
of  the ,hooghly1 the stadtholder's     
agent was grieved to learn that their   
cargo of household goods included a     
large cageful of sacred monkeys4  8,they
 are beyond human help10 says the       
official memorandum1 8and their         
children can be redeemed only by curing 
them of the superstition that  has      
ruined their monkey-ridden ancestors40  
,at the end of the fifteenth century1   
when southern ,europe was in danger  of 
a similar fate from the rapacity of     
esurient priests and monks1             
,providence1 by means of an agent called
 ,christoval ,columbus1 offered  the    
victims the chance of a free land of    
refuge2 but when the host of  emigrants 
embarked at the harbor of ,palos1       
philosophers must have been  grieved to 
perceive that their cargo of            
household-pets comprised a  large       
assortment of ecclesiastics4 8,they are 

beyond human help10  ,experience might  
sigh in the words of the ,british       
commissioner1 8and  their children can  
be redeemed only by curing them of the  
superstition  that has proved the ruin  
of their priest-ridden ancestors40      
,in regions of our continent where      
colonists might live as independent  as 
the birds of their primeval forests1    
bondage has been imported in  the form  
of an intriguing hierarchy1 working its 
restless bellows to  forge the chains of
 their pupils--of the rising generation1
 who as yet  seem to hesitate at the    
way-fork of ,feudalism and ,reform4 ,a  
timely word  may decide their choice1   
and1 by all the remaining hopes of      
,earth and  ,mankind6 that word shall   
not remain unspoken4                    
,,chapter ,,viii4    ,,prudence4        
,a4--,,lessons ,,of ,,instinct4    ,the 
first germs of animal life have been    
traced to the soil of the  tropics1 and 
in the abundance of a perennial summer  
the instincts of  pleasure and pain may 

long have sufficed for the protection of
 mere  existence4 ,but when the progress
 of organic development advanced toward 
the latitude of the winter-lands1 the   
vicissitudes of the struggle for        
existence gradually evolved a third     
instinct3 ,the faculty of  anticipating 
the menace of evil and providing the    
means of defense4 ,the  word ,prudence  
is derived from a verb which literally  
means fore-seeing1  and that faculty of 
,foresight manifests itself already in  
that curious  thrift which enables      
several species of insects to survive   
the long  winter of the higher          
latitudes4 ,hibernating mammals show a  
similar  sagacity in the selection of   
their winter quarters4 ,squirrels and   
marmots gather armfuls of dry moss2     
bears excavate a den under the  shelter 
of a fallen tree2 and it has been       
noticed that cave-loving bats  generally
 select a cavern on the south side of a 
mountain or rock4  ,beavers anticipate  
floods by elaborate dams4 ,several      

species of birds  baffle the attacks of 
their enemies by fastening a bag-shaped 
nest to  the extremity of a projecting  
branch4 ,foxes1 minks1 raccoons1 and    
other  carnivora generally undertake    
their forages during the darkest hour of
  the night4 ,prowling wolves carefully 
avoid the neighborhood of human         
dwellings and have been known to leap a 
hundred fences rather than  cross or    
approach a highway4    ,young birds1    
clamoring for food1 suddenly become     
silent at the approach  of a hunter2 and
 ,dr4 ,moffat noticed with surprise that
 a similar  instinct seemed to influence
 the nurslings of the ,griqua           
,hottentots4  ,ten or twelve of them1   
deposited by their mothers in the shade 
of a  tree1 all clawing each other and  
crowing or bawling at the top of their  
voices1 would abruptly turn silent at   
the approach of a stranger1 and  huddle 
together behind the roots of the        
tree--babies of ten months as  quietly  
cowering and as cautiously peeping as   

their elders of two or  three years4    
,young savages1 and often the children  
of our rustics1 show  an extreme caution
 in accepting an offer of unknown       
delicacies4 ,i have  seen a toddling    
farmer's boy smelling and nibbling an   
orange for hours  before yielding to the
 temptation of its prepossessing        
appearance4 ,only  the distress of      
protracted starvation will induce the   
,esquimaux to  touch their winter stores
 before the end of the hunting season2  
and the  supposed improvidence of       
savages is often due to the influence of
 a  hereditary disposition once         
justified by the abundance which their  
forefathers enjoyed for ages before the 
advent of their ,caucasian  despoilers4 
,b4--,,rewards ,,of ,,conformity4       
,civilization has partially healed the  
wounds of that ,millennium of  ,madness 
called the ,rule of the ,cross1 and of  
all the insanities of the  ,middle ,ages
 the ,improvidence ,dogma has perhaps   
been most effectually  eradicated from  

the mental constitution--at least1 of   
the  ,north-,caucasian nations4 ,instead
 of relying on the efficacy of prayers  
and ceremonies1 the dupes of the        
,galilean miracle-monger at last        
returned to the pagan plan of self-help1
 and it would not be too much  to say   
that the progress thus achieved in the  
course of the last  fourteen decades far
 exceeds that of the preceding fourteen 
centuries4  ,earth has once more become 
a fit dwelling-place for her noblest    
children4 ,pestilential swamps have been
 drained4 ,domestic hotbeds of  disease 
have been expurgated4 ,airy1            
weather-proof buildings have taken  the 
place of the reeking hovels that housed 
the laborers of the ,middle  ,ages4     
,farmers no longer live from hand to    
mouth4 ,the price of the  necessities   
and many luxuries of life has been      
brought within the  resources of the    
humblest mechanic4 ,affluence is no     
longer confined to  the palaces of      
kings4 ,there is no doubt that the      

cottage of the average  modern city     
tradesman contains more comforts than   
could be found in the  castle of a      
medieval nobleman4 ,prudence1 in the    
sense of economic  foresight1 has become
 almost a second nature with the        
industrial  classes of the higher       
latitudes1 and the benefits of such     
habits can be  best appreciated by      
comparing the homes of the thrifty      
,northlanders--,scotch and              
,yankees--with those of the             
,spanish-,american  priest-dupes3 here  
deserts tilled into gardens1 there      
gardens wasted  into deserts4 ,in       
natural resources1 ,south ,america1 for 
instance1 excels  ,new ,england as ,new 
,england excels the snow-wastes of      
,hudson's ,bay  ,territory2 yet         
industrial statistics demonstrate the   
fact that the  financial resources of   
,massachusetts alone not only equal but 
far  surpass those of the entire        
,brazilian empire4    ,the contrast     
between ,prussia and ,spain is not less 

striking1 and that  climatic causes are 
insufficient to explain that contrast is
 proved by  the curious fact that within
 less than five centuries ,spain and    
,north  ,germany have exchanged places4 
,two hundred years before the conquest  
of  ,granada the fields of ,moorish     
,spain had been brought to a degree of  
productiveness never surpassed in the   
most favored regions of our own         
continent1 while ,catholic ,prussia was 
a bleak heather4 ,since the  expulsion  
of the ,moors from ,spain1 and the monks
 from northern ,germany1  ,prussia has  
become a garden and ,spain a desert2 the
 contrasting results  of prudence and   
superstition4 ,while the ,prussians were
 at work the  ,spaniards were whining to
 their saints1 or embroidering          
petticoats for  an image of the holy    
,virgin4 ,while the countrymen of       
,humboldt studied  chemistry1           
physiology1 and rational agriculture1   
the countrymen of  ,loyola conned       
oriental ghost stories2 while the former

 placed their  trust in the promises of 
nature1 the latter trusted in the       
promises of  the ,new ,testament4       
,prudence1 rather than military prowess1
 has  transferred the hegemony of       
,europe from the ,ebro to the ,elbe1 and
  prudence alone has smoothened even the
 path of exile which ill-fated  ,israel 
has pursued now for more than a thousand
 years4 ,for1 with all  the             
,spiritualistic tendency of their       
ethics1 the children of ,jacob have     
long ceased to deal in miracles1 and    
train their children in lessons of      
secular realism which effectually       
counteract the influence of their       
school-training in the lessons of the   
past1 and as a result famine has  been  
banished from the tents of the exiles4  
,like the ,corsicans and the  prudent   
,scots1 they rarely marry before the    
acquisition of a  competency1 but the   
tendency of that habit does not prevent 
their  numerical increase4 ,their       
children do not perish in squalor and   

hunger2  their patriarchs do not burden 
our alms-houses4                        
,c4--,,perversion4    ,there is a story 
of an enterprising ,italian who         
increased the patronage  of an unpopular
 mountain resort by effecting an        
inundation of the  lowlands2 and if the 
apostles of other-worldliness had tried 
to enhance  the attractions of their    
hereafter on the same plan1 they could  
certainly not have adopted a more       
effective method for depreciating the   
value of temporal existence4 ,the vanity
 of work1 of thrift1 of economy1  and   
the superior merit of reliance on the   
aid of preternatural  agencies1 were a  
favorite text of the ,galilean messiah4 
8,take no  thought of the morrow1 for   
the morrow shall take thought for the   
things  of itself40 8,take no thought1  
saying1 ,what shall we eat8 what shall  
we  drink8 or wherewithal shall we be   
clothed8 ,for after all these do the    
gentiles seek40 8,ask and it shall be   
given you40    ,secular foresight was   

depreciated even in the form of a       
prudent care  for the preservation of   
physical health2 the selection of clean 
in  preference to unclean food was      
denounced as a relic of worldliness2 and
  in mitigating the consequences of such
 insults to nature1 prayer and  mystic  
ceremonies were recommended as superior 
to secular remedies4 8,if  any man is   
sick among you1 let him call for the    
elders of the church1  and let them pray
 over him1 anointing him with oil in the
 name of the  ,lord40 8,and the prayer  
of faith shall save the sick1 and the   
,lord shall  raise him up40 8,and when  
he had called unto him his twelve       
disciples1  he gave them power against  
unclean spirits to cast them out1 and to
  heal all manner of disease40    ,if   
such instructions had been followed to  
the letter1 the human race  would have  
perished in a hell of madness and       
disease4 ,as it was1 a  thousand years' 
purgatory of half insanity cured the    
world of its  delusion2 and the sinners 

against the laws of common sense escaped
 with  the penalty of a millennium of   
barbarism1 a barbarism which1 in the    
most orthodox countries of the          
fourteenth century1 had sunk deep below 
the lowest ebb of pagan savagery4 ,the  
untutored hunters of the primeval       
,german forest were at least left to the
 resources of their animal  instincts2  
they were illiterate1 but manly and     
generous1 braving  danger1 and prizing  
health and liberty above all earthly    
blessings4  ,their children were dragged
 off to the bondage of the ,christian   
convents and doomed to all the misery of
 physical restraint1 not for  the sake  
of their intellectual culture1 not with 
a view of purchasing  the comforts of   
after years by temporal self-denial1 but
 to educate  them in habits of physical 
apathy and supine reliance on the aid of
  interposing saints--a habit which at  
last revenged itself by its  transfer to
 the principles of ethics1 and          
encouraged malefactors to  trust their  

eternal welfare to the same expedient to
 which indolence  had been taught to    
confide its temporal interests4 ,where  
was the need  of rectitude if iniquity  
could be compromised by prayer8 ,where  
was the  need of industry if its fruits 
could be obtained by faith8 ,where was  
the need of sanitary precautions if the 
consequences of their neglect  could be 
averted by ceremonies8                  
,d4--,,penalties ,,of ,,neglect4    ,the
 consequences of that dogma refuted its 
claims by lessons which  mankind is not 
apt to forget for the next hundred      
generations4 ,from the  day when the    
doctrine of ,antinaturalism succeeded in
 superseding the  lingering influence of
 pagan philosophy1 progressive industry 
waned1  and at last almost ceased to    
supply even a reduced demand2 commerce  
lingered1 and the sources of subsistence
 were wholly confined to the  produce of
 a more and more impoverished soil4     
,with the exception of  7still half     
pagan7 ,italy1 not one of the many once 

prosperous countries  of ,christian     
,europe had anything like a profitable  
export trade4 ,on the  international    
markets of the ,byzantine empire the    
products of skilled  labor--fine        
clothes1 fine fruits1 perfume1 and      
jewelry--were sold by  oriental         
merchants1 while the ,christian buyers  
had little to offer in  exchange but the
 spontaneous products of ,nature3       
timber1 salt1 amber1  and perhaps hides 
and wool4 ,medical science had become   
such a medley of  vagaries and          
barbarisms that even the princes of     
,christendom could not  boast of a      
competent family physician1 and in      
critical cases had to  trust their lives
 to the skill of ,moorish or ,persian   
doctors4 ,abderaman  el ,hakim1 a king  
of ,moorish ,spain1 had so many         
applications for the  services of his   
court-doctor that he often jestingly    
called him the  8,savior of ,christian  
,europe40 ,the prevalence of the        
militant type  should certainly have    

encouraged the manufacture of warlike   
implements2  yet not one of the twelve  
heavy-armed countries of ,trinitarian   
,europe  had preserved the art of       
tempering a first-class sword1 and      
proof-steel  had to be imported from    
,damascus4 ,the traditions of           
architecture were  limited to the       
fantastic elaboration of religious      
edifices2 peasants  dwelt in hovels1 and
 citizens in dingy stone prisons1       
crowded into  crooked and cobble-paved  
alleys4    ,the unspeakable filth of    
such alleys produced epidemics that     
almost  depopulated the most orthodox   
countries of medieval ,europe4 ,under   
the  stimulus of clerical theories1     
those epidemics in their turn produced  
outbreaks of fanatical superstition1    
which in pagan ,rome would  certainly   
have been ascribed to the influence of a
 contagious mental  disease4 ,diseases1 
according to a doctrine which it was    
deemed  blasphemy to doubt1 could be    
averted by prayer and self-humiliation4 

,in  spite of a diligent application of 
such prophylactics1 diseases of the     
most virulent kind became more          
prevalent4 ,the logical inference seemed
  that prayer had not been fervent and  
self-abasement not abject enough4       
,hordes of religious maniacs roamed the 
streets of the plague-stricken  cities1 
howling like hyenas and lacerating their
 bodies in a manner too  shocking to    
describe4 ,after exhausting the         
available means of  subsistence1 the    
blood-smeared1 wretches would invade the
 open country1  and by frantic appeals  
frighten thousands of peasants into     
joining  their ranks1 and in carrying   
the seeds of mental and physical        
contagion  to a neighboring country4 ,in
 ,germany and ,holland the total number 
of  8,flagellants0 were at one time     
estimated at three hundred and fifty    
thousand2 on another occasion at more   
than half a million4 ,if the  disease   
had exhausted its fury1 the             
self-torturers would claim the  reward  

of their services by falling like hungry
 wolves upon the homes  of the sane     
survivors4 ,if the plague refused to    
abate1 the leading  fanatics would      
ascribe the failure to their followers' 
want of zeal1  and enforce their theory 
by an indiscriminate application of a   
rawhide  knout1 till the dispute was    
referred to the arbitrament of cold     
steel1  and the ranks of the howling    
maniacs were thinned by mutual          
slaughter4          ,e4--,,rewards4     
,the world has trusted in the doctrine  
of miracle-mongers till  skepticism     
became a condition of self-preservation1
 and the benefits of  open revolt are   
now conspicuous enough to impress even  
the  non-insurrected slaves of the      
church4 ,with all their hereditary bias 
of  prejudice the victims of the miracle
 dogma cannot help contrasting  their   
lot with that of the industrial skeptic4
 ,they cannot help seeing  self-reliant 
science succeeds where prayer-relying   
orthodoxy fails4 ,the  prosperity of    

,protestantism1 its physical1           
intellectual1 political1 and  financial 
superiority to ,conservatism1 with the  
aid of all its saints1  are facts too   
glaringly evident to ignore their       
significance1 and our  ethical          
text-books might as well plainly admit  
that this universe of  ours is governed 
by uniform laws and not by the caprice  
of ghosts--at  all events not of ghosts 
that can be influenced by rant and      
ceremonies4  ,whatever may be the       
established system of other worlds1 in  
this planet  of ours ,nature has not    
trusted our welfare to the whims of     
tricksy  spooks1 but has endowed our own
 minds with the faculty of ascertaining 
and improving the conditions of that    
welfare2 and the time cannot come  too  
soon when well-directed labor shall be  
recognized as the only  prayer ever     
answered to the inhabitants of this     
earth4    ,the philosophic author of the
 8,history of ,morals0 remarks that the 
medieval miracle-creed still lurks in   

the popular explanation of the  more    
occult phenomena4 ,while the natural    
sequence of cause and effect  is1 for   
instance1 freely admitted in such plain 
cases as the stability  of a well-built 
house and the collapse of a rickety     
structure1 the  phenomena of health and 
disease1 of atmospheric changes or of   
the  7apparent7 caprices of fortune in  
war or games of chance are still        
ascribed to the interference of         
preternatural agencies4 ,that bias is   
undoubtedly at the bottom of the still  
prevalent mania for hazardous           
speculation and the reckless disregard  
of the laws governing the  condition of 
our physical health4    ,unconfessed1   
and perhaps unknown1 to themselves the  
grandchildren of  orthodox parents are  
still influenced by the hope that in    
such cases  the event of an imprudent   
venture might be modified by the        
interceding  favor of 8providence40     
,secularism should teach its converts   
that the most complex as well as  the   

simplest effect is the necessary        
consequence of a natural cause2  that   
the 8power behind phenomena0 acts by    
consistent laws1 and that the  study and
 practical application of those laws is 
the only way to bias  the favor of      
fortune4    8,pray and you shall        
receive10 says ,superstition4 8,sow if  
you would  reap10 says ,science4 ,the   
,religion of ,nature will teach every   
man to  answer his own prayers1 and     
,prudence will be the ,providence of the
  ,future4                    ,,chapter 
,,ix4    ,,perseverance4                
,a4--,,lessons ,,of ,,instinct4    ,in  
the course of evolution from brute to   
man some of our organs have  been highly
 developed by constant use1 while others
 have been stunted  by habitual disuse4 
,in special adaptations of the sense of 
touch and  sight1 for instance1 man     
surpasses all his fellow-creatures1 most
 of  whom1 in turn1 surpass him in the  
acuteness of their olfactory organs4    
,an analogous result seems to have been 

produced by the exercise or  neglect of 
certain mental faculties and            
dispositions4 ,the instinct of          
enterprise1 for instance1 has been      
developed from rather feeble germs  of  
the animal soul1 while the instinct of  
perseverance appears to have  lost      
something of its pristine energy4 ,the  
,african termite ant rears  structures  
which1 in proportion to the size of the 
builders1 surpass  the pyramids as a    
mountain surpasses the monuments of the 
mound-builders4 ,by the persistent      
coperation of countless generations  the
 tiny architect of the coral reefs has  
girt a continent with a  rampart of     
sea-walls4 ,the prairie wolf will follow
 a trail for half a  week4 ,the teeth of
 a mouse are thinner and more brittle   
than a darning  needle1 yet by dint of  
perseverance gnawing mice manage to     
perforate  the stoutest planks4 ,captive
 prairie dogs have been known to tunnel 
their way through forty feet of compact 
loam4    ,an instinct1 which one might  

be tempted to call a love of            
perseverance  for its own sake1 seems   
sometimes to influence the actions of   
young  children4 ,there are boys whose  
energies seem to be roused by the       
resistance of inanimate things4 ,i have 
seen lads of eight or nine years  hew   
away for hours at knotty logs which even
 a veteran woodcutter would  have been  
pardoned for flinging aside4 ,there are 
school boys1 not  otherwise             
distinguished for love of books1 who    
will forego their recess  sports to     
puzzle out an arithmetical problem of   
special intricacy4    ,our desultory    
mode of education hardly tends to       
encourage that  disposition which1      
nevertheless1 is now and then apt to    
develop into a  permanent character     
trait4 ,there are young men who will act
 out a  self-determined programme of    
study or business with persistent       
disregard of temporary hardships1 and   
pursue even minor details of  their plan
 with a resolution only strengthened by 

difficulties4 ,the  moral ideals of     
antiquity seem to have been more        
favorable to the  development of that   
type of character1 which also manifests 
itself in  the national policy of       
several ancient republics1 and the      
inflexible  consistency of their legal  
institutions4          ,b4--,,rewards   
,,of ,,conformity4    ,the advantages of
 perseverance are not too readily       
admitted by the  numberless victims of  
that facile disposition that loves to   
ascribe its  foibles to the 8versatility
 of genius10 or a high-minded 8aversion 
to  pedantic routine20 yet now1 as in   
the days of yore1 life reserves its     
best rewards for the most persistent    
competitors4 ,singleness of  purpose1   
like a sharp wedge1 forces its way      
through obstacles that  resist          
many-sided endeavors4 ,the versatile    
poets and philosophers of  ,athens have 
wreathed her memory with unrivaled      
laurels1 yet in the  affairs of         
practical life her merchants were       

out-traded1 her  politicians out-witted1
 and her generals beaten by men whose   
nations  had steadfastly followed a     
narrower but consistent policy4 8,aut   
non  tentaris aut perfice10 8either try 
not1 or persevere10 was a ,roman        
proverb that made ,rome the mistress of 
three continents4 ,in the ,middle  ,ages
 the dynasty of the ,abbassides1 as in  
modern times the house of the           
,hohenzollern1 attained supremacy by    
persistent adherence to an  established 
system of political tactics4 ,even      
questionable enterprises  have thus been
 crowned with triumph1 as the ambitions 
of the ,roman  pontiffs1 and the        
projects of ,ignatius ,loyola4 ,the     
chronicles of war1  of industry1 and of 
commerce abound with analogous lessons4 
,patient  perseverance succeeds where   
fitful vehemence fails4 ,in countless   
battles the steadiness of ,british and  
,north ,german troops has prevailed     
against the enthusiasm of their bravest 
opponents4 ,the quiet  perseverance of  

,british colonists has prevailed against
 the bustling  activity of their ,gallic
 rivals1 on the ,mississippi and ,st4   
,lawrence1  as well as on the ,ganges   
and ,indus4 ,steady-going business      
firms1  consistently-edited journals1   
hold their own1 and ultimately absorb   
their vacillating competitors4 ,dr4     
,winship1 the ,boston ,hercules1 held   
that the chances of an athlete 8depend  
on doggedness of purpose far  more than 
on hereditary physique40 ,even the      
apparent caprices of  ,fortune are      
biased by the habit of perseverance4    
8,in the ,stanislaus  mining-camp10 says
 ,frederic ,gerstaecker1 8we had a      
number of experts  who seemed to find   
gold by a sort of sixth sense1 and came 
across  #8indications' wherever they    
stirred the gravel of the rocky ravines4
 ,we  called them #8prospectors1' and   
the brilliancy of their prospects was1  
indeed1 demonstrated by daily proofs4   
,but at the first frown of ,fortune     
they would get discouraged1 and remove  

their exploring outfit to  another      
ravine4 ,most of the actual work was    
done by the #8squatters1' as  we called 
the steady diggers1 who would take up an
 abandoned claim and  stick to it for   
weeks4 ,bragging was not their forte1   
but at the end of  the season the       
squatter could squat down on a sackful  
of nuggets1 while  the prospector had   
nothing but prospects40                 
,c4--,,perversion4    ,the ambition of  
the ancients was encouraged by the      
conviction that life  is worth living1  
and that all its social and intellectual
 summits can  be reached by the         
persistent pursuit of a well-chosen     
road4 ,but the  basis of that confidence
 was undermined by a doctrine which     
denied the  value of earthly existence1 
and made the renunciation of worldly    
blessings the chief purpose of moral    
education4 ,the pilgrim of life who  had
 been taught to spurn earth as a vale of
 tears1 and turn his hopes  to the      
promises of another world1 was not apt  

to trouble himself about  a consistent  
plan of secular pursuits1 which1        
moreover1 he had been  distinctly       
instructed to trust to the chances of   
the current day3 8,take  no thought for 
the morrow20 8,take no thought for your 
life1 nor yet for  your body 444 for    
after all these things do the gentiles  
seek40    ,indecision1 inconsistency1   
fickleness of purpose1 vitiated the     
politics  of the ,christian nations     
through-out the long chaos of the       
,middle ,ages1  and in their features of
 individual character there is a strange
 want  of that moral unity and harmony  
which the consciousness of an           
attainable purpose gave to the national 
exemplars of an earlier age4    ,the    
,rationalistic reaction of the last two 
centuries has greatly  modified the     
moral ideals of the ,caucasian nations2 
the legitimacy of  secular pursuits is  
more generally recognized1 but still    
only in a  furtive1 hesitating manner1  
and the glaring contrast of our daily   

practice with the theories of a still   
prevalent system of ethics cannot  fail 
to involve contradictions incompatible  
with true consistency of  principles and
 action4          ,d4--,,penalties ,,of 
,,neglect4    ,for thirteen hundred     
years the importance of perseverance in 
the  pursuit of earthly aims was        
depreciated by the ethics of            
,antinaturalism1 and the word ,failure  
is written in glaring letters over  the 
record of the physical1 mental1 and     
moral enterprises of all that  period4  
,the nations of northern ,europe1 whom  
the prestige of ,rome  surrendered to   
the power of popish priests1 were giants
 in stature and  strength1 and the love 
of physical health was too deeply rooted
 in the  hereditary constitution of     
those athletes to be at once eradicated 
by  the machinations of spiritual       
poison-mongers4 ,yet the poison did not 
fail to assert its virulence4 ,athletic 
sports were still a favorite  pastime of
 all freemen2 but the gospel of the     

,nature-hating ,galilean  insisted on   
the antagonism of physical and moral    
welfare2 penances and  the worship of   
cadaverous saints perverted the manlier 
ideals of the  masses1 the encouragement
 of ascetic habits and the enforced     
inactivity  of convent life undermined  
the stamina of the noblest nations1 and 
in  the course of a few orthodox        
generations the descendants of the      
herculean hunter-tribes of northern     
,europe became a prey to a multitude  of
 malignant diseases4    ,the love of    
knowledge still fed on the literary     
treasures of antiquity2  the flame of   
philosophy was now and then rekindled at
 the still glowing  embers of pagan     
civilization2 but the doctrine of       
other-worldliness  denounced the pursuit
 of worldly lore1 and science           
degenerated into a  medley of           
nursery-legends and monkish             
fever-dreams4 ,men walked through  life 
as ,sindbad walked through the perils of
 the spirit-vale1 in  constant dread of 

spectral manifestations1 in constant    
anticipation of  ghostly interference   
with their earthly concerns1 the pursuit
 of which  all but the wisest undertook 
only in a desultory1 tentative way1     
haunted by the idea that success in     
worldly enterprises could be bought     
only at the expense of the immortal     
soul4    ,and how many thousand         
wanderers of our latter-day world have  
thus been  diverted from the path of    
manful perseverance1 and almost directly
  encouraged in the habit of palliating 
inconstancy of purpose with that        
8dissatisfaction and weariness of       
worldly vanities10 which the ethics  of 
their spiritual educators commend as a  
symptom of regeneration6 ,the  voices of
 re-awakened ,nature protest1 but only  
with intermittent  success1 and the     
penalty of vacillation is that discord  
of modern life  that will not cease till
 our system of ethics has been          
thoroughly  purged from the poison of   
,antinaturalism4          ,e4--,,reform4

    ,that work of redemption should     
include an emphatic repudiation of the  
natural depravity dogma4 ,our children  
should be taught that steadfast  loyalty
 to the counsels of their natural reason
 is sufficient to insure  the promotion 
of their welfare in the only world thus 
far revealed to  our knowledge4 ,the    
traditional concomitance of perseverance
 and  mediocrity should be refuted by   
the explanation of its cause4 ,for a    
long series of centuries the            
predominance of insane dogmas had       
actually  made science a mere mockery1  
and application to the prescribed       
curriculum of the monastic colleges a   
clear waste of time--clear to all  but  
the dullest minds4 ,the neglect of such 
studies1 of the disgusting  sophistry of
 the patristic and scholastic era1 was1 
indeed1 a proof of  common sense1 since 
only dunces and hypocrites could muster 
the  patience required to wade through  
the dismal swamp of cant1 pedantry1  and
 superstition which for thirteen        

centuries formed the mental pabulum  of 
the priest-ridden academics4 ,during    
that era of pseudo-science and          
pseudo-morality1 of fulsome rant        
centered on a monstrous delusion1 the   
eccentricity of genius was more than    
pardonable1 being1 in fact1 the  only   
alternative of mental prostitution4 ,the
 ideas of waywardness and  mental       
superiority became thus associated in a 
way which in its results  has wrought   
almost as much mischief as in its cause4
 ,the delusions of  that idea have      
wrecked as many promising talents as    
indolence and  intemperance4    ,the    
pupils of ,secularism should be         
instructed to observe the benefits  of  
perseverance in the pursuit of minor    
projects1 and encouraged to  apply that 
experience to the higher problems of    
life4 ,perseverance  should be          
recognized as the indispensable ally of 
loftiest genius as  well as of the      
lowliest talent4    ,failure in secular 
enterprises should cease to be regarded 

as a symptom  of divine favor2 and for  
those who insist on claiming the        
protection of  supernatural agencies1   
,goethe's grand apostrophe to the       
,genius of  ,manhood #a should be       
condensed in the motto that 8,heroic    
perseverance  invokes the aid of the    
gods40                    ,,chapter ,x4 
,,freethought4      ,a4--,,lessons ,,of 
,,instinct4    ,the ,brahmans have a    
legend that the first children of man   
ascended  ,mount ,gunganoor1 to visit   
the castle of ,indra and inquire into   
the  secret of their origin4            
,speculations on the source of life1 on 
the  mystery of creation1 the cause of  
good and evil1 and similar problems     
which we might sum up under the name of 
religious inquiries1 seem1  indeed1 to  
have occupied the attention of our      
ancestors at a very early  period4 ,an  
irrepressible instinct appears to prompt
 the free discussion  of such questions1
 and in a normal state of social        
relations the  attempt to suppress that 

instinct would have appeared as         
preposterous  as the attempt to enforce 
silence upon the inquirers into the     
problems  of health or astronomy4 ,a    
thousand years before the birth of      
,buddha1  the ,sakyas1 or ethic         
philosophers1 of northern ,hindostan    
visited the  mountain-passes of         
,himalaya to converse with travelers and
 seek  information on the religious     
customs and traditions of foreign       
nations4  ,the book of ,job1 probably   
the oldest literary product of the      
,semitic  nations1 records a series of  
free and often1 indeed1 absolutely      
agnostic discussions of ethical and     
cosmological problems4    8,canst thou  
by searching find out ,god80 says       
,zophar4 8,it is as high as  heaven3    
what canst thou do8 ,it is deeper than  
hell3 what canst thou  know80    8,is it
 good unto thee that thou shouldst      
oppress the work of thy own  hand80 ,job
 asks his creator2 8thine hands have    
made me2 why dost thou  destroy me8     

,thou huntest me like a fierce lion4    
,wherefore1 then1 hast  thou brought me 
forth out of the womb8 ,oh1 that ,i had 
given up the  ghost and no eye had seen 
me6 ,i should have been as though ,i had
 not  been2 ,i should have been carried 
from the womb to the grave4 ,are not my 
days few8 ,cease1 then1 and let me      
alone1 that ,i may take comfort a       
little1 before ,i go whence ,i shall not
 return1 even to the land of  darkness  
and the shadow of death40    ,and again3
 8,man dieth and wasteth away2 man      
giveth up the ghost1 and  where is he8  
,as the waters fall from the sea and the
 flood dryeth up3  so man lieth down and
 riseth not2 till the heavens be no more
 he shall  not awake nor be raised out  
of his sleep40444 8,if a man die1 shall 
he  live again80 8,wherefore is light   
given unto them that are in misery1  and
 life unto the bitter in soul8 who long 
for death1 but it cometh  not2 who      
rejoice exceedingly and are glad when   
they can find the  grave80    ,or       

,elihu's interpellation3 8,look up to   
heaven and see the clouds which  are    
higher than thou3 ,if thou sinnest1 what
 doest thou against him8 ,if  thou be   
righteous1 what givest thou to him1 or  
what can he receive of  thine hand80    
,could a committee of modern skeptics   
and philosophers discuss the  problems  
of existence with greater freedom8      
,for a series of centuries the monkish  
custodians of the literary  treasures of
 ,greece and ,rome expurgated the       
writings of the bolder  ,freethinkers1  
and for the sake of its mere parchment  
destroyed more  than one work that would
 have been worth whole libraries of     
their own  lucubrations2 yet even the   
scant relics of pagan literature furnish
  abundant proofs of the ethical and    
metaphysical liberty which the          
philosophers of the ,mediterranean      
nations enjoyed for nearly a thousand   
years4 ,the marvelous development of    
,grecian civilization in art1  science1 
politics1 literature1 and general       

prosperity coincided with a  period of  
almost unlimited religious freedom4     
,speculations on the  origin of         
religious myths were propounded with an 
impunity which our  latter-day          
,freethinkers have still cause to envy4 
,the possibility of  all definite       
knowledge of the attributes of the deity
 was boldly denied  two thousand years  
before the birth of ,emmanuel ,kant4    
,the ,freethinker  ,diagoras traveled   
from city to city1 propagating his      
system of  ,agnosticism with a publicity
 which seems to imply a degree of       
tolerance  never yet re-attained in the 
progress of the most intellectual modern
  nations4 ,the skeptic ,pyrrho         
ridiculed the absurdity of all our      
modern  ,secularists would include under
 the name of other-worldliness4 ,a      
,roman  actor was applauded with cheers 
and laughter for quoting a passage to   
the effect that 8if the gods exist1 they
 seem to conduct their  administration  
on the principle of strict neutrality in

 the affairs of  mankind60              
,democritus1 ,euhemerus1 ,anaxagoras1   
,epicurus1 ,aristotle1 ,libanius1       
,pliny1 ,lucretius1 and the latter      
,pythagoreans1 almost entirely ignored  
the doctrines of ,polytheism1 which1    
indeed1 never assumed an aggressive     
form1 the attempted suppression of the  
,christian dogmatists being an  only    
apparent exception1 dictated by motives 
of political  apprehensions1 rather than
 by religious zeal2 for at the very time
 when  the followers of the life-hating 
,galilean were persecuted as 8enemies   
of mankind10 a large number of other    
oriental religions enjoyed  privileges  
bordering on license4 ,the ,grecian     
colonists of ,asia ,minor  never        
interfered with the religious customs of
 their new neighbors4  ,they studied and
 discussed them as they would study the 
curiosities of  other social phenomena2 
and a purely naturalistic system of     
education  would undoubtedly lead to    
analogous results4 ,intelligent children

 often  evince a remarkable tact in     
avoiding certain topics of conversation1
  such as allusions to personal or      
national defects1 scandals1 the arcana  
of sexual relations1 private affairs1   
etc41 and the experience of after  years
 may confirm such habits of discretion2 
but no conceivable motive  but deference
 to an arbitrary precept could dictate a
 similar reticence  in the discussion of
 purely metaphysical topics1 or of      
dogmas which by  their very pretense to 
a mission of extreme importance should  
justify  an extreme frankness in        
debating the basis of their claims4     
,b4--,,rewards ,,of ,,conformity4       
,religious liberty guarantees every     
other kind of freedom1 as every form  of
 slavery walks in the train of priestly 
despotism4 ,in ,america  religious      
emancipation led the way to the         
,declaration of ,independence1  and     
still continues to make this continent  
the chosen home of thousands  of        
,liberals whom the material prosperity  

of the ,new ,world would have  failed to
 attract4 ,it is possible that a policy 
of intolerance would  have averted or   
postponed the fate of the ,moorish      
empire1 which was  ultimately overthrown
 by the fanatics of a creed which the   
followers of  a more rational faith had 
permitted to survive in their midst2 yet
 it  is not less certain that for nearly
 five hundred years religious  tolerance
 made the realm of the ,spanish caliphs 
the one bright ,goshen  in a world of   
intellectual darkness4 ,in northern     
,europe the history of  civilization    
begins only with the triumph of         
,rationalism4  ,protestantism1 in that  
wider sense which made the revolt of the
  ,germanic nations an insurrection     
against the powers of superstition1  has
 laid the foundation of national        
prosperity in ,great ,britain1 in the   
,netherlands1 and in the rising empire  
of northern ,germany4 ,the real  founder
 of that empire was at once the greatest
 statesman and the  boldest ,freethinker

 of the last fourteen centuries4 ,his   
capital became  a city of refuge for the
 philosophers of ,christian ,europe4    
,the eastern  provinces of his kingdom  
were colonized by refugees from the     
tyranny of  clerical autocrats4 ,his    
absolute tolerance protected even the   
,jesuits1  expelled by the ,catholic    
rulers of ,france and ,spain4 ,during   
the reign  of that crowned philosopher  
the religious and political dissenters  
of  ,prussia expressed their views with 
a freedom which in semi-republican      
,england would have involved them in a  
maze of endless lawsuits4 ,among  the   
fruits of that freedom were products of 
science and philosophy  which have made 
that period the classic age of ,german  
literature4  8,before the appearance of 
,kant's #8,critique of ,pure ,reason1'0 
says  ,schopenhauer1 8the works of duly 
installed government professors of      
philosophy were mostly medleys of       
sophisms1 pretending to reconcile       
science and dogma1 or reason and        

despotism4 ,here1 at last1 a state      
university could boast of a man who     
lived at once by and for the  service of
 ,truth--a phenomenon made possible only
 by the circumstance  that1 for the     
first time since the days of the great  
,aurelius and the  greater ,julian1 a   
,freethinker had mounted the throne of  
an independent  monarchy40    ,the      
protection of ,freethought is likewise  
the best safeguard against  that virus  
of hypocrisy that has undermined the    
moral health of so many  modern nations4
    8,what an incalculable advantage to 
a nation as well as to its ruler10  says
 a modern philosopher1 8to know that the
 pillars of state are  founded on the   
eternal verities1 on natural science1   
logic1 and  arithmetic1 instead of      
casuistry and immaculate conceptions60  
,the consciousness of that advantage has
 more than once upheld the  birthland of
 ,protestantism in its struggles against
 the allied powers  of despotism1 and   
should uphold our republic in the       

inevitable struggle  against the allied 
despots of the twentieth century4       
,c4--,,perversion4    ,the experience of
 the last sixteen centuries has made    
priestcraft  almost a synonym of        
intolerance2 and yet it would be a      
mistake to  suppose that the interests  
of ,freethought are incompatible with   
the  survival of any system of          
supernatural religion4 ,the myths of    
polytheism were for ages accepted as the
 basis of a creed enjoying all  the     
prerogatives and emoluments of an       
established religion1 but the  priests  
of that religion had no need of         
protecting their prestige by  the       
butchery of heretics4 ,with all their   
absurdities1 the rites of  their creed  
were essentially a worship of ,nature1  
naturally attractive  to all lovers of  
earth and life1 and by their            
harmlessness conciliating  the favor of 
philosophers who might have studied the 
baneful tendencies  of a different      
creed--a creed which could propagate its

 dogmas only by  an unremitting war     
against the natural instincts of the    
human race1 and  by constant intrigues  
against the protests of human reason4   
8,the  ,nature-worshiping ,greeks       
repeated the harmless myths and         
practiced the  merry rites of their     
creed for centuries without troubling   
themselves  about the myths and rites of
 their neighbors4 ,their superstition   
differed from that of the church as the 
inspired love of ,nature differs  from  
the ecstatic fury of her enemies1 as the
 day-dream of a happy  child differs    
from the fever-dream of a gloomy        
fanatic4 #8,procul  ,profani6' was the  
cry of the ,eleusinian priests4 ,they   
had more  followers than they wanted4   
,their joy-loving creed could dispense  
with  autos-da-f4 ,the ,hebrews1 in     
stress of famine1 conquered a little    
strip  of territory between ,arabia and 
the ,syrian desert1 and then tried their
  best to live in peace with heaven and 
earth1 and their sects contented        

themselves with metaphorical            
rib-roastings4 ,the ,saracens spread    
their  conquests from ,spain to the     
,ganges1 but their wars had a physical1 
rather than metaphysical1 purpose4 ,they
 needed land1 and made a better  use of 
it than the former occupants4 ,they     
contented themselves with  assessing    
dissenters1 and did not deem it         
necessary to assassinate  them4 ,but the
 ,galilean pessimists could not afford  
to tolerate an  unconverted neighbor4   
,to the enemies of ,nature the happiness
 of an  earth-loving1 garden-planting1  
and science-promoting nation was an     
intolerable offense3 reason had to be   
sacrificed to faith1 health and         
happiness to the cross1 and earth to    
heaven0 7,the ,secret of the ,east1  p4 
#fb74    ,and even in the modified form 
of ,protestant ,christianity1 that creed
  remains the rancorous enemy of        
,freethought4 ,the doctrine of the      
,galilean ,buddhist is essentially a    
doctrine of pessimism1 of               

other-worldliness and ,nature-hating    
renunciation of human reason and        
earthly prosperity1 and therefore wholly
 irreconcilable with the  promotion of  
progressive science and secular         
happiness4 ,philosophers  have for      
centuries assembled their scholars      
undisturbed by the songs  and dances of 
pagan festivals2 the exponents of       
secular science have  enjoyed the       
good-will of health-loving ,hebrews and 
,mohammedans1 and  will find a modus    
vivendi with the ,spiritualists and     
,theosophists of  the future2 but       
,secularism1 8the ,science of ,happiness
 on ,earth10 can  never hope to         
conciliate the dogmatists of a creed    
that denies the  value of life itself1  
and wages war against ,nature as well as
 against  the claims of natural science4
          ,d4--,,penalties ,,of         
,,neglect4    ,wherever ,reason         
surrenders to ,dogma1 the exponents of  
that dogma will  claim unreasonable     
prerogatives4 ,irresponsible dogmatists 

have never  failed to pursue the        
interests of their creed at the expense 
of the  interests of mankind4 ,the      
lessons of ,science could not be        
reconciled  with the doctrines of       
,antinaturalism1 and in the interest of 
that  doctrine the spiritual taskmasters
 of medieval ,europe suppressed         
,science by methods that have retarded  
the progress of mankind for  thirteen   
hundred years4 ,the suppression of      
,freethought enabled the  enemies of    
,nature to complete their triumph by the
 suppression of  social and political   
liberty2 and for ages the church has    
been the  faithful ally of ,despotism4  
,the priest-ridden rulers of the        
expiring  ,roman empire and the         
priest-ridden rabble of the ,roman      
provinces  assisted in the persecution  
of ,freethought1 and that crime against 
reason was avenged by the development of
 a system of spiritual tyranny  which at
 last forced even princes to kiss the   
dust of ,canossa and  degraded the lot  

of peasants beneath that of savages and 
wild beasts4  ,the war against natural  
science avenged itself in the neglect of
  agriculture1 and the enormous spread  
of deserts1 which the priests of  the   
,galilean miracle-monger proposed to    
reclaim by prayer-meetings4 ,the        
surrender of ,freethought to faith      
sealed the fate of millions of  heretics
 and 8sorcerers10 who expiated an       
imaginary crime in the  agonies of the  
stake4 ,not the abrogation of civil     
rights1 not the  intimidation of princes
 and commoners1 but the eradication of  
,freethought1 enabled the priests of an 
unnatural creed to enforce their        
hideous superstitions upon the prisoners
 of the numberless monasteries  which   
for a series of centuries combined all  
the conditions for the  systematic      
suppression of moral1 intellectual1 and 
personal freedom4    8,i am not come to 
bring peace but the sword10 said the    
ingenuous  founder of a creed which     
could not fail to produce an            

irrepressible  conflict between the     
delusions of its doctrines and the      
inspirations of  nature and             
science--and1 of course1 also between   
the would-be followers  of its own      
preposterous precepts--and neither the  
lust of conquest nor  the jealousy of   
rival nations has ever stained this     
earth with the  torrents of blood shed  
by the bigots of that creed after its   
triumph  over the protests of           
,freethought4 ,the fatuous attempt to   
crush out  dissent by substituting a    
roll of parchment for the book of       
,nature  avenged itself by murderous    
wars about the interpretation of those  
same  parchments4 ,the dogmatists who   
had tried to perpetuate their power by  
the murder of modest rationalists1 were 
assailed by hordes of their own         
irrationalists1 raging about the        
ceremonial details of the wafer-rite    
and the immersion rite4 ,the bigots who 
had refused to heed the  pleadings of   
,bruno and ,campanella were forced to   

acknowledge the  battle-axe logic of the
 ,hussites4          ,e4--,,reform4     
,truth that prevails against error also 
prevails against half truths1  and the  
recognition of just claims cannot be    
furthered by unjust  concessions4       
,uncompromising right is mightiest1 and 
,freethinkers would  have served their  
cause more effectually if they had      
contended1 not for  the favor to enjoy a
 privilege1 but the right to fulfil a   
duty4 ,the  ministry of reason imposes  
obligations to posterity1 and to the    
memory  of its bygone martyrs1 as well  
as to our help-needing contemporaries2  
and the defense of its rights is a truer
 religion than submission to  the yoke  
of a mind-enslaving dogma4 ,the ,rishis1
 or sainted hermits of  ,brahmanism1    
used to devote themselves to the service
 of a forest  temple1 and guard its     
sanctuary against vermin and reptiles2  
and the  believers in a personal ,god   
cannot devote their lives to a nobler   
task  than by guarding his temples      

against the serpent of priestly         
despotism4    ,the disciples of         
,secularism should learn to value the   
right of  ,freethought as the palladium 
of their faith1 as the basis of all     
other  blessings--moral and material1 as
 well as intellectual4 ,they should     
learn to revere the memory of the       
martyrs of their faith1 and recognize   
the importance of their services to the 
cause of modern civilization  and its   
sacred principles2 but they should also 
learn to recognize the  magnitude of the
 remaining task4 ,it is no trifle that  
the prevalent  system of ethics and the 
temporal and eternal hopes of millions  
of our  brethren are still based on a   
lie4 ,it is no trifle that the health   
and  happiness of millions of our       
fellow-men are still sacrificed on the  
altar of that untruth by the suppression
 of public recreations on the  only day 
when a large plurality of our           
working-men find their only  chance of  
leisure4 ,it is no trifle that honest   

men are still branded as  8,infidels10  
8renegades10 and 8scoffers10 for        
refusing to kneel in the  temple of a   
nature-hating fanatic4 ,the struggle    
against the spirits of  darkness is by  
no means yet decided in ,italy1 where   
the arch-hierarch  is spinning restless 
intrigues to regain the power which for 
ages made  ,europe a ,gehenna of misery 
and despotism4 ,nor in ,spain1 where a  
swarm  of clerical vampires is still    
sucking the life-blood of an            
impoverished  nation4 ,nor in ,austria  
and southern ,germany1 where the        
alliance of  church and state remains a 
constant menace to the scant liberties  
of  the people4    ,freethinkers need   
not underrate the influence of          
individual efforts to  recognize the    
superior advantage of organized         
coperation1 so urgently  needed for the 
reform of ,sabbath laws1 of press laws1 
and the  educational system of the      
numerous colleges still intrusted to the
  control of the ,jesuitical enemies of 

science4 ,the strength-in-union         
principle should encourage the          
oft-debated projects for the            
establishment of ,freethought colleges  
7as well as ,freethought  communities72 
but still more decisive results could be
 hoped from that  union of the powers of
 knowledge and of moral courage which   
has never  yet failed to insure the     
triumph of social reforms4 ,we should   
cease to  plead for favors where we can 
claim an indisputable right4 ,we should 
cease to admit the right of mental      
prostitutes to enforce the penalties  of
 social ostracism against the champions 
of science2 but we1 in our  turn1 should
 deserve the prestige of that           
championship by scorning the  expedients
 of the moral cowardice which strains at
 gnats and connives  at beams1 attacking
 superstition in the harmless           
absurdities of its  ceremonial          
institutions1 and sparing the ruinous   
dogmas that have  drenched the face of  
earth with the blood of her noblest     

children1 and  turned vast areas of     
garden-lands into hopeless deserts4 ,the
 skeptics  who scoff at the             
inconsistencies of a poor clergyman who 
tries in vain  to reconcile the         
instincts of his better nature with the 
demands of an  anti-natural creed1      
should themselves be consistent enough  
to repudiate  the worship of the fatal  
founder of that creed1 and not let the  
hoary  age of the ,galilean doctrine    
palliate the tendencies of its          
life-blighting delusions4               
,,iii4--,,moral ,,maxims4      ,,chapter
 ,,xi4    ,,justice4      ,a4--,,lessons
 ,,of ,,instinct4    ,moral philosophers
 have long conjectured the distinction  
between  natural and conventional       
duties2 and only the full recognition of
 that  distinction can reconcile the    
conflicting views on the natural basis  
of  ethics4 ,on the other hand1 the     
defenders of the theory of 8,intuitive  
,morality0 claim the existence of an    
innate moral conscience1 common to  all 

nations and all stages of social        
development1 while1 on the other  hand1 
we hear it as confidently asserted that 
the standards of virtue  are mere       
standards of expedience1 and vary with  
circumstances as  fashions vary with    
seasons and climates4 ,there is no      
doubt1 for  instance1 that religious    
bigotry has begot a sort of factitious  
conscience1 shrinking from the mere idea
 of devoting the seventh day of  the    
week to physical recreations1 while the 
devotees of the joy-loving  gods of     
paganism thought it a solemn duty to    
celebrate their holidays  with festive  
revels4 ,marriage between persons of    
adventitious  relationship 7such as     
widows and their surviving              
brothers-in-law7 is  prohibited by the  
statutes of one creed1 and not only     
sanctioned1 but  distinctly enjoined1 by
 those of another4 ,speculative dogmas  
that would  deeply shock the followers  
of ,abd el ,wahab are tolerated in      
,constantinople and venerated in ,rome4 

,but such contrasts diminish1 and at    
last disappear1 as we turn our          
attention from conventional to essential
 duties4 ,a ,mussulman bigot1 who  would
 slay his son for drinking wine in honor
 of a supplementary god1  would agree   
with the worshipers of that god that    
theft is a crime and  benevolence a     
virtue4 ,the innkeepers of ,palermo obey
 their church and  spite heretics by    
selling meat in ,june1 but not in       
,march2 ,the  innkeepers of ,el ,medina 
spite unbelievers and honor the ,koran  
by  selling meat in ,march1 but not in  
,june4 ,the ,buddhist innkeepers of     
,lassa sell only salt meat1 imported    
from ,china1 and spite ,infidels by     
refusing to kill a cow under any        
circumstances4 ,but ,sicilians1         
,thibetans1 and ,arabs would agree that 
no innkeeper should be permitted  to    
spite a personal enemy by salting his   
meat with arsenic4 ,nations  that       
totally disagree in their notions of    
propriety1 in matters of  taste1 and in 

their bias of religious prejudice1 will 
nevertheless be  found to agree on the  
essential standards of humanity and     
justice4 ,the  8instinct of equity10 as 
,leibnitz calls the sense of natural    
justice1  has been still better defined 
as the 8instinct of keeping contracts40 
,a  state of ,nature is not always a    
state of equal rights4 ,skill1 strength1
  and knowledge enjoy the advantage of  
superior power in the form of  manifold 
privileges1 but the expediency of       
8keeping contracts0  naturally          
recommends itself as the only safe basis
 of social  intercourse4 ,those         
contracts need not always be specified  
by written  laws4 ,they need not even be
 formulated in articulate speech4 ,their
  obligations are tacitly recognized as 
a preliminary of any sort of  social    
coperation1 of any sort of social       
concomitance4 8,give every man  his     
due20 8,pay your debts20 8,give if you  
would receive10 are  international      
maxims1 founded on the earliest         

impressions of social  instinct1 rather 
than on the lessons of social science or
 of  preternatural revelation4 ,the     
first discoverers of the ,south ,sea    
,islands were amazed by a license of    
sexual intercourse that seemed to       
exceed the grossest burlesques of       
,french fiction2 but they were almost   
equally surprised by the scrupulous     
exactness of commercial  fair-dealing   
observed by those incontinent children  
of ,nature4 ,an  islander1 who had      
agreed to pay three bagfuls of yam-roots
 for a common  pocket-knife1 delivered  
two bagfuls 7all his canoe would hold7  
before  the evening of the next day1 and
 received his knife1 as the sailors had 
about all the provisions they could use4
 ,but the next morning1 in  trying to   
leave the coast by tacking against a    
fitful breeze1 they were  overtaken by a
 canoe1 containing a desperately-rowing 
savage and that  third bag of yam-roots4
 ,the traveler ,chamisso mentions a     
tribe of  ,siberian fishermen who       

boarded his ship to deliver a harpoon   
which  former visitors had forgotten in 
their winter-camp4 ,theft1 according to 
the testimony even of their ,roman      
adversaries1 was almost unknown among   
the hunting-tribes of the primitive     
,german woodlands4 ,the natives of  ,san
 ,salvador received their ,spanish      
invaders with respectful  hospitality1  
and scrupulously abstained from         
purloining1 or even  touching1 any      
article of their ship-stores2 and a     
similar reception  welcomed their       
arrival in ,cuba and ,san ,domingo1 the 
natives being  apparently unable to     
conceive the idea that their guests     
could repay  good with evil4 8,fair     
play0 is the motto of boyish sports in  
the kraals  of ,kaffir-land1 not less   
than on the recess-ground of ,eton      
,college4 ,a  rudimentary sense of      
justice manifests itself even among     
social  animals4 ,a baboon who wantonly 
attacks an inoffensive fellow-ape is    
liable to get mobbed by the whole troop4

 ,a nest-robbing hawk has to  beat an   
immediate retreat under penalty of being
 attacked by all the  winged neighbors  
and relatives of his victims4 ,dogs that
 will endure  the most inhuman methods  
of training are not apt to forgive an   
act of  gratuitous cruelty4 ,they may   
resign themselves to a system of        
consistent severity1 but refuse to      
submit to evident injustice4            
,b4--,,rewards ,,of ,,conformity4       
,justice is the royal attribute of noble
 souls2 the most inalienable  crown of  
their prestige4 ,men who would defy the 
power of superior  strength1 or envy and
 depreciate the superior gifts of       
genius1 will do  unbidden homage to the 
majesty of superior justice4 8,mars is a
 tyrant10  says ,plutarch1 in the       
epilogue of 8,demetrius10 8but justice  
is the  rightful sovereign of the       
world40 8,the things which kings receive
 from  heaven are not machines for      
taking towns1 or ships with brazen      
beaks1  but law and justice2 these they 

are to guard and cultivate4 ,and it is  
not the most warlike1 the most violent  
and sanguinary1 but the justest  of     
princes1 whom ,homer calls the disciple 
of ,jupiter40 ,history has more  than   
once confirmed that test of supremacy4  
,the reputation of  incorruptible       
integrity alone has made poor princes1  
and even private  citizens1 the arbiters
 of nations4    ,king ,hieron of        
,syracuse thus arbitrated the disputes  
of his warlike  neighbors4 ,plato1      
,phocion1 ,philopoemen1 ,cato1 and      
,abencerrage 7,ibn  ,zerrag7 settled    
international quarrels which the sword  
had failed to  decide4 ,the prestige of 
uprightness has made honor almost a     
synonyme of  an 8honorable10 i4e41      
honest1 reputation4 ,the commercial     
integrity of  ,hebrew merchants has     
overcome race-jealousies and religious  
prejudices1  and in ,america the worship
 of wealth does not prevent an upright  
judge  from ranking high above a        
wealthier1 but less scrupulous1         

attorney4    ,the consciousness of a    
just cause is an advantage which1 more  
than  once1 has outweighed a grievous   
disadvantage in wealth and power4 ,it   
biased the fortune of war in the battles
 of ,leuctra and ,lodi2 it  enabled the 
,scythian herdsmen to annihilate the    
veterans of ,king ,cyrus1  and the      
,swiss peasants to rout the chivalry of 
,austria and ,burgundy4 ,a  just cause  
enlists sympathy1 and1 as a bond of     
union1 surpasses the  value of common   
interests1 which a slight change of     
circumstances is  apt to turn into      
conflicting interests and disagreement4 
,strict  adherence to the principles of 
political equity has preserved small    
states in the midst of powerful         
neighbors1 whose greed of conquest is   
restrained by their hesitation to incur 
the odium of wanton aggression4         
,belgium1 ,holland1 and ,denmark have   
thus preserved their national           
independence in ,europe1 as ,japan and  
,acheen in the ,east4 ,in ,central      

,africa the honesty and simplicity of   
the agricultural ,ethiopians has  proved
 a match for the cunning of the         
predatory ,moors1 who constantly        
pillage their neighbors1 but as         
constantly quarrel about the division   
of their spoils1 and1 in the            
vicissitudes of their civil wars1 have  
again and again been obliged to purchase
 the alliance of the despised           
8heathen40    ,the practical advantages 
of integrity have been recognized in the
  proverbial wisdom of all nations1 but 
are not confined to the affairs  of     
commercial intercourse4 ,in the long    
run1 honesty is the 8best  policy10 even
 in avocations where the perversion of  
justice may seem to  promise a temporary
 advantage4 ,a lawyer who refuses to    
defend a wealthy  knave against a poor  
plaintiff will gain in self-respect1 and
  ultimately also in professional       
reputation1 more than he has lost in    
direct emoluments4 ,a politician who    
refuses to resort to chicanes may  miss 

the chance of a short-lived triumph1 but
 will sow a seed of  prestige sure to   
ripen its eventual harvest4             
,c4--,,perversion4    ,justice1 in the  
pristine pagan sense of the word1 was   
too natural and  too manly a virtue to  
find much favor with the whining        
moralists of  ,antinaturalism4 ,the     
truth which a modern philosopher has    
condensed in  the sarcasm that 8an      
honest god is the noblest work of man10 
was  recognized already by the ancient  
historian who observed that 8every      
nation makes its gods the embodiments of
 its own ideals10 though1  happily1 it  
is not always true that 8no worshiper is
 better than the  object of his         
worship40 ,to some degree1 however1 the 
moral standards of  the ,mediterranean  
pagans were undoubtedly prejudiced by   
the lewd  propensities of their         
,olympians1 and it is equally certain   
that the  extravagant injustice of      
,christian fanatics can be partly       
explained1 as  well as condoned1 by the 

moral characteristics of their          
dogma-,god4  ,according to the accepted 
doctrine of the ,middle ,ages1 the      
administrative principles of that ,god  
seemed to imply a degree of moral       
perversity which even the poetic license
 of a saner age would have  hesitated to
 ascribe to a fiend4 ,the same deity    
whom the creed of the  ,galilean church 
makes the omniscient creator of all the 
physical and  moral instincts of human  
nature1 nevertheless was supposed to    
punish  with endless torture nearly     
every free gratification of those       
instincts1 and demand a voluntary       
renunciation of a world which his own   
bounty had filled with every blessing1  
and adorned with every charm of         
loveliness4 ,the ,god who endowed us    
with faculties of reason1 of which a    
moderate share is sufficient to perceive
 the absurdities of the  ,christian     
dogma1 nevertheless avenges the         
repudiation of that dogma as  an        
8unpardonable sin against the authority 

of his sacred word40 ,the  most natural 
action1 the eating of an apple1 is made 
the pretext of the  supposed fall of    
man1 and of penalties affecting not only
 his progeny1  but all his              
fellow-creatures1 and even the lower    
products of organic  ,nature2 while the 
greatest of all imaginable crimes1 a    
,deicide1 the  cruel murder of a god1 is
 accepted as a basis of redemption4 ,the
  doctrine of salvation by grace made   
the distribution of punishments and     
rewards a matter of mere caprice4 ,the  
dogmatists of predestination  distinctly
 taught that the 8elect0 were not saved 
by their own merits1  but by an         
inscrutable1 incalculable1 and          
gratuitous act of divine  favor1 while  
others were as inevitably foredoomed to 
an eternity of  woe4 ,by faith alone1 or
 by faith and the ceremony of immersion1
 the  guilt of a sinful life could1     
withal1 be cancelled in the eleventh    
hour1 while the omission of that        
ceremony doomed even children1 nay1     

newborn babes1 to the abyss of hellfire4
 8,there is no doubt10 the  ,solomon of 
the ,patristic ,age assures us1 8that   
infants1 only a few  spans in length1   
are crawling on the bottom of hell10 a  
doctrine which  the historian of        
,rationalism justly stigmatizes as 8so  
atrocious1 and  at the same time so     
extravagantly absurd1 that it would be  
simply  impossible for the imagination  
to surpass its insanity40 ,yet for more 
than twelve hundred years ,christians   
were in danger of being burnt at  the   
stake for refusing to attribute such    
infamies to their creator4              
,d4--,,penalties ,,of ,,neglect4        
,need we wonder that the converts of    
that creed believed in the merit of     
passive submission to the caprices of   
earthly despots1 and scorned the        
appeals of justice in their dealings    
with pagans and ,freethinkers8 ,why     
should men try to be better than their  
,god8 ,the worshiper of a ,god who      
doomed the souls of unbaptized children 

and honest dissenters1  naturally had no
 hesitation in assailing the bodies of  
their  unbelieving fellow-men1 and      
princes who loaded fawning sycophants   
with  favors which they denied to honest
 patriots could appeal to the  sanction 
of a divine precedent4 ,every petty     
8sovereign of six faithful  square      
miles0 accordingly became a law to      
himself4 ,a man's might was  the only   
measure of his right2 the ,faust-,recht1
 the 8first law0 of  iron-clad bullies1 
reigned supreme from the ,baltic to the 
,mediterranean1 and the judges of 7the  
only independent7 ecclesiastic  courts  
confined their attention to ferocious   
punishments of neglect in  the payment  
of tithes1 and the performance of socage
 duties and  ceremonies4 ,the belief in 
the divine right of potentates1 and     
passive  submission to even the most    
outrageous abuse of that power1 were    
assiduously inculcated as primary duties
 of a ,christian citizen4  ,natural     
justice1 civil rights1 and the laws of  

humanity had no place in  that code of  
revealed ethics4    ,such teachings bore
 their fruit in the horrors of          
insurrection4 ,in the  ,peasants' ,war  
thousands of convents and castles were  
rent as by the  outburst of a hurricane1
 and their dwellers had to learn the    
inconvenience of having to submit to the
 powers that happened to be1 by  being  
torn limb from limb1 or flayed and      
roasted alive4    8,si no se obedecen   
los leyes1 es ley que todo se pierde10  
is the  ,spanish translation of an old  
,arabian proverb3 8,if justice is       
disregarded1 it is just that everything 
perish0--a doom which the  intolerable  
outrages against human rights and       
humanity at last  experienced in the    
cataclysm of the ,french ,revolution4   
,there1 too1 the  despisers of natural  
justice had to eat their own doctrine1  
the  strongholds of absolutism that had 
withstood the tears of so many          
generations were swept away by a torrent
 of blood1 and the priests and  princes 

whose inhumanity had turned their serfs 
into wild beasts  learned the           
significance of their mistake when their
 own throats were  mangled by the fangs 
of those beasts4    ,the doctrine of    
salvation by grace had substituted favor
 and caprice  for the rights of natural 
justice1 and for a series of centuries  
the  consequences of its teachings were 
seen in the treatment of nearly  every  
benefactor of mankind4 ,the prince who  
devoted the fruits of his  conquests to 
the feeding of countless convent drones1
 let scholars  starve and loaded the    
discoverer of a ,new ,world with chains4
 ,his  successors who lavished the      
treasures of their vast empire on pimps 
and  clerical mountebanks1 let          
,cervantes perish in penury4 ,the       
sovereign  protector of a thousand      
stall-fed prelates refused to relieve   
the last  distress of ,john ,kepler4    
,the moralists who thought it a         
grievance that  the church should be    
denied the right of tithing the lands of

 southern  ,spain1 had no pity for the  
sufferings of the men whose labor had   
made  those lands blossom like the      
gardens of paradise1 and who were exiled
  by thousands for the crime of         
preferring the unitary ,god of the      
,koran  to the trinitary gods of the    
,new ,testament4          ,e4--,,reform4
    ,the perversion of our moral        
standards by the dogmas of an           
antinatural  creed is still glaringly   
evident in the prevailing notions of    
natural  justice and the precedence of  
social duties4 ,the modern ,crsus who   
deems it incumbent on his duties as a   
citizen and a ,christian to  contribute 
an ample subvention to the support of an
 orthodox seminary1  has no hesitation  
in swelling his already bloated income  
by reducing  the wages of a hundred     
starving factory children and taking    
every  sordid advantage in coining gain 
from the loss of helpless tenants and   
dependants4 ,the pious ,sabbatarians who
 doom their poor neighbors to an        

earthly ,gehenna and premature death by 
depriving them of every chance  for     
healthful recreation1 lavish their      
luxuries and their endearments  on the  
caged cutthroat who edifies his jailer  
by renouncing the  vanities of this     
worldly sphere and ranting about the    
bliss of the ,new  ,jerusalem4 ,the bank
 cashier who would never be pardoned for
 kicking the  hind-parts of a mendicant 
missionary is readily absolved from the 
sin  of such secular indiscretions as   
embezzling the savings of a few  hundred
 widows and orphans4    ,before resuming
 the rant about our solicitude for the  
interests of  departed souls1 we should 
learn to practice a little more common  
honesty in our dealings with the        
interests of our living fellow-men4     
,natural justice would be less          
frequently outraged if our moral        
reformers would distinctly repudiate the
 doctrines of vicarious  atonement and  
salvation by faith1 and hold every man  
responsible for  his own actions1       

irrespective of his belief or disbelief 
in the claims  of an ,asiatic           
miracle-monger4 ,and moreover1 the      
exponents of ,secularism  should insist 
on a truth not unknown to the moralists 
of antiquity1  that habitual submission 
to injustice is a vice instead of a     
virtue1  and that he who thinks it a    
merit to signalize his unworldliness by 
failing to assert his own rights        
encourages oppression and fraud and     
endangers the rights of his honest      
fellow-men4                    ,,chapter
 ,,xii4    ,,truth4      ,a4--,,lessons 
,,of ,,instinct4    ,the enemies of     
,nature have for ages based the favorite
 arguments of  their creed on the       
doctrine of ,natural ,depravity4        
,according to the  theories of that     
tenet the natural instincts of the human
 heart are  wholly evil1 and its every  
nobler impulse is due to the redeeming  
influence of theological education4 ,the
 baseness of the 8unregenerate  soul0 is
 their favorite antithesis of 8holiness 

by grace20 and the best  test of that   
dogma would be a comparison of the moral
 characteristics  of a young child of   
,nature with the moral results of       
theological  training4 ,we need not     
adduce the extreme case of a child like 
,kaspar  ,hauser or the ape-nursed      
foundling of ,baroda1 whose propensities
 had  been modeled in communion with    
solitude or the dumb denizens of the    
wilderness4 ,for1 even in the midst of  
8,christian civilization10  thousands of
 peasants and mechanics are practically 
pure ,agnostics1 and  ignore the        
absurdities of the ,new ,testament as   
persistently as their  deer-hunting     
ancestors ignored the absurdities of    
pagan mythology4 ,at  the end of his    
sixth or seventh year the offspring of  
such parents  would still represent a   
fair specimen-child of unregenerate     
,nature1 and  the normal bias of that   
,nature is revealed in the honesty1 the 
trusting  innocence1 the purity1 and the
 cheerfulness of the young ,agnostic1   

and  the absence of every appreciable   
germ of the secret vices1 the  rancorous
 spites1 and the joy-hating bigotries of
 the representative  ,christian         
convent-slave4    ,but the most         
characteristic features of that contrast
 would perhaps be  the double-tongued   
hypocrisy of the old ,jesuit and the    
artless candor  of the young peasant    
boy4 ,the truthfulness of young children
 antedates  all moral instruction4 ,its 
motives are wholly independent of       
theological1 or even abstract-ethical1  
influences1 and are based merely  on a  
natural preference for the simplest way 
of dealing with the  problems of        
intellectual communication4 ,truth is   
uniform1 falsehood is  complex4 ,truth  
is persistent and safe2 falsehood is    
unstable1 fragile1  and precarious4     
,children instinctively recognize the   
difficulties of  plausibly maintaining  
the fictions of deceit1 and dread the   
risk of  incurring the suspicion of     
habitual insincerity4 ,hence their      

uncompromising loyalty to facts2 their  
innocence of artifice and mental        
reservation2 hence also their extreme   
reluctance in conforming to the         
conventional customs of social hypocrisy
 and polite prevarication4    8,are you 
not glad ,mrs4 ,d4 is gone80 ,master    
,frank once asked his mother  in my     
presence4 8,well1 yes1 ,i am40 8,then   
what's the use asking her to  call again
 and stay for supper8 ,she could not    
help seeing that we were  tired of her  
gabble40 8,well1 it wouldn't do to      
insult her1 you know40  8,oh1 no1 but   
what's the use telling her something she
 cannot believe80    ,that last remark1 
especially1 recurs to my memory whenever
 the  expedience of hypocrisy is        
defended by the conventional sophisms of
  ,christian civilization4 ,that        
prevarications are unprofitable as well 
as  unpardonable is a truth which       
,jesuitry has shrouded with a veil of   
its  choicest cant1 but the clear vision
 of childhood penetrates that cant1  and

 the 8natural depravity0 of unregenerate
 souls may reach the degree  of doubting
 the merit of simulation even in the    
interest of an orthodox  creed1 as the  
reverend dogmatist might ascertain by   
happening to  overhear the recess       
comments of our ,american               
,sabbath-school youngsters4             
,b4--,,rewards ,,of ,,conformity4       
,the ,utilitarians hold that motives of 
enlightened self-interest would  be     
sufficient to make a man perfectly      
virtuous4 ,with the conventional        
definition of 8virtue10 that tenet might
 require certain  qualifications2 but it
 is more than probable that perfect     
prudence  would insure a voluntary      
devotion to perfect truthfulness4 ,in   
its most  aggressive form the hatred of 
falsehood may imperil the temporary     
interests of the aggressor1 but in every
 other sense the path of truth  is the  
path of safety4 ,all the ultimate       
tendencies of the moral and  physical   
universe conspire to vindicate truth and

 discredit fraud4    ,assertions based  
on fact stand erect1 upheld by the      
evidence of  experience as an upright   
building by the law of gravity2         
deception1  with all its props of       
plausible sophisms1 is tottering like a 
wall out  of plumb1 or a rotten tree    
upheld by artificial supports which in  
their  turn must yield to the test of   
time4    ,even from a standpoint of     
purely secular considerations1 truth1   
like  honesty1 is in the long run the   
best policy4 ,abstinence from insidious 
poisons is easier than temperance1 and  
the lessons of experience have  at all  
times convinced the most clear-sighted  
of our fellow-men that  consistent      
abstinence from the vice of hypocrisy is
 preferable to any  compromise with the 
interests of imposture4 ,the            
non-clerical1 and  almost ,agnostic1    
education of the ,american wilderness   
seems to favor  that type of moral      
teetotalism1 and among the hardy        
hill-farmers of our  ,new ,england      

highlands1 and ,southern mountain       
states1 one may find men  almost        
constitutionally incapable of conscious 
deceit in deed or word1  and practicing 
veracity without the least pretense to  
superior  saintliness1 in a quite       
untheological and often1 indeed1        
decidedly  profane medium of speech4    
,they stick to truth from habit1 rather 
than  from moral principles1 yet among  
their simple-hearted neighbors they     
enjoy a respect withheld from unctuous  
hypocrisy1 and in emergencies  can      
always rely on the practical value of a 
life-long reputation for  candor4 ,their
 word is sufficient security2 their     
denial of slanderous  imputations is    
accepted without the aid of             
compurgators4    ,the simple religion of
 ,mohammed has favored the development  
of a  similar disposition1 and on the   
,austrian-,turkish frontier the word of 
a  ,mussulman generally carries the     
weight of a casting vote4 ,on the       
,indian  ocean1 too1 the verdict of     

international opinion favors a          
preference  for ,unitarian testimony4   
8,wish to heaven we could fall in with  
some  ,acheen fishermen10 ,captain      
,baudissin heard his pilot mutter among 
the  reefs of the ,sunda ,islands1 8it's
 no use asking such d---- liars as those
  ,hindoos and ,chinese40    ,the love  
of truth compels the respect even of    
impostors and of  professional          
hypocrites1 as in the case of that      
curate mentioned by the  ,german        
,freethinker1 ,weber 7author of the     
philosophical cyclopedia1               
8,democritus074 ,professor ,weber passed
 his last years in the retirement  of a 
small south-,german mountain village1   
where his undisguised  skepticism made  
him the bugbear of the local pharisees2 
yet on moonless  evenings he was more   
than once honored by the visits of a    
neighboring  village priest1 who risked 
censure1 and1 perhaps1 excommunication1 
for  the sake of enjoying the luxury of 
a respite from the sickening cant of    

his colleagues1 and devoting a few hours
 to intellectual communion with  a      
champion of ,secular science4           
,lessing's allegory of 8,nathan0 is     
founded on something more than  fiction1
 and there is no doubt that even in the 
midnight of the ,middle  ,ages the      
gloomy misery of the ,hebrew pariahs was
 often cheered by the  secret visits of 
some intelligent ,christian whom the    
thirst for truth  impelled to defy the  
vigilance of the heretic-hunter1 and to 
prefer an  intellectual symposium in the
 garret of a ,jewish slum alley to a    
feast  in the banquet hall of a         
,christian prelate4    8,it is lucky for
 you that your opponents have not       
learned to utilize  the advantage of    
truth10 ,mirabeau replied to the taunt  
of an insolent  ,jesuit2 and in logic   
that advantage can1 indeed1 hardly be   
overrated4  8,they find believers who   
themselves believe10 and1 as the        
philosopher  ,colton observes1 a sort of
 instinct often enables the simplest    

countryman to distinguish the language  
of honest conviction from the  language 
of artful sophistry4 8,our jurymen seem 
to appreciate a  first-class lie only   
from an artistic standpoint10 confessed 
a lawyer  of my acquaintance1 8for some 
of them privately hinted that they could
  tell it every time40    ,others1 no   
doubt1 lack that degree of acumen2 but  
first-class orators1  as well as        
first-class authors1 have always        
recognized the wisdom of  not relying on
 such mental defects of the public4     
,charles ,darwin's  works1 for instance1
 owe their popularity to their erudition
 and their  grace of style1 hardly more 
than to the absolute candor of the      
author1  who reviews the evidence for   
and against his theories with the       
fairness  of a conscientious judge1 and 
by that very impartiality has succeeded 
in prevailing against the partisan      
arguments of his adversaries4 ,for      
similar reasons our 8,christian0        
temperance societies can date their     

triumphs only from the time when they   
frankly repudiated the sophisms  of     
their predecessors1 who hoped to        
reconcile the lessons of science  with  
the teachings of the alcohol-brewing    
,galilean4 ,for truth prevails  against 
half-truth1 as well as against absolute 
untruth4          ,c4--,,perversion4    
,since the dawn of rationalism perhaps  
no other literary product of            
,freethought has provoked the enemies of
 ,nature to that degree of  rancorous   
fury excited by the appearance of       
,moliere's 8,tartuffe40 ,the  hero of   
that famous drama is an old pharisee    
whose resolve to renounce  the 8vanities
 of earth0 is constantly tripped by the 
promptings of his  physical instincts1  
and who resorts to all kinds of         
ludicrous sophisms  to palliate the     
antagonism of two ever irreconcilable   
principles3          ,le ciel dfend1 de 
vrai1 certain contentements1      ,mais 
on trouve avec lui des accommodements-- 
and the drama never failed to attract a 

jubilant audience2 but the  ,french     
priesthood moved heaven and earth to    
stop the performance1 and  can1 indeed1 
hardly be blamed for rejecting the      
apologies of the  author's friends2 for 
the irony of ,tartuffe ridicules the    
shams1 not  only of the ,catholic       
clergy1 but of their creed and the creed
 of their  ,protestant colleagues3 it   
is1 in fact1 a scathing satire on the   
absurdities of ,christian               
,antinaturalism4 ,the impossibility of  
reconciling the demands of ,nature with 
the precepts of a  world-renouncing     
fanatic has1 indeed1 made the worship of
 that fanatic  a systematic school of   
hypocrisy and subverted the moral health
 of its  victims as effectually as the  
unnatural restraints of convent life    
subverted the basis of physical health4 
,god is paid when man receiveth2        
,to enjoy is to obey2      says ,nature 
with the poet of reason4 8,god delights 
in the self-torture  of his             
creatures--crucify your flesh1 despise  

your body1 disown the  world2 renounce6 
renounce60 croaks the chorus of         
,christian dogmatists1  and can silence 
protest only by turning health into     
disease or candor  into hypocrisy4      
,the dogma of salvation by faith offers 
an additional premium on mental         
prostitution4 ,by punishing honest doubt
 as a crime and inculcating the  merit  
of blind submission to the authority of 
reason-insulting  doctrines1 the        
defenders of those doctrines struck a   
deadly blow at the  instinct of free    
inquiry1 and for a series of generations
 actually  succeeded in eradicating that
 instinct from the mental constitution  
of  their victims4    8,the persecutor10
 says ,w4 ,h4 ,lecky1 8can never be     
certain that he is  not persecuting     
truth rather than error1 but he may be  
quite certain  that he is suppressing   
the spirit of truth4 ,and1 indeed1 it is
 no  exaggeration to say that the       
doctrines ,i have reviewed represent the
  most skilful and at the same time most

 successful conspiracy against  that    
spirit that has ever existed among      
mankind4 ,until the seventeenth         
century1 every mental disposition which 
philosophy pronounces to be  essential  
to a legitimate research was almost     
uniformly branded as a  sin1 and a large
 proportion of the most deadly          
intellectual vices were  deliberately   
inculcated as virtues4444 ,in a word1   
there is scarcely a  disposition that   
marks the love of abstract truth and    
scarcely a rule  which reason teaches as
 essential for its attainment that      
theologians  did not for ages stigmatize
 as offensive to the ,almighty40    ,and
 those perversions culminated in the    
miracle-mongery of the wretched         
superstition4 ,if the material universe 
was at the mercy of witches and  tricksy
 demons1 no man could for a moment trust
 the evidence of his own  senses and was
 naturally driven to complete his mental
 degradation by  an absolute surrender  
of common sense to dogma4 ,the history  

of  ,christian dogmatism is the history 
of an eighteen hundred years' war       
against ,nature and ,truth4             
,d4--,,penalties ,,of ,,neglect4    ,the
 drift sand of the deserts covering the 
site of once fertile empires  still     
attests the physical consequences of a  
thousand years' reign of                
,antinaturalism1 but1 happily1 the time 
has already come when many of  our      
fellow-men almost fail to credit the    
degree of mental abasement  realized    
during the most orthodox centuries of   
that reign4 ,it would be  no            
overstatement to say that for nearly six
 hundred years the priests  of the      
,galilean miracle-monger persuaded a    
plurality of the ,caucasian  nations to 
risk their lives in defense of dogmas   
the mere profession of  which would     
start a modern ,christian on a galloping
 trip to the next  lunatic asylum4      
,decapitated saints were believed to    
have emerged from their tombs and  paid 
their respects to a newly appointed     

bishop2 flying dragons  descended       
through the air to snatch the bodies of 
unbelievers and  disappeared with       
screams that frightened orthodox        
neighbors to take  refuge in their      
cellar-holes2 swarms of angels carried  
bones1 crosses1  and whole buildings    
from ,bethlehem to ,loretto2 ,king      
,philip the ,second  paid a thousand    
doubloons for a skeleton of ,st4        
,laurentius1 and having  been informed  
that a complete skeleton of the same    
saint was for sale  in the south of     
,italy1 he at once ratified the bargain 
and blessed  heaven for having favored  
him with a duplicate of the precious    
relic4  ,thousands of unfortunates were 
tried and executed on a charge of having
  taken an aerial excursion on a        
broomstick or a black he-goat2 of having
  caused a gale by churning a potful of 
froth and water2 of having turned       
themselves into foxes1 wolves1 and      
tomcats4    ,the instinct of recognizing
 the absurdity of even the most glaring 

superstitions seems to have become      
wholly extinct in the minds of the      
forty generations from the middle of the
 tenth to the end of the  fourteenth    
century2 and during that millennium of  
madness the  suppression of free inquiry
 encouraged thousands of pious          
tract-mongers  to devote their lives to 
the wholesale forgery of saintly        
biographies  and miracle legends1 and   
disseminate under the name of historical
  records insanities too extravagant    
even for the readers of a modern        
nursery-tale4    ,the war against ,truth
 was carried to the length of           
suppressing not only  the skeptical     
inferences of science1 but science      
itself2 chemists1  astronomers1         
physiologists1 mathematicians1 and bona 
fide historians  could pursue their     
inquiries only at the risk of an        
inquisitorial  indictment2 and a cloud  
of ignorance1 which in the days of      
,horace and  ,pliny would have been     
thought disgraceful to the obscurest    

hamlet of  the ,roman empire1 brooded   
for ages over the face of the entire    
,christian world4    ,for a series of   
centuries the encouragement of credulity
 and imposture  almost annulled the     
value of contemporary records4          
,travelers and  chroniclers1 as well as 
biographers1 accommodated the popular   
taste by  dealing1 not in marvels only1 
but in miracles2 witchcraft anecdotes1  
preternatural resurrections1 prodigies  
of skill and physical prowess1  giants1 
dragons1 were-wolves1 and no end of     
spectral manifestations4 ,it  is no     
exaggeration to say that for a period of
 more than nine hundred  years the dogma
 of the ,galilean antinaturalist        
systematically favored  the survival of 
the unfit1 by offering a premium on     
mental prostitution  and making common  
sense a capital crime4                  
,e4--,,reform4    ,the triumph of the   
,protestant revolt has ushered in a dawn
 which1 in  comparison with the         
preceding night1 may justly vaunt its   

era as an ,age  of ,reason2 but the     
thousand years' perversion of our moral 
instincts  has not been wholly redeemed 
by the educational influences of a short
  century4 ,for even eighty years ago   
the educational reforms of the          
,protestant nations attempted little    
more than a compromise between  reason  
and dogma1 while their southern         
neighbors revolted against the          
political influence1 rather than against
 the dogmatical arrogance1 of  their    
priesthood4 ,nay1 even at present the   
fallacies of the compromise  plan still 
hamper the progress of reform in        
manifold directions4 ,as an  ,american  
,freethinker aptly expresses it3 8,truth
 is no longer kept under  lock and key1 
but is kindly turned loose to roam at   
large--after being  chained to a certain
 number of theological cannon-balls40   
,evolution may  pursue its inquiries    
into specific phases of organic         
development1 but  must not question the 
correctness of the ,mosaic traditions2  

rationalists may inveigh against the    
insanities of the ,middle ,ages1 but    
must pretend to overlook the fact that  
the doctrine of the ,new  ,testament    
contains the germs of all those         
insanities2 the science of  health may  
denounce modern fallacies1 but must     
beware to mention the  anti-physical    
precepts of the body-despising          
,galilean2 ,materialists  must attack   
the hobgoblins of the ,davenport        
brothers1 but ignore the  hog-goblins of
 ,gadara2 historical critics may call   
attention to the  inconsistencies of    
,livy and ,plutarch1 but must not       
mention the  self-contradictions of the 
,new ,testament4    ,yet logic and      
philosophy will be little more than a   
farce till the  axiom of a great        
biologist can be applied to the pursuit 
of every human  science4 8,inquiries of 
that sort0 7the 8,descent of ,man071 he 
says1  8have nothing whatever to do with
 personal tastes or vested interests1   
but only with facts4 ,we should not ask3

 #8,will it be popular8' #8,will it     
seem orthodox8' but simply1 #8,is it    
true8'0    ,and in just as much as the  
theory of moral duties deserves the name
 of  a science1 the exponents of that   
science would gain1 rather than lose1   
by the adoption of the same maxim4      
8,religion10 in the traditional sense   
of the word1 needs to be purged from an 
enormous percentage of spurious         
elements1 before its ministers can be   
acquitted from the guilt of  tempting   
their disciples to associate the ideas  
of ,ethics and  ,imposture1 and thus    
reject the basis of morality together   
with the  basis of an ,asiatic myth4    
8,truth is the beginning of ,wisdom10   
8,justice  is ,truth10 8,mendacity is   
the ,mother of ,discord10 would be fit  
mottoes  for the ethical ,sunday-schools
 of the ,future4 8,what is ,truth80 asks
  ,pilate2 yet even in religious        
controversies the fury of sectarian     
strife could be obviated if we would    
truthfully admit the uselessness  of    

disputes about the unknowable mysteries 
of supernatural problems4  ,still1 we   
cannot hope to eradicate the roots of   
discord unless we  resolve with equal   
frankness to reject the interference of 
,supernaturalism with the knowable      
problems of secular science4 ,evident   
,truth can dispense with the indorsement
 of miracle-mongers1 and  8evident      
,untruth10 in the words of ,ulrich      
,hutten1 8should be exposed  whether its
 teachers come in the name of ,god or of
 the devil40                            
,,chapter ,,xiii4    ,,humanity4        
,a4--,,lessons ,,of ,,instinct4    ,the 
wanton disposition of young children1   
like the mischievousness of  our next   
relatives1 the tree climbing half-men of
 the tropical forests1  has often been  
mistaken for natural malevolence1 but is
 rather due to  an excess of misdirected
 vital energy4 ,in seeking a vent for   
the  exuberance of that energy1 a       
frolicsome child1 like a playful monkey1
  is apt to become destructive1 merely  

because destruction is easier than      
construction4 ,mischievousness1 in the  
sense of cruelty and gratuitous  malice1
 is1 however1 by no means a prominent   
character-trait of monkeys  or normal   
boys4 ,the most wayward of all known    
species of fourhanders  are undoubtedly 
the ,african baboons2 yet a long study  
of their natural  disposition1 both in  
freedom and captivity1 has convinced me 
that even  their fits of passionate     
wrath stop short of actual cruelty1 and 
are1  in fact1 almost invariably        
intended as a protest against acts of   
injustice or violence4 ,at ,sidi        
,ramath1 ,algiers1 ,i saw a number of   
babuinos hasten to the aid of a         
shrieking child1 who had hurt his hand  
in the gear of an ox-cart1 and whose    
cries they evidently attributed to  the 
brutality of his companions4 ,the sight 
of a wounded  fellow-creature1 a        
crippled rat1 a mangled bird1 a dying   
rabbit1 never  fails to throw my pet    
,chacma-baboon into a paroxysm of       

shrieking  excitement1 and within reach 
of her chain she will act upon the      
impulse  of compassion by trying to     
redress the injuries of her playmates or
  rescuing the victim of a dog-fight4   
,the fierce mandril1 with resources  of 
self-defense that would defy the attack 
of a panther1 is  nevertheless so averse
 to an aggressive exertion of that      
strength that  menagerie-keepers can    
trust him to spare1 if not protect1 the 
smallest  species of his distant        
relatives1 as well as such petulant     
fellow-captives as young dogs and       
raccoons4 ,the hunters of the ,orinoco  
,valley can attract fourhanders of all  
species by imitating the peculiar       
long-drawn wail of a young              
capuchin-monkey4 ,at the sound of that  
cry  spider-monkeys1 stentors1 and      
tamarins will hasten up from all parts  
of  the forest1 attracted less by       
curiosity than the evident desire to    
succor a distressed fellow-creature4    
,that instinct of compassion still      

manifests itself in the disposition  of 
children and primitive nations4 ,i have 
seen youngsters of five or  six years   
gasp in anguish at sight of a dying dog1
 or turn with horror  from the bloody   
scenes of a butcher-shop4 ,sir ,henry   
,stamford describes  the frantic        
excitement of a ,hindoo village at the  
discovery of a number  of               
buckshot-riddled hanuman apes2 and that 
sympathy is not limited to  the nearest 
relatives of the human species1 for in  
the suburbs of  ,benares the gardener of
 a ,british resident was pursued with   
howls and  execrations for having killed
 a young ,roussette--some sort of       
frugivorous bat4 ,the mob repeatedly    
cornered the malefactor1 and with       
shrieks of indignation shook the mangled
 creature before his face4 ,the         
traveler ,busbequius mentions a riot in 
a ,turkish hamlet where a  ,christian   
boy came near being mobbed for 8gagging 
a long-billed fowl40    8,man's         
inhumanity to man10 as practiced by     

their foreign visitors1  inspired the   
,south ,sea ,islanders with a nameless  
horror4 ,a sailor of  the ,british ship 
,endeavor having been sentenced to be   
punished for some  act of rudeness      
toward the natives of the ,society      
,islands1 the natives  themselves       
interceded with loud cries for mercy1   
and seemed1 indeed1 to  settle their own
 quarrels by arbitration1 or1 at worst1 
boy-fashion1 by  wrestling and pummeling
 each other1 and then shaking hands     
again4 ,a  similar scene was witnessed  
in ,prince ,baryatinski's camp in the   
eastern  ,caucasus1 where a poor        
mountaineer offered to renounce his     
claim to a  number of stolen sheep1     
rather than see the thief subjected to  
the  barbarous penalties of a ,russian  
court-martial4 ,in ,mandingo ,land      
,mungo  ,park was mistaken for a        
,portuguese slave-trader1 nevertheless  
the pity  of his destitute condition    
gradually overcame the hostility of the 
natives2 so much1 indeed1 that they     

volunteered to relieve his wants by     
joint contributions from their own      
rather scanty store of comestibles4     
,even among the bigoted peasants of     
northern ,italy the butcheries of the   
,holy ,inquisition at first provoked a  
fierce insurrection in favor of  the    
condemned heretics4 ,in ,india and ,siam
 some two hundred million of  our       
fellow-men are so unable to overcome    
their horror of blood-shed  that in time
 of famine they have frequently         
preferred to starve to  death rather    
than satisfy their hunger by the        
slaughter of a  fellow-creature4    ,a  
diet of flesh food has1 indeed1 a       
decided influence in developing  those  
truculent propensities which our        
moralists have often been misled  to    
ascribe to the promptings of a normal   
instinct4 ,in our ,north  ,american     
,indians1 for instance1 a nearly        
exclusively carnivorous diet  has       
engendered all the propensities of a    
carnivorous beast2 but the  next        

relatives of those sanguinary nomads1   
the agricultural ,indios of  ,mexico and
 ,central ,america1 are about as        
mild-natured as their  ,hindostan       
fellow-vegetarians1 while ,science and  
tradition agree in  contrasting the     
customs of flesh-eating hunters and     
herders with the  frugal habits of our  
earliest ancestors4 ,the primitive      
instincts of the  human soul are clearly
 averse to cruelty4                     
,b4--,,rewards ,,of ,,conformity4       
,the apologists of ,supernaturalism have
 frequently insisted on the  distinction
 between naturally advantageous and     
naturally thankless  virtues4 ,under the
 former head they would1 for instance1  
include  ,temperance and ,perseverance2 
under the latter1 charity and the love  
of  enemies--thus arguing for the       
necessity of assuming an other-worldly  
chance of recompense for the unselfish  
merits of a true saint4    ,but a humane
 disposition is1 on the whole1 quite    
natural enough to  dispense with the    

promise of preternatural rewards4       
,good-will begets  good-will2           
benevolence is the basis of friendship1 
while malice begets  ill-will1 and is   
apt to betray its claws in spite of the 
soft-gloved  disguise of polite         
formalities4    ,a humane master is     
better served than a merciless despot2  
his  dependants identify his interests  
with their own2 his family1 his         
tenants1 his very cattle1 thrive as in  
an atmosphere of sunshine1 while        
habitual unkindness blights every       
blessing and cancels all merits4        
,mental ability seems rather to         
aggravate the odium of a cruel          
disposition1 while1 on the other hand1  
we are almost ashamed to notice  the    
mental or physical shortcomings of a    
kind-hearted man4 ,intellectual         
attainments have never reconciled the   
world to the demerits of a  spiteful    
despot4 ,tiberius1 the most abhorred of 
all the imperial  monsters of           
tyrant-ridden ,rome1 was1 next to       

,julian1 mentally perhaps  the most     
gifted of ,csar's successors4 ,philip   
the ,second was the most  astute1 as    
well as the most powerful1 sovereign of 
his century1 but his  cold-blooded      
inhumanity prevented him from ever      
becoming a popular  hero4 ,henry the    
,eighth's services to the cause of      
,protestantism did not  save him from   
the execrations of his ,protestant      
subjects4 ,pedro el  ,cruel was probably
 the most enlightened man of his nation1
 a friend of  science in an age of      
universal ignorance1 a protector of     
,jews and  ,moriscos in an age of       
universal bigotry4 ,but his delight in  
refinements  of cruelty made him so     
hateful that at the first opportunity   
his  ,trinitarian and ,unitarian        
subjects joined in a revolt which the   
tyrant  tried in vain to appease by     
promises of the most liberal reforms4   
,tolerance1 properly speaking1 is       
nothing but common humanity1 applied  to
 the settlement of religious            

controversies2 the essential principle  
of civilization is humanity applied to  
the daily commerce of neighbors  and    
neighboring nations4 ,superior humanity 
alone has founded the  prestige of more 
than one potentially inferior nation4   
,a benevolent disposition1 moreover1    
finds its own reward in the fact  that  
the order of the visible universe is1 in
 the main1 founded on a  benevolent     
plan4 ,the system of ,nature1 with all  
the apparent ferity of  her destructive 
moods1 tends on the whole to insure the 
greatest  possible happiness of the     
greatest possible number1 and the       
natural  inclination of the benevolent  
man is therefore in sympathy1 as it     
were1  with the current of cosmic       
tendencies2 his mind is in tune with the
  harmony of ,nature4                   
,c4--,,perversion4    ,the unparalleled 
inhumanities of the medieval bigots seem
 to form a  strange contrast with the   
alleged humanitarian precepts of the    
,galilean  prophet1 but were            

nevertheless the inevitable consequence 
of a doctrine  aimed at the suppression 
of the natural instincts of the human   
soul4  8,whatever is pleasant is wrong10
 was the shibboleth of a creed that has 
been justly defined as a 8worship of    
sorrow10 and the practice of the        
self-denying virtues was valued chiefly 
in proportion to their  afflictiveness4 
,herbert ,spencer1 in his 8,data of     
,ethics10 has  demonstrated with        
absolutely conclusive logic that the    
universal  practice of altruism 7i4e41  
the subordination of personal to alien  
interests7 would lead to social         
bankruptcy1 but the clear recognition   
of that result would have been only an  
additional motive in  recommending its  
promotion to the world-renouncing       
fanaticism of the  ,galilean ,buddhist4 
,secular advantages were more than      
foreign to the  purposes of his reform4 
8,divest yourself of your earthly       
possessions10  was the sum of his advice
 to salvation-seeking inquirers4        

8,renounce6  renounce60--not in order to
 benefit your worldly-minded neighbor1  
but to  mortify your own worldliness4   
,abandon the path of earthly            
happiness--not  in order to make room   
for the crowding multitude1 but in order
 to guide  your own steps into the path 
of other-worldliness4                   
,disinterestedness1  in the ,christian  
sense1 meant the renunciation of all    
earthly interests  whatever2 and the    
same moralist who commands his disciple 
to love his  enemies also bids him hate 
his father1 mother1 sister1 brother1 and
  friends4    8,seek everything that can
 alienate you from the love of earth2   
avoid  everything that can rekindle that
 love10 would be at once the rationale  
and the summary of the ,galilean        
doctrine4 ,shun pleasure1 welcome       
sorrow2 hate your friends1 love your    
enemies4 ,it might seem as if  precepts 
of that sort were in no danger of being 
followed too  literally4 ,we can love   
only lovely things4 ,we cannot help     

finding  hatefulness hateful4 ,we cannot
 relish bitterness4 ,we might as well be
  told to still our hunger with icicles 
or cool our thirst with fire4 ,but  even
 in its ultimate tendencies the religion
 of ,antinaturalism was  anything but a 
religion of love4 ,the suppression of   
physical  enjoyments1 the war against   
freedom1 against health and reason1 was 
not  apt to increase the sum of earthly 
happiness2 and the sense of             
tolerance--nay1 the instinct of common  
humanity and justice--was               
systematically blunted by the worship of
 a god to whom our ancestors  for thirty
 generations were taught to ascribe what
 ,feuerbach justly  calls 8a monstrous  
system of favoritism3 arbitrary grace   
for a few  children of luck1 and        
millions foredoomed to eternal          
damnation40 8,the  exponents of that    
dogma10 says ,lecky1 8attributed to the 
creator acts  of injustice and barbarity
 which it would be absolutely impossible
 for  the imagination to surpass1 acts  

before which the most monstrous         
excesses of human cruelty dwindle into  
insignificance1 acts which are1  in     
fact1 considerably worse than any that  
theologians have attributed  to the     
devil40          ,d4--,,penalties ,,of  
,,neglect4    ,the ,millennium of       
,madness1 as a modern ,freethinker calls
 the thousand  years' reign of the      
,galilean superstition1 might with equal
 justice be  called the ,age of         
,inhumanity4 8,the greatest possible    
misery of the  greatest possible number0
 seems to have been the motto of the    
medieval  dogmatists1 and1 short of any 
plan involving the total destruction of 
the human race1 it seems1 indeed1 not   
easy to imagine a more effective  system
 for crowding the greatest conceivable  
amount of suffering into a  given space 
of time4 ,in the pursuit of their       
chimeras fanatics have  never shrunk    
from sacrificing the happiness of their 
fellow-men2 class  interests have made  
patricians callous to the sufferings of 

the poor1  and revolted pariahs to the  
fate of the rich1 and in the party      
warfare  of antiquity cruelty was merely
 a means for the attainment of enlarged 
opportunities of enjoyment4 ,but to the 
maniacs of the ,middle ,ages  inhumanity
 seems to have become an end as well as 
a means4 ,they  inflicted misery for its
 own sake2 they waged a persistent war  
against  happiness itself1 and their    
sect-founders vied in the suppression of
  sympathy with every natural instinct  
of the human heart4 8,if any sect10     
says ,ludwig ,boerne1 8should ever take 
it into their heads to worship  the     
devil in his distinctive qualities1 and 
devote themselves to the  promotion of  
human misery in all its forms1 the      
catechism of such a  religion could be  
found ready-made in the code of several 
monastic  colleges40    ,dissenters were
 murdered1 and converts1 under the full 
control of their  spiritual taskmasters1
 were doomed to a slower1 but hardly    
less cruel1  death by wearing out their 

lives with penance and renunciation4    
8,according to that code10 says ,henry  
,buckle1 8all the natural  affections1  
all social pleasures1 all amusements1   
and all the joyous  instincts of the    
human heart were sinful4444 ,the clergy 
looked on all  comforts as sinful in    
themselves1 merely because they were    
comforts4  ,the great object of life was
 to be in a state of constant           
affliction4  ,whatever pleased the      
senses was to be suspected4 ,it mattered
 not what a  man liked2 the mere fact of
 his liking it made it sinful4 ,whatever
 was  natural was wrong40    ,the dogma 
of salvation by faith seemed to make the
 enforced propagation  of that faith a  
sacred duty1 and soon drenched the face 
of the earth  with the blood of pagans  
and dissenters2 the worship of sorrow   
drove  thousands to devote themselves   
and their children to a life of         
perpetual penance2 and the insanities of
 the hideous superstition  culminated in
 that dogma of eternal hell tortures    

that deprived its  converts of the last 
solace of nature1 and barred the last   
gate of  escape from the horrors of     
existence4          ,e4--,,reform4      
,the skeptic ,holbach1 and several of   
his philosophical friends1 directed  the
 keenest shafts of their logic against  
the doctrine of eternal  punishment1 and
 never wearied of repeating that the    
belief in a  merciless ,god naturally   
tends to fill the world with merciless  
bigots4  8,how insignificant10 they     
argued1 8the occasional sufferings of a 
transient life on earth must appear to  
the converts of ,john ,calvin1 who  held
 that about nine-tenths of the human    
race are foredoomed to an  eternity of  
nameless and hopeless tortures4 ,how    
absurd they must deem  the complaints of
 a life-weary wretch1 who1 ten to one1  
will soon look  back to the comparative 
bliss of that life as to the happiness  
of a  lost ,eden40 ,the ,universalists  
are fond of enlarging on the moral of   
that theme1 yet from a wider point of   

view their objections might be  extended
 to the entire doctrine of              
other-worldliness1 since ,holbach's     
argument might find its exact analogue  
in the dogma of post mortem             
compensation4 8,his soul will be the    
gainer10 thought the ,crusader who  had 
demonstrated the dangers of unbelief by 
smashing a ,moorish skull1  8and if he  
should die his spirit will enter the    
gates of the ,new  ,jerusalem40 8,oh1   
the ingratitude10 actually said a priest
 of the  ,spanish-,american land        
robbers1 8the ingratitude of the        
wretches who  grudge us the territories 
of their base earthly kingdoms and      
forget  that our gospel offers them a   
passport to the glorious kingdom of     
heaven60 8,the ingratitude60 repeats the
 modern pharisee1 8the base  ingratitude
 of those factory children who grudge me
 the privileges of  my position1 and    
clamor for an increase of wages to      
gratify their  worldly desires4         
,consumption8 ,hunger8 ,frost8 should   

not the rich  promises of the gospel    
compensate such temporal inconveniences1
 and  have ,i not founded a             
,sabbath-school to save them from the   
lusts of  their unregenerate souls80    
,only a few months ago a ,chinese       
philosopher acquainted us with the      
verdict of his countrymen on the 8gospel
 of love0 that sends its  missionaries  
on ships loaded with brandy and opium1  
and escorted by  armadas for the        
demolition of seaports that might refuse
 to admit the  cargo of spirituous and  
spiritual poisons4    ,secularism1 the  
religion of ,nature1 should teach our   
brethren that  their highest physical   
and their highest moral welfare can be  
only  conjointly attained1 and that     
cramping misery stunts the soul1 as well
  as the body of its victim4 ,it should 
preach the solidarity of human          
interests which prevents the oppressor  
from enjoying the fruits of his         
inhumanity1 and makes the curses of his 
dependents1 nay1 even the mute  misery  

of his starving cattle1 react on the    
happiness of a cruel  master4 ,it should
 expose the business methods of the     
humanitarians who  propose to silence   
the clamors of their famished brethren  
with  consecrated wafers and drafts on  
the bank of the ,new ,jerusalem4    ,the
 ,christian duty of transferring our    
love from our friends to our  enemies   
may be one of those virtues that have to
 await their recompense  in a mysterious
 hereafter1 but natural humanity can    
hope to find its  reward on this side of
 the grave4                    ,,chapter
 ,,xiv4    ,,friendship4                
,a4--,,lessons ,,of ,,instinct4         
,philosophers of the utilitarian school 
have begun to restablish the            
long-forgotten truth that ,materialism  
is the indispensable root of the  plant 
which bears its flowers in spiritual    
aspirations4 ,the consequence  of       
universal practice is the best test of a
 dogma1 and if all men were  to divest  
themselves of their earthly possessions 

and devote their  lives to the          
hyperphysical vagaries of the ,galilean 
messiah1 there  would soon be neither   
crops to harvest nor bread to eat1 and  
unworldly  saints would starve as surely
 as ungodly sinners4 8,ideality0 may be 
the  crown of the brain1 as the brain is
 of the body1 but the organs of the     
mind cannot dispense with the aid of the
 alimentary organs2 the  pinnacle of the
 social fabric needs intermediate       
supports4 ,education  has to secure the 
welfare of the body before it can       
successfully  cultivate the faculties of
 the mind2 and it is not less certain   
that a  man has to be a good patriot    
before he can be a worthy cosmopolitan1 
and a good friend before he can be a    
good patriot4    ,in the progress of    
individual development the instinct of  
friendship  asserts itself at a very    
early period4 ,its recollection hallows 
the  memory of the poorest childhood4   
,the shepherd-boys of the upper ,alps   
travel dozens of miles over cliffs and  

rocks to meet their friends at a        
salt-spring2 on the shores of the       
,baltic the boys of the lonely          
fishermen's cabins frequent their       
trysting-places in spite of wind and    
weather4 ,early friendships throw the   
charm of their poetry even over  the    
dreary prosa of grammar-school life2 the
 fellowship of  school-friends forever  
endears the scenes of their sports and  
rambles1  and for many a poor           
office-drudge the recollection of such  
hours 8holds  all the light that shone  
on the earth for him40 ,true friendship 
smoothens the rough path of poverty1    
while friendlessness1 even in the       
gilded halls of wealth1 is almost a     
synonyme of cheerlessness3          ,ich
 wsste mir keine grssre ,pein1      ,als
 wr' ich im ,paradies allein1      says 
,goethe4 8,to be alone in paradise would
 be the height of misery40  ,friendship 
will assert itself athwart the barriers 
of social  inequality1 and its germs are
 so deeply rooted in the instincts of   

primitive nature that1 in default of a  
communion of kindred souls1 the  bonds  
of sympathy have often united saints and
 sinners1 nay1 even men  and brutes4    
,the traditions of ,grecian antiquity   
have preserved the  possibly apocryphal 
legend of a dolphin that became attached
 to the  company of a young fisherman1  
and after his death left the sea in     
search of its friend1 and thus perished2
 but the story of ,androcles was        
confirmed by the experience of          
,chevalier ,geoffroy de la ,tour1 a     
crusader of the thirteenth century1 who 
was charmed1 but finally  distressed1 by
 the affection of a pet lion that       
followed him like his  shadow1 and at   
last fell a victim to his attachment by 
trying to swim  after the ship that     
conveyed his master from ,damascus to   
,genoa4 ,the  traveler ,busbequius      
mentions a lynx that set his heart on   
escorting a  camp-follower of a ,turkish
 pasha2 and ,sir ,walter ,scott vouches 
for the  touching episode of the        

,grampian ,highlands1 where a young     
hunter met  his death by falling from a 
steep cliff1 and was found1 months      
after1  half covered by the body of his 
favorite deerhound1 who had followed    
his friend to the happy hunting-grounds 
by starving to death at the  feet of a  
corpse4    ,among the ancestors of the  
,mediterranean nations the betrayal of a
  friend was deemed an act of almost    
inconceivable infamy2 friends and       
friends engaged in a pledge of mutual   
hospitality1 which was held  sacred even
 in times of war2 and among the natives 
of the ,south ,sea  ,islands a similar  
brotherhood of elective affinities      
existed in the  society of the ,aroyi1  
or oath-friends1 who held all property  
in common1  and in times of danger      
unhesitatingly risked their own lives in
 defense  of their ally's4 ,professor   
,letourneau has collected many curious  
anecdotes of that devotion1 which should
 leave no doubt that altruism  in its   
noblest form can dispense with the hope 

of post-mortem  compensation1 and1      
indeed1 with all theological motives    
whatever4          ,b4--,,rewards ,,of  
,,conformity4    ,unselfishness is the  
soul of true friendship1 yet it         
nevertheless  remains true that all     
instincts are founded on the experience 
of  benefits or injuries4 ,during the   
rough transition period from beasthood  
to manhood1 when our uncivilized        
ancestors roamed the forests of the     
foreworld1 it must have been an         
incalculable advantage to the           
individual hunter or herder to secure   
the coperation of a trusty  companion1  
whose watchful eye would double his     
chance of finding food  or avoiding     
danger1 whose stout arm might parry a   
blow which unaided  strength would have 
failed to avert4 ,as in other           
circumstances of  natural selection1    
those who most successfully availed     
themselves of  such advantages had a    
superior chance of survival and         
consequently of  transmitting their     

disposition to subsequent generations1  
and the habit  of friendship thus became
 a hereditary instinct4    ,the social  
system of civilized life has since      
devised manifold  substitutes for the   
coperation of elective affinities1 but  
various  unalienable advantages of the  
primitive plan have been more or less   
clearly recognized by all nations1      
especially by the manful and            
nature-abiding nations of pagan         
antiquity4 ,the benefits secured by the 
mutual aid of sympathizing friends are  
not limited to the guarantee of  civil  
rights1 but extend to the realization of
 individual hopes and the  indulgence of
 personal inclination and predilections1
 as well as to the  higher privileges of
 a mental communion for which the       
panders of  selfish wealth have as yet  
devised no equivalent4 ,the power of    
approbativeness1 the main stimulus of   
ambition1 is infinitely  intensified by 
the emulation of noble friendship1      
which1 in the words  of an ancient      

philosopher1 8inspires to deeds heroic1 
and makes labor  worth the toils that   
lead to success40 ,such friendship      
inspired the  heroism of ,theseus and   
,pyrithous1 of ,harmodius and           
,aristogiton1 of  ,nisus and ,euryalus1 
and recorded its experience in proverbs 
which have  few parallels in the        
languages of the ,christianized nations3
 8,solem e  mundo qui amicitiam e vita  
tollunt0--8,they deprive the world of   
sunshine  who deprive life of           
friendship40 8,amicum perdere damnorum  
est  maximum0--8,to lose a friend is the
 greatest of losses40 8,amicus magis    
necessarius quam ignis aut aqua0--8,a   
friend is more needful than fire or     
water40    ,in times of tribulation1    
when the fury of party-strife overrode  
all  other restraints1 friendship has   
more than once proved its saving power  
by averting otherwise hopeless perils4  
,diagoras was thus saved from the  rage 
of allied bigots1 ,demetrius from the   
dagger of a wily assassin1  the elder   

,cato from the rancor of political      
rivals4 ,without the aid of  a friend   
,cicero would never have survived the   
intrigues of ,catiline4  ,epaminondas   
made the approval of friends the sole   
reward of his heroic  life1 and         
vanquished the enemies of his country by
 the enthusiasm of  the 8sacred legion0 
of mutually devoted and mutually        
inspiring friends4  ,mohammed the       
,second yielded to the prayer of a      
humble companion what he  refused to the
 united threats of foreign embassadors1 
and ,simon  ,bolivar1 the liberator of  
,south ,america1 often confessed that he
 owed  his triumphs to the counsel of   
private friends rather than to the      
suggestions of his official advisers4   
,c4--,,perversion4    ,the blessing of  
friendship1 8doubling the joys of life  
and lessening  its sorrows10 could not  
fail to be specially obnoxious to the   
moralists  of a creed that seeks to lure
 its converts from earth to ghostland1  
and  depreciates the natural affections 

of the human heart4 ,the gloomy         
antinaturalism of the ,galilean prophet 
has been glossed over by the            
whitewashing committee of the revised   
,bible1 but is too shockingly  evident  
in the less sophisticated version of the
 original text to  mistake its identity 
with the moral nihilism of the          
world-renouncing  ,buddha4 ,the         
phil'adelphia1 or 8brother-love10 of the
 ,new ,testament1 is1  in fact1 merely a
 8fellowship in ,christ0--the spiritual 
communion and  mutual indoctrination of 
earth-renouncing bigots4 ,with the joys 
and  sorrows of natural friendship their
 prophet evinces no sympathy  whatever4 
8,i am come10 says he1 8to set a man at 
variance against his  father1 and the   
daughter against her mother1 444 and a  
man's foes shall  be those of his own   
household40 8,he who hates not his      
father and  mother1 his brothers and    
sisters1 cannot be my disciple40 8,and  
the  brother shall betray the brother to
 death1 and the father the son40    ,by 

that test of moral merit the obligation 
of natural affection counted  as nothing
 compared with the duty of theological  
conformity4 8,verily1 ,i  say unto you1 
there is no man that has left brethren  
or sisters or  father and mother for my 
sake and the gospels'1 but he shall     
receive a  hundredfold10 etc4 8,he that 
loveth father and mother more than me is
  not worthy of me40 8,and another of   
his disciples said unto him3 ,lord1     
suffer me first to go and bury my       
father4 ,but ,jesus said unto him3      
,follow me1 and let the dead bury their 
dead40 8,for if you love them  which    
love you1 what reward have ye80         
,d4--,,penalties ,,of ,,neglect4    ,the
 conversion of ,rome1 which theologians 
are fond of representing as  the        
crowning miracle of ,christianity1 was a
 natural consequence of its  pessimistic
 tendencies1 which could not fail to    
recommend themselves to  the instincts  
of a decrepit generation4 8,worn-out    
sensualists consoled  themselves with   

the hope of a better hereafter4 ,cowards
 pleased  themselves with the idea of   
fulfilling the duty of meek submission  
to  the injustice of the #8powers that  
be4' ,monastic drones denounced the     
worldliness of industrial enterprises4  
,physical indolence welcomed the        
discovery that #8bodily exercise        
profiteth but little4' ,envious         
impotence insisted on the duty of       
self-abasement4 ,transgressors against  
the health-laws of ,nature relied upon  
the efficacy of the prayer-cure4        
,stall-fed priests sneered at the lean  
philosopher who wasted his time  upon   
laborious inquiries1 while he might wax 
fat on faith and the  sacrifices of the 
pious4 ,the demon-dogma was a godsend to
 the spiritual  poverty of the elect4   
,the so-called scholars of the ,galilean
 church1  who could not encounter the   
pagan philosophers on their own ground1 
found it very convenient to postulate a 
spook for every unknown  phenomenon4444 
,despots before long recognized the     

mistake of  persecuting a creed which   
inculcated the duty of passive          
submission to  oppressors0 7,secret of  
the ,east1 p4 #ed74    ,they also       
recognized the advantage of a spiritual 
excuse for the infamy  of their         
ingratitude to the secular benefactors  
of mankind4 ,csar and  ,trajan treated  
the humblest centurion as a friend      
rather than as a  servant4 ,constantine 
and ,justinian treated the ablest       
ministers like  slaves who can be forced
 to toil1 and turned out to starve after
 having  worn out their strength in the 
service of the ,lord's anointed4        
,belisarius1 after repeatedly saving his
 master from well-deserved ruin1  was   
sacrificed to the spite of a crowned    
harlot1 and left to beg his  bread in   
the streets of the city which his valor 
alone had for years  protected from the 
rage of hostile armies4 ,aetius1 who had
 saved all  ,europe by stemming the     
torrent of ,hunnish conquest1 was       
treated like a  rebellious slave for    

refusing to betray his brave allies1 and
 the  stipulated pay of his veterans was
 squandered on pimps and clerical       
parasites4 ,charles ,martel1 whose      
heroism turned the scales against the   
power of the invading ,moriscos1 was    
openly reviled by the very priests  who 
owed him the preservation of their      
lives1 as well as of their  livings2 his
 image was dragged in the mire1 his soul
 consigned to the  pit of torment--all  
for having defrayed the costs of his    
campaign by  tithing prelates as well as
 laymen4 ,columbus was loaded with      
chains by  the pious prince whose       
castles he had filled with the treasures
 of a  new world2 the philosopher       
,vanini was betrayed to death by a      
,christian  spy who had for years       
enjoyed his confidence and his          
hospitality4 ,john  ,huss was           
surrendered by the imperial priest-slave
 whose own hand had  signed the document
 of his safe-conduct4 ,the earl of      
,stafford was  sacrificed by the crowned

 ,jesuit who divided his time between   
prayers  for the theological interests  
of his subjects and plots for the       
subversion of their political liberties4
 ,the dogma of self-denial has  not     
prevented our financial pharisees from  
amassing fortunes that would  dwarf the 
spoils of a ,roman triumphator2 but the 
hospitality of ,mcenas  has not survived
 the religion of ,nature4 ,our          
philosophers have to study  the problems
 of life in a personal struggle for     
existence2 our poets  have to choose    
between starvation and hypocrisy4       
,patriots are left to  the consoling    
reflection that virtue is its own       
reward4 ,the endowers of  theological   
seminaries seem to rely on the mercy of 
,christ to cancel  the odium of their   
shortcomings in the recognition of      
secular merit4  ,kepler1 ,campanella1   
and ,spinoza perished in penury4 ,locke 
and ,rousseau1  the recognized primates 
of the intellectual world1 were left to 
languish in exile1 admired and neglected

 by a host of  8friends0--,christian    
friends--in every city of the civilized 
world4  ,schubert1 ,buerger1 and        
,frederick ,schiller1 the idols of a    
poetry-loving  nation1 were left to     
fight the bitter struggle for existence 
to an  extreme of which all the records 
of pagan antiquity furnish only a       
single parallel4 ,anaxagoras1 the       
founder of a philosophic school         
counting its disciples by thousands1 was
 left to languish in exile1  till the   
rumor of his extreme distress brought   
the most illustrious of  those disciples
 to the sick-bed of his neglected       
teacher4 8,do not1 do  not leave us60 he
 cried1 in an agony of remorse2 8we     
cannot afford to  lose the light of our 
life60    8,o ,pericles10 said the dying
 exile1 8those who need a lamp should   
take  care to supply it with oil60      
,but how many lights of our latter-day  
lives have thus been extinguished       
before their time6 ,not one of the      
plethoric ,british aristocrats who      

spiced their leisure with the sweets of 
poetry ever dreamed of  relieving the   
cruel distress of ,robert ,burns1 or of 
cutting the knot of  the financial      
embroglio that strangled out the life of
 ,sir ,walter  ,scott4                  
,e4--,,reform4    ,time is the test of  
truth2 and the fallacies of the         
8,brotherhood in  ,christ0 plan have    
been abundantly demonstrated by their   
consequences4  ,instead of being a bond 
of union1 the doctrine of renunciation  
has been  found to be a root of discord 
and rancor1 and in times of need the    
fellowship of its converts has proved a 
most rotten staff4 ,even the  wretches  
who betrayed their friends to the spies 
of the ,holy  ,inquisition had no       
difficulty in palliating the infamy of  
their conduct  with the sanction of     
scriptural precepts4 ,for centuries the 
appeals of  martyrs to the cause of     
freedom and ,freethought have been      
answered with  the advice of ,christian 
submission to the 8powers that be10 and 

our  modern pharisees rarely fail to    
reprove the 8worldliness0 of a poor     
neighbor's lament for the loss of his   
earthly possessions4    ,the founder of 
8,positivism10 the ,religion of         
,humanity1 proposes to  dedicate the    
days of the year to the leaders of      
progress1 and inscribe  our places of   
worship with the names of discoverers1  
reformers1 and  philosophers rather than
 of bigots and world-despising saints4  
,and for  the sake of those who would   
not wish to repeat the mistake of       
sacrificing the present to the past1 the
 builders of those sanctuaries  should  
add a temple of ,friendship4 ,from the  
adoration of self-torturing  fanatics1  
from the worship of sorrow and the love 
of enemies1 mankind  will at last revert
 to the ancestral plan of elective      
affinities1 and  the dread of preferring
 natural to theological duties will not 
much  longer prevent our fellow-men from
 recognizing their obligations to  their
 earthly benefactors4                   

,,chapter ,,xv4    ,,education4         
,a4--,,lessons ,,of ,,instinct4    ,the 
doctrine of ,pythagoras1 the philosophic
 ,messiah of ,paganism1  included the   
strange tenet of metempsychosis4 ,after 
death1 held the  confessors of that     
dogma1 the souls of men and brutes would
 reappear in  new forms1 higher or      
lower1 according to the character-traits
 of the  dying individual4 ,thus the    
soul of a wealthy glutton might be      
reborn in  a pig-sty1 that of a         
high-minded peasant perhaps on the      
throne of a  king4 ,death and rebirth   
are the upper and lower spokes of a     
wheel that  turns and turns forever1 and
 in the persons of their neighbors the  
,pythagoreans saw wanderers that might  
have walked this earth thousands  of    
years ago4    ,the strangeness of such a
 theory is still increased by the       
circumstance  that its teacher was an   
eminent astronomer1 an accomplished     
mathematician1 and the leader of a      
memorable hygienic reform4 ,our         

astonishment is not lessened by the     
well-established fact that1 under  some 
form or other1 the doctrine of          
soul-migration has for ages been  the   
accepted creed of a large plurality of  
our fellow-men4 ,it is well  known1     
however1 that to his trusted disciples  
,pythagoras imparted an  esoteric or    
explanatory version of his dogmas2 and  
if we learn that the  great philosopher 
attached a special importance to the    
influence of  hereditary dispositions1  
the truth at last dawns upon us that the
  doctrine of metempsychosis referred to
 the reappearance of individual  types1 
passions1 and dispositions in the bodily
 and mental  characteristics of the next
 generation4 8,parents live in their    
children40 ,the instinctive recognition 
of that truth reconciles our  dumb      
fellow-creatures to the prospect of     
death4 ,at the end of summer  the       
night-moth carefully deposits her eggs  
in a silver cradle1 hidden  safe in the 
crevice of some sheltering nook1 where  

they will survive  the rigor of the     
winter and answer the first summons of  
spring4 ,having  thus1 as it were1      
insured the resurrection of her type1   
the parent moth  quietly resigns herself
 to the fate of sleeping her own        
winter-slumber  in the arms of death4   
,on the ,orinoco wounded river-turtles  
will use  their last strength to climb  
the slope of some bush-hidden sand-bank1
  and after intrusting their eggs to the
 protection of the deep drift  sand1    
will renter the water and quietly float 
off with the seaward  currents4 ,in the 
virgin-woods of ,southern ,mexico1 where
 the harpy-eagle  fills the maws of her 
hungry brood by incessant raids on the  
small  denizens of the tree-tops1 the   
traveler ,d',armand once witnessed a    
curious scene4 ,an eagle had pounced    
upon a nursing mother monkey1 who  at   
first struggled desperately to free     
herself from the claws of the  murderer2
 but1 finding resistance in vain1 she   
loosened her grasp on  the branches1    

and1 just as the eagle carried her off1 
she disengaged  the arm of her baby from
 her neck1 and shaking off the little   
creature  with a swing of her arm1 she  
deliberately flung it back into the     
sheltering foliage of the tree-top1 thus
 taking the last possible  chance of    
surviving in her child4    ,the 8dread  
of annihilation0 reveals itself in the  
instincts of a dying  philosopher as    
plainly as in the instincts of a wounded
 animal2 but1 on  self-examination1 that
 fear would prove to have but little in 
common  with a special solicitude for   
the preservation of material forms or   
combinations--conditions which the      
process of organic change constantly    
modifies in the cradle as well as in the
 grave4 ,it is rather the type  of the  
body and its correlated mental          
dispositions which the hope of          
resurrection yearns to preserve1 and    
even childless men have often  partly   
realized that hope by impressing the    
image of their soul on a  younger mind1 

and transmitting their cherished        
projects and theories  through the      
medium of education4 ,in the            
consciousness of that  accomplished task
 ,socrates could as calmly die in the   
arms of his  disciples as the ,hebrew   
patriarch in the arms of his children   
and  grandchildren4 8,you kill a sower10
 cried ,st4 ,adalbert under the clubs   
of his assassins1 8but the seed he has  
planted will rise and survive  both his 
love and your hatred40    ,even the     
influence of a great practical example  
has often impressed the  mental type of 
a reformer or patriot on a series of    
subsequent  generations4 ,the ,buddhist 
,calanus1 preaching the doctrine of     
renunciation to an audience of scoffers1
 deeply affected the most  thoughtless  
of his witnesses by proving his personal
 convictions in the  flames of a funeral
 pile4 8,i leave no sons10 were the last
 words of  ,epaminondas1 8but two       
immortal daughters1 the battles of      
,leuctra and  ,mantinea40 ,rousseau     

smiled when he learned the intrigues of 
his enemies  who were trying their      
utmost to enlist the coperation of a    
violent  pulpit-orator4 8,they are busy 
recruiting their corps of partisans10   
said he1 8but ,time will raise me an    
ally in every intelligent reader of  the
 next generation40                      
,b4--,,rewards ,,of ,,conformity4    ,in
 the simple lives of the lower animals  
every day may bring the  sufficient     
reward of its toil2 but the problem of  
progress1 even from  the first dawn of  
civilization1 involves tasks too apt to 
extend beyond  the span of individual   
existence4 ,the forest-clearing         
husbandman1 the  state-founding patriot1
 the scientific inquirer1 all risk to   
receive  the summons of night before the
 completion of their labor4 ,before     
reaching the goal of their hopes their  
earthly pilgrimage may end at  the brink
 of the unknown river1 and education    
alone can bridge that  gulf1 and make   
every day the way-station1 of an        

unbroken road4 ,children  or children's 
children will take up the staff from the
 last  resting-place of their pilgrim   
father2 and1 moreover1 all progress is  
cumulative4 ,every laborer works with   
the experience of his forefathers1  as  
well as his own2 every son stands on the
 shoulders of his father4  ,even the    
failure of individual efforts           
contributes a helpful lesson to  the    
success of the next attempt3            
,freedom's brave battle1 once begun1    
,bequeathed from bleeding sire to son1  
,though often baffled1 e'er is won4     
,persistent adherence to the programme  
of a traditional policy has often  made 
the work of successive centuries the    
triumphant execution of a  single plan4 
,the empire of ,islam sprung from the   
seed which the prophet  of ,mecca had   
planted in the soil of his native land4 
,the storm of the  ,protestant revolt   
rose from the anathemas of a poor       
,wittenberg friar2  the unquenchable    
fire of the ,french ,revolution was     

kindled by the  burning indignation of a
 ,swiss recluse1 and his fervid appeals3
          ,those oracles that set the   
world aflame1      ,nor ceased to burn  
till kingdoms were no more2      and the
 vast fabric of our republican          
federation was founded by the  poor     
colonists who sought independence in the
 freedom of the  wilderness1 and        
combined against the power of a selfish 
despot4  ,education sows a seed which   
may sprout even during the life-time of 
the  sower1 and bless individual life   
with the sweets of a guaranteed  triumph
 over the power of death4 ,resurgam1 8,i
 shall live after death10  expresses the
 significance of that triumph1 and of   
the 8esoteric  doctrine of ,pythagoras40
          ,c4--,,perversion4    ,the    
,christian church has constantly        
perverted the purpose of education1  but
 has never yet deserved the reproach of 
having neglected its means4  ,from the  
very beginning the sect of the          
apostle-training ,galilean has  been a  

sect of assiduous educators4 ,they were 
not satisfied with  founding schools and
 opening their doors to all comers1 but 
went forth  in quest of new converts1   
and pursued their aim with a persistence
 of  zeal and a versatility of skill    
that could not fail to accomplish its   
purpose4 ,as soon as a sufficient       
increase of power enabled them to       
control the institutes of primary       
instruction they turned their chief     
attention to the dogmatical education of
 the young4 ,they derived no aid  from  
the attractiveness and still less from  
the plausibility of their  doctrine1 but
 they realized ,schopenhauer's remark   
that 8there is in  childhood a period   
measured by six1 or at most by ten      
years1 when any  well-inculcated dogma1 
no matter how extravagantly absurd1 is  
sure to  retain its hold for life40 ,and
 though the propagation of an unnatural 
creed is not favored by natural         
fertility1 the naturally barren         
doctrine of renunciation was thus       

successfully propagated by a system  of 
incessant grafting4 ,by the skilful     
application of that process the  most   
dissimilar plants were made subservient 
to its purpose4 ,the  8,worship of      
,sorrow0 with its whining renunciation  
of worldly  enjoyments1 and its         
indifference to health and physical     
education1 was  grafted on the manful   
naturalism of the ,hebrew law-giver4    
,saint-worship1 the veneration of       
self-torturing fanatics1 was grafted  on
 a stem of pagan mythology1 and dozens  
of ,christian martyrs have thus  usurped
 the honor and the sacrifices of pagan  
temples4 ,christian  holidays were      
grafted on the festivals of the         
nature-loving ,saxons4 ,but  persuasion 
failing1 the missionaries of the cross  
did not hesitate to  resort to more     
conclusive measures4 ,like refractory   
children cudgeled  along the path of    
knowledge1 the obstinate skeptics of    
northern ,europe  were harassed with    
fire and sword till they could not help 

admitting  the dangers of unbelief4 ,the
 garden-lands of the ,albigenses were   
wasted  till they found no difficulty in
 yearning for the peace of a better     
world4 ,philosophers were tortured in   
the prisons of the ,holy  ,inquisition  
till the sorrows of life favored the    
renunciation of its  hopes4    ,for     
thirteen centuries the sunshine of      
millions of human hearts was  ruthlessly
 sacrificed to promote the task of      
luring mankind from life  to ghost-land1
 and during all those ages education was
 systematically  turned from a blessing 
into an earth-blighting curse4          
,d4--,,penalties ,,of ,,neglect4        
,there is a story of a ,portuguese      
slave-dealer who carried a private      
chaplain on his pay-roll1 and frequently
 expressed his solicitude for  the      
spiritual welfare of his shackled       
captives4 ,a very similar kind of       
spiritual duty has for centuries been   
made the excuse for an almost  total    
neglect of secular education4 ,divorced 

from the control of common  sense1      
religion soon degenerated into mere     
ceremonialism4 ,a priest who  would     
travel twenty miles through a snow-storm
 to supply a dying man  with a          
consecrated wafer had no sympathy with  
the needs of the living4  ,he would     
extort the last penny of his tithes at  
the risk of starving a  village full of 
needy parishioners4 ,he would groan at  
the sight of an  unbaptized child1 but  
had not a drop of water to cool the     
brows of  burning ,moors or ,jews4 ,he  
would rave about the cruelty of a prince
 who  had deprived the clergy of their  
mass-shillings1 but had no ear for the  
laments of the exiled ,moriscos or the  
curses of starving serfs4    ,such was  
the morality which arrogated the right  
of suppressing that  system of physical 
and intellectual education which had    
filled the  homes of the ,mediterranean 
nations with all the blessings of       
health1  science1 and beauty4           
,theological training had failed to     

kindle the dawn  of a supernatural      
millennium1 but had thoroughly succeeded
 in  extinguishing the light of human   
reason4 ,not absolute ignorance only1   
but baneful superstition--worse than    
ignorance by just as much as poison  is 
worse than hunger--was for centuries the
 inevitable result of all  so-called    
school-training2 and the traditions of  
that age of  priest-rule have made      
religion almost a synonyme of cant4 ,it 
also gave  book-learning its supposed   
tendency to mental aberration4 ,can we  
wonder  at that result of an age when   
the literary products of ,christian     
,europe  were confined almost           
exclusively to ghost-stories and manuals
 of  ceremony8 ,can we wonder that      
delusions of the most preposterous kind 
assumed the virulence of epidemic       
diseases8 ,maniacs of self-mutilation1  
of epileptic contortions1 of were-wolf  
panics1 traversed ,europe from  end to  
end4 ,men gloried in ignorance1 and     
boasted their neglect of  worldly       

science till the consequences of that   
neglect avenged its folly  in actual    
madness4    ,the saddest of all the sad 
8it might have beens0 is1 perhaps1 a    
reverie  on the probable results of     
earlier emancipation--of the employment 
of  thirteen worse than wasted centuries
 in scientific inquiries1  agricultural 
improvements1 social and sanitary       
reforms4 ,we might have  failed to enter
 the portals of the ,new ,jerusalem1 but
 we would probably  have regained our   
earthly paradise4                       
,e4--,,reform4    ,the days of the ,holy
 ,inquisition are past2 but the restless
 propaganda  of ,jesuitry still shames  
the inactivity of ,rationalism4 ,our    
friends sit  listless1 relying on the   
theoretical advantages of their cause1  
while  the busy intrigues of our enemies
 secure them all practical advantages4  
,even in our model republic only primary
 education stands neutral1 while        
private enterprise has made nearly every
 higher college a stronghold of         

dogmatism4 ,and even the semi-secularism
 of primary instruction is more  than   
offset by the ultra-orthodoxy of        
8,sunday-schools40 ,millions of  factory
 children have to sacrifice their only  
day of leisure at the  bidding of their 
dogmatic task-master and with the timid 
connivance of  their parents4 8,we      
cannot row against the stream10 ,i have 
heard even  ,freethinkers say4 8,let the
 youngsters join the crowd2 if it does  
them  no good1 it can do no harm40 ,but 
it will do harm1 even beyond the waste  
of time and the wasted opportunities for
 health-giving exercise4 ,the  process  
of dogmatic inoculation may fail to     
serve its direct purpose1  but the      
weekly repetition of the experiment is  
sure to contaminate the  moral organism 
with unsound humors which may become    
virulent at  unexpected times and1      
likely enough1 undermine that very peace
 of the  household which a short-sighted
 mother hoped to promote by driving her 
boys to ,sunday-school1 as she would    

drive troublesome cattle to a  public   
pasture4    ,the ,freethinkers of every 
community should combine to engage a    
teacher1  or at least facilitate home   
instruction by collecting text-books of 
,secularism1 such as ,voltaire's        
8,philosophical ,cyclopedia20           
,rousseau's  8,emile20 ,hallam's        
8,history of the ,middle ,ages20        
,ingersoll's pamphlets2  ,paine's 8,age 
of ,reason20 ,lecky's 8,history of      
,rationalism0 and 8,history  of         
,morals20 ,lessing's 8,nathan20 ,goethe 
and ,schiller's 8,xenions20  ,darwin's  
8,descent of ,man20 ,plutarch's         
,biographies2 ,trelawney's 8,last  ,days
 of ,shelley and ,byron20 ,mc,donnell's 
,freethought novels2 ,parker            
,pillsbury's 8,review of ,sabbatarian   
,legislation20 ,reade's 8,martyrdom of  
,man20 ,bennett's 8,gods and ,religions 
of ,ancient and ,modern ,times20        
,gibbon's 8,history of ,christianity20  
,keeler's 8,short ,history of the       
,bible20 8,bible ,myths and ,their      

,parallels in ,other ,religions20       
8,supernatural ,religion20 ,greg's      
8,creed of ,christendom20 ,lord         
,amberley's  8,analysis of ,religious   
,belief20 8,religion ,not ,history40    
,we should have ,freethought colleges   
and ,secular missions1 and even         
isolated ,liberals might do better than 
8drift with the stream40 ,they  might   
let their children pass their ,sundays  
in the freedom of the  forests and      
mountains to worship the ,god of ,nature
 in his own temple1  and learn a lesson 
from the parental devotion of their dumb
  fellow-creatures4 ,she-wolves1        
deprived of their whelps1 have been     
known  to enter human habitations at    
night to suckle their young through the 
bars of a heavy cage4 ,thrushes and     
fly-catchers will enter an open  window 
to feed or rescue their captive         
nestlings1 and with a still  wider      
sympathy a ,liberal friend of mine tries
 to aid his neighbors'  children1 as    
well as his own4 ,renouncing the hope of

 abolishing  ,sabbatarianism1 he        
conceived the idea of controlling it1   
and induced  his neighbors to send their
 children to a 8,sunday ,garden0 with a 
free  museum of pictures and stuffed    
birds1 gymnastic contrivances1 and a    
little restaurant of free temperance    
refreshments--apples1 peanuts1 and      
lemonade4 ,he defrays the expenses of   
the establishment1 which his  neighbors 
consider a sort of modified             
kindergarten2 and under the name  of    
8,sunday books0 circulates a private    
library of purely secular  literature4  
8,if life shall have been duly          
rationalized by science10 says ,herbert 
,spencer1 8parents will learn to        
consider a sound physical constitution  
as an entailed estate1 which should be  
transmitted unimpaired1 if not          
improved20 and with a similar           
recognition of social obligations       
,freethinkers should endeavor to        
transmit to their children a bequest of 
unimpaired common sense4 ,loyalty to    

their ,protestant ancestors1 loyalty  to
 posterity1 and to the majesty of truth 
herself1 should prompt us to  stand     
bravely by our colors and train our     
children to continue the  struggle for  
light and independence4    ,by the      
far-reaching influence of education     
,secularists should bridge  the chasm   
which orthodoxy hopes to cross on the   
wings of faith4  ,secularism shall      
preach the gospel of immortality on     
earth4                                  
,,iv--,,objective ,,maxims4             
,,chapter ,,xvi4    ,,forest ,,culture4 
,a4--,,lessons ,,of ,,instinct4    ,it  
is wonderful how often instinct has     
anticipated the practical  lessons of   
science4 ,long before comparative       
anatomy taught us the  characteristics  
of our digestive organs the testimony of
 our natural  predilections indicated   
the advantages of a frugal diet4 ,long  
before  modern hygiene pointed out the  
perils of breathing the atmosphere of   
unventilated dormitories the evidence of

 our senses warned us against  the      
foulness of that atmosphere4 ,and ages  
before the researches of  agricultural  
chemistry began to reveal the protective
 influence of  arboreal vegetation1 an  
instinct which the child of civilization
 shares  with the rudest savage revolted
 against the reckless destruction of    
fine woodlands1 and sought to retrieve  
the loss by surrounding private  homes  
with groves and parks4 ,the love of     
forests is as natural to our  species as
 the love of rocks to the mountain-goat4
 ,trees and tree-shade  are associated  
with our traditions of paradise1 and    
that the cradle of  the human race was  
not a brick tenement or a wheat-farm1   
but a  tree-garden1 is one of the few   
points on which the genesis of ,darwin  
agrees with that of the ,pentateuch4    
,the happiest days of childhood  would  
lose half their charm without the       
witchery of woodland rambles1  and1 like
 an echo of the foreworld1 the instincts
 of our forest-born  ancestors often    

awake in the souls of their descendants4
 ,city children  are transported with   
delight at the first sight of a         
wood-covered  landscape1 and the        
evergreen arcades of a tropical forest  
would charm  the soul of a young        
,esquimaux as the ever-rolling waves of 
the ocean  would awaken the yearnings of
 a captive sea-bird4 ,the traveler      
,chamisso  mentions an interview with a 
poor ,yakoot1 a native of the ,north    
,siberian ice-coast1 who happened to get
 hold of an illustrated magazine  with a
 woodcut of a fine southern landscape3 a
 river-valley1 rocky  slopes rising     
toward a park-like lawn with a          
background of wooded  highlands4 ,with  
that journal on his knees the ,yakoot   
squatted down in  front of the          
traveler's tent1 and thus sat           
motionless1 hour after hour1            
contemplating the picture in silent     
rapture4 8,how would you like to  live  
in a country of that kind80 asked the   
professor4 ,the ,yakoot folded  his     

hands1 but continued his reverie4 8,i   
hope we shall go there if we  are good10
 said he at last1 with a sigh of deep   
emotion4    ,the importance of          
hereditary instincts can be often       
measured by the  degree of their        
persistence4 ,man is supposed to be a   
native of the  trans-,caucasian         
highlands--,armenia1 perhaps1 or the    
terrace-lands of the  ,hindookoosh4 ,yet
 agriculture has succeeded in developing
 a type of  human beings who would      
instinctively prefer a fertile plain to 
the  grandest highland paradise of the  
,east4 ,warfare has in like manner      
engendered an instinctive fondness for a
 life of perilous adventure1 as         
contrasted with the arcadian security of
 the ,golden ,age4 ,there are men  who  
prefer slavery to freedom1 and think    
pallor more attractive than  the glow of
 health1 but a millennium of            
unnaturalism has as yet failed  to      
develop a species of human beings who   
would instinctively prefer the          

dreariness of a treeless plain to the   
verdure of a primeval forest4           
,b4--,,rewards ,,of ,,conformity4       
,the love of forest-trees is a          
characteristic of the nature-abiding    
nations of the ,north1 and has rewarded 
itself by an almost complete  reversion 
of the original contrast between the    
garden lands of the  ,south and the     
inhospitable wilderness of the higher   
latitudes4 ,forest  destruction has     
turned ,southern ,europe into a desert1 
while the  preservation of forests has  
made the homes of the hyperborean       
hunters  an ,eden of beauty and         
fertility4 8,one-third to the hunter1   
two-thirds  to the husbandman10 was the 
rule of ,margrave ,philip in his        
distribution  of forest and fields1 and 
expresses the exact proportion which    
modern  science indicates as most       
favorable to the perennial fertility of 
our  farm-lands4 ,in a single century   
the forest-destroying ,spaniards turned 
many of their ,american colonies from   

gardens into sand-wastes1 while1  after 
fourteen hundred years of continuous    
cultivation1 the fields of  the         
,danubian ,valley are still as fertile  
as in the days of ,trajan and  ,tacitus4
 ,along the river-banks and half-way up 
the foot-hills the  arable land has been
 cleared1 but higher up the forest has  
been spared4  ,all the highlands from   
,ratisbon to ,buda-,pesth still form a  
continuous  mountain park of stately    
oaks and pines1 and1 as a consequence1  
springs  never fail2 crops are safe     
against winter floods and summer        
drouths2  song-birds still return to    
their birthland1 and reward their       
protectors  by the destruction of       
noxious insects2 meadows1 grain-fields1 
and  orchards produce their abundant    
harvest year after year2 famine is      
unknown1 and contagious diseases rarely 
assume an epidemic form4 ,in            
,switzerland and ,prussia the           
preservation of the now remaining       
woodlands  is guaranteed by strict      

protective laws2 ,scandinavia requires  
her  forest-owners to replant a certain 
portion of every larger clearing2 in    
,great ,britain the parks of the ancient
 mansions are protected like  sacred    
monuments of the past1 and landowners   
vie in lining their  field-trails with  
rows of shade-trees4 ,the fertility of  
those lands is  a constant surprise to  
the ,american traveler disposed to      
associate the  idea of eastern          
landscapes with the picture of worn-out 
fields4  ,surrounded by ,russian steppes
 and trans-,alpine deserts1 the homes of
  the ,germanic nations still form a    
,goshen of verdure and abundance4       
,forest protectors have not lost their  
earthly paradise4                       
,c4--,,perversion4    ,sixteen hundred  
years ago the highlands of the ,european
 continent were  still covered with a   
dense growth of primeval forests4 ,the  
healthfulness and fertility of the      
,mediterranean coastlands surpassed     
that of the most favored regions of the 

present world1 and the  dependence of   
those blessings on the preservation of  
the  spring-sheltering woodlands was    
clearly recognized by such writers as   
,pliny and ,columella1 though their own 
experience did not enable them to       
suspect all the ruinous consequences of 
that wholesale forest  destruction1     
which modern science has justly         
denounced as the ne plus  ultra folly of
 human improvidence4 ,practical         
experiments had1 however1  demonstrated 
such facts as the failing of springs on 
treeless slopes1  and the violence of   
winter floods in districts unprotected  
by  rain-absorbing forests1 and tree    
culture was practiced as a regular      
branch of rational husbandry4 ,but with 
the triumph of the ,galilean  church    
came the millennium of unnaturalism4    
,rational agriculture became  a         
tradition of the past2 the culture of   
secular science was fiercely  denounced 
from thousands of pulpits2 improvidence1
 8unworldliness10 and  superstitious    

reliance on the efficacy of prayer were 
systematically  inculcated as supreme   
virtues2 the cultivators of the soil    
were treated  like unclean beasts1 and  
for a series of centuries the garden    
regions  of the ,east were abandoned to 
the inevitable consequences of neglect  
and misculture4    ,millions of acres of
 fine forest lands passed into the hands
 of  ignorant priests1 who1 in their    
greed for immediate gain1 and their     
reckless indifference to the secular    
welfare of posterity1 doomed their      
trees to the ax1 entailing barrenness on
 regions favored by every  natural      
advantage of soil and climate4 ,drouths1
 famines1 and  locust-swarms failed to  
impress the protest of nature4 ,her     
enemies had  no concern with such       
worldly vanities as the study of        
climatic  vicissitudes1 and hoped to    
avert the consequences of their folly by
 an  appeal to the intercession of      
miracle-working saints4                 
,d4--,,penalties ,,of ,,neglect4    ,yet

 the saints failed to answer that       
appeal4 ,the outraged laws of  nature   
avenged themselves with the inexorable  
sequence of cause and  effect1 and in   
spite of all prayer-meetings the        
significance of their  crime against the
 fertility of their ,mother ,earth was  
brought home to  the experience of the  
ruthless destroyers4 ,in their net-work 
of moss  and leaves forests absorb the  
moisture of the atmosphere1 and thus    
nourish the springs which in their turn 
replenish the brooks and  rivers4 ,when 
the highlands of the ,mediterranean     
peninsulas had been  deprived of their  
woods the general failing of springs    
turned rivers  into shallow brooks1 and 
brook-valleys into arid ravines4 ,summer
 rains  became too scarce to support the
 vegetation of the farm lands2 the      
tillers of the soil had to resort to    
irrigation and eat their bread in  a    
harder and ever harder struggle for     
existence1 till vast areas of  once     
fertile lands had to be entirely        

abandoned1 and the arable  territory of 
this planet was yearly reduced by the   
growth of an  artificial desert4 ,and   
while the summer drouths became more    
severe1  winter floods became more      
frequent and destructive4 ,from the     
treeless  slopes of the ,mediterranean  
coastlands winter rains descended like  
waterfalls1 turning once placid rivers  
into raging torrents1 and  depriving the
 fields of their small remnant of       
fertile mould4 ,hillsides  which in the 
times of ,virgil had furnished pastures 
for thousands of  herds were thus       
reduced to a state of desolation almost 
as complete as  that of a volcanic      
cinder-field2 their dells choked with   
rock debris1  their terraces rent by a  
chaos of gullies and clefts1 while the  
soil1  swept from the highlands1 was    
accumulated in mudbanks near the mouth  
of  the river4 ,harbors once offering   
anchorage for the fleets of an empire   
became inaccessible from the            
ever-growing deposits of diluvium4      

,yearly  mud inundations engendered     
climatic diseases and all-pervading gnat
  swarms4 ,insectivorous birds1 deprived
 of their nest shelter1 emigrated  to   
less inhospitable lands1 and the scant  
produce of tillage had to be  shared    
with ever-multiplying legions of        
destructive insects4 ,along the  south  
coasts of ,italy the shore-hills for    
hundreds of miles present the  same     
dreary aspect of monotonous barrenness4 
,greece is a naked rock2  forests have  
almost disappeared from the plains of   
,spain and ,asia  ,minor2 in northern   
,africa millions of square miles1 once  
teeming with  cities and castles1 have  
been reduced to a state of hopeless     
aridity4  ,the ,mediterranean1 once a   
forest-lake of paradise1 has become a   
,dead  ,sea1 surrounded by barren rocks1
 and sandy or dust clouded plains4      
,according to a careful comparison of   
the extant data of statistical          
computations1 the population of the     
territory once comprised under the      

jurisdiction of the ,csars has thus been
 reduced from #bij1jjj1jjj to  less than
 #hj1jjj1jjj1 i4e41 from a hundred to   
less than thirty per  cent4 ,in other   
words1 an average of seventy-eight in a 
hundred human  beings have been starved 
out of existence1 and the same area of  
ground  which once supported a          
flourishing village1 at present almost  
fails to  satisfy the hunger of a small 
family4 ,for we must not forget that    
modern industry has devised methods of  
subsistence undreamed of by the  nations
 of antiquity1 and that the religion of 
resignation has taught  millions to     
endure degrees of wretchedness which    
nine out of ten pagans  would have      
refused to prefer to the alternative of 
self-destruction4 ,a  whole tenement of 
priest-ridden lazaronis now contrive to 
eke out a  subsistence on a pittance    
which a citizen of ancient ,rome would  
have  been too proud to ask a woman to  
share2 yet with all their talent for    
surviving under conditions of soul and  

body degrading distress1 only  eight    
children of the ,mediterranean          
coastlands can now wring a sickly       
subsistence from the same area of soil  
which once sufficed to supply           
twenty-nine men with all the blessings  
of health and abundance4                
,e4--,,reform4    ,the discovery of two 
new continents has respited the doomed  
nations of  the ,old ,world1 but the    
rapid colonization of those land        
supplements  will soon reduce mankind to
 the alternative of tree-culture or     
emigration to the charity-farm of the   
,new ,jerusalem4 ,in the words of a     
great ,german naturalist1 8,we shall    
have to work the world over again40  ,on
 a small scale the practicability of    
that plan has already been  conclusively
 demonstrated4 ,by tree-culture alone   
arid sand-wastes have  been restored to 
something like tolerable fertility1 if  
not to anything  approaching their      
pristine productiveness4 ,in the lower  
valley of the  ,nile 7the ancient       

,thebad7 ,ibrahim ,pasha set out        
thirty-five million  ,circassian        
forest-trees1 of which one-third at     
least took root1 and by  their growth   
not only reclaimed the sterility of the 
soil but increased  the average annual  
rainfall from four to fifteen inches4   
,in the ,landes  of western ,france a   
large tract of land has been reclaimed  
from the  inroads of the coast sand by  
lining the dunes with a thick belt of   
trees1 and some fifteen hundred square  
miles of once worthless fields  have    
thus been restored to a high degree of  
productiveness4 ,in the  ,austrian      
,karst1 a sterile plateau of limestone  
cliffs and caves has  been dotted with  
groves till the valleys have been       
refreshed with the  water of            
resuscitated springs2 and pasture-lands1
 long too impoverished  even for the    
sustenance of mountain goats1 once more 
are covered with  herds of thriving     
cattle4    ,the experience of the next  
three or four generations will not fail 

to  make every intelligent farmer a     
tree-planter4 ,our barren fields will be
  turned into pine plantations1 every   
public highway will be lined with       
shade-trees4 ,the communities of the    
next century will vie in the            
consecration of township groves1 in the 
founding of forestry clubs1 in  the     
celebration of arbor days and woodland  
festivals4 ,the barren  table-lands of  
our central states will be reclaimed1   
and before the end  of the twentieth    
century the work of redemption will be  
extended to the  great deserts of the   
,eastern continents4 ,and as a hundred  
years ago  armies of tree-fellers were  
busy wresting land from the primeval    
forest1 in a hundred years more armies  
of tree-planters will be busy  wresting 
land from the desert4 ,the men that will
 8work the world over  again0 will not  
be apt to forget the terms of their     
second lease4    ,in turning up the soil
 of the reclaimed desert they will      
unearth the  foundations of buried      

temples1 temples once sacred to the     
worship of  gods whose prophets drenched
 the world with blood to enforce the    
observance of circumcision rites1 wafer 
rites1 and immersion rites1 and  filled 
their scriptures with minute            
instructions for the ordinances of      
priests and the mumbling of prescribed  
prayers4 ,in musing over the  ruins of  
such temples1 the children of the future
 will have a chance  for many profitable
 meditations--the reflection1 for       
instance3 ,from what  mistakes those    
alleged saviors might have saved the    
world if their  voluminous gospels had  
devoted a single page to an injunction  
against  the earth-desolating folly of  
forest-destruction6                     
,,chapter ,,xvii4    ,,recreation4      
,a4--,,lessons ,,of ,,instinct4    ,the 
indoor occupations of civilized life    
imply the necessity of  providing       
artificial substitutes for the          
opportunities of physical  exercise1    
which men in a state of nature can find 

abundantly in the  course of such       
healthful pursuits as hunting1 fishing1 
and primitive  agriculture4 ,for similar
 reasons civilization ought to          
compensate the  lost chance of outdoor  
sports which only the favorites of      
fortune can  afford to combine with the 
exigencies of city life4 ,to the        
children of  nature life is a festival2 
outdoor recreations1 exciting sports1   
offer  themselves freely and frequently 
enough to dispense with artificial      
supplements2 but the dreariness of      
workshop life makes those  substitutes a
 moral as well as physical necessity4   
,under the influence  of unalloyed      
drudgery the human soul withers like a  
plant in a sunless  cave1 and weariness 
of heart reacts on the body in a way    
analogous to  the health-undermining    
effect of sorrow and repeated           
disappointment4 ,to  the unbiased       
judgment of our pagan forefathers the   
necessity of  providing city dwellers   
with opportunities for public recreation

  appeared1 indeed1 as evident as the   
necessity of counteracting the  rigors  
of the higher latitudes with            
contrivances for a supply of  artificial
 warmth4 ,the cities of ancient ,greece 
had weekly and monthly  festivals1      
besides the yearly reunions of competing
 athletes and  artists1 and once in four
 years the champions of the land met to 
contest the prize of national supremacy 
in the presence of assembled  millions4 
,hostilities1 even during the crisis of 
civil war1 were  suspended to insure    
free access to the plains of ,corinth1  
where the  ,olympic ,games were         
celebrated with a regularity that made  
their period  the basis of chronological
 computation for a space of nearly eight
  hundred years4 ,when ,rome became the 
capital of the world1 the yearly        
disbursements for the subvention of free
 public recreations equaled the  tribute
 of a wealthy province4 ,there were free
 race courses1 gymnasia1  music halls1  
and wrestling-ring2 free public baths   

and magnificent  amphitheaters for the  
exhibition of free dramatic             
performances1  gladiatorial combats1 and
 curiosities of art and natural history4
 ,every  proconsul of a foreign province
 was instructed to collect wild animals 
and specimens of rare birds and         
reptiles2 every triumphator devoted a   
portion of his spoils to a celebration  
of free circenses--8circus  games0--by  
no means limited to the mutual slaughter
 of prize fighters1  but including horse
 races1 concerts1 trials of skill1 and  
new arts4 ,it  would be a mistake to    
suppose that the liberality of such     
establishments offered a premium on     
idleness4 ,the immense increase of  the 
metropolitan population justified the   
constant extension of that  liberality1 
but even after the erection of permanent
 amphitheaters the  vigilance of public 
censors discouraged mendicancy2 the     
complaints of  wives1 creditors1 and    
landlords against habitual idlers were  
made the  basis of penal proceedings1   

and from the total appropriations for   
the  support of free municipal          
institutions the overseers of the poor  
deducted considerable sums for purposes 
of public charity4    ,nor did the      
citizens of the metropolis monopolize   
the privilege of free  public           
amusements4 ,at the time of the         
,antonines not less than fifty  cities  
of ,italy alone had amphitheaters of    
their own1 and the smallest  hamlet had 
at least a palaestra1 where the local   
champions met every  evening for a trial
 of strength and skill4                 
,b4--,,rewards ,,of ,,conformity4       
,the alternation of day and night should
 reveal the truth that nature is  averse
 to permanent gloom4 ,sunlight is a     
primary condition of all  nobler life1  
and only ignorance or basest selfishness
 can doom a child  of earth to the      
misery of toil uncheered by the sun-rays
 of recreation4  ,for even enlightened  
selfishness would recognize the         
advantages of the  pagan plan4 ,the     

passions of personal ambition burnt then
 as fiercely as  now1 but the ,roman    
world-conquerors thought it wiser1 as   
well as  nobler1 to share their spoils  
with the soldiers who had fought their  
battles1 with the workmen who had reared
 their castles1 with the  neighbors who 
had witnessed their triumphs4 ,the very 
slaves of ,greece  and ,rome were       
indulged in periodic enjoyments of all  
the luxuries  fortune had bestowed upon 
their masters2 at the end of the        
working-day  menials and artisans forgot
 their toil amidst the wonders of the   
amphitheater1 and neither their work nor
 their work-givers were the  worse for  
it4 ,the promise of the evening cheered 
the labors of the day2  minds frequently
 unbent by the relaxation of diverting  
pastimes were  less apt to break under  
the strain of toil1 less liable to yield
 to the  temptation of despondency1     
envy1 and despair4    ,during the last  
four weeks of his ,egyptian campaign    
,napoleon relieved  the tedium of       

camp-life by a series of athletic games 
and horse-races1  and thus succeeded in 
sustaining the spirit of his troops     
under  hardships which at first         
threatened to demoralize even his       
veterans4  ,for similar purposes and    
with similar success1 ,marshal ,saxe    
indulged  his men in a variety of       
exciting sports1 and ,captain ,kane     
found  dramatic entertainments the best 
prophylactic against the influence of  a
 monotonous diet combined with an       
average temperature of fifty degrees    
below zero4 ,captain ,burton ascribes   
the longevity of the nomadic ,arabs  to 
their habit of passing their evenings as
 cheerfully as their stock  of          
provisions and anecdotes will permit1   
and it is a suggestive  circumstance    
that the joy-loving aristocracy of      
medieval ,france could  boast a         
surprising number of octogenarians1 and 
that the gay capitals  of modern        
,europe1 with all their vices1 enjoy a  
better chance of  longevity than the    

dull provincial towns4                  
,c4--,,perversion4    ,the superstition 
which dooms its votaries to a worship of
 sorrow has  for centuries treated      
pleasure and sin as synonymous terms4   
,in the era  of the ,csars the          
licentious passions of a large          
metropolis gave that  asceticism a      
specious pretext2 but its true purpose  
was soon after  revealed by the         
suppression of rustic pastimes1 of      
athletic sports1 and  at last1 even of  
the classic festival which for centuries
 had assembled  the champions of the    
,mediterranean nations on the isthmus of
 ,corinth4  ,with a similar rancor of   
bigoted intolerance the ,puritans       
suppressed  the sports of 8merry old    
,england10 and their fanatical protests 
against  the most harmless amusements   
would be utterly incomprehensible if the
  secret of ,christian asceticism had   
not been unriddled by the study of  the 
,buddhistic parent-dogma4 ,the doctrine 
which the apostle of ,galilee  thought  

it wisest to veil in parables and       
metaphors1 the ,indian messiah  of      
anti-naturalism reveals in its ghastly  
nakedness as an attempt to  wean the    
hearts of mankind from their earth-born 
loves and reconcile  them to the        
alternative of                          
annihilation--8,nirvana0--the only      
refuge from  the delusions of a life    
outweighing a single joy by a hundred   
sorrows4  ,not life only1 but the very  
instincts of life were to be suppressed1
 to  prevent their revival in new forms 
of re-birth2 and in pursuit of that     
plan the prophet of ,nepaul does not    
hesitate to warn his disciples  against 
sleeping twice under the same tree1 to  
lessen the chance of  undue fondness for
 any earthly object whatever4 ,the      
indulgements of  life-endearing desires1
 that creed denounced as the height of  
folly and  recommended absolute         
abstinence from physical enjoyments as  
the  shortest path to the goal of       
redemption4 ,in its practical           

consequences1  if not in its theoretical
 significances1 the same principle      
asserts  itself in the doctrine of the  
,new ,testament1 and justified the dread
 of  the life-loving pagans in realizing
 the stealthy growth of the ,galilean   
church1 and anticipating the ultimate   
consequences of that gospel of          
renunciation whose ideal of perfection  
was the other-worldliness of an         
earth-despising fanatic4 ,more or less  
consciously1 the suppression of  earthly
 desires has always been pursued as the 
chief aim of ,christian  dogmatism2 the 
8world0 has ever been the antithesis of 
the ,christian  kingdom of ,god1 the    
8flesh0 the irreconcilable antagonist of
 the  regenerate soul4 ,hence that      
rancorous fury against the 8worldliness0
 of  naturalism1 against the pagan      
worship of joy1 against the modern      
revivals of that worship4 ,hence the    
grief of those 8whining saints who      
groaned in spirit at the sight of ,jack 
in the ,green20 hence the crusade       

against ,easter-fires1 ,may-poles1      
foot-races1 country excursions1         
round-dances1 and picnics2 hence the    
anathemas against the athletic  sports  
of ancient ,greece and the              
entertainments of the modern theater4   
,d4--,,penalties ,,of ,,neglect4        
,wherever the fanatics of the ,galilean 
church have trampled the flowers  of    
earth1 the wasted gardens have been     
covered with a rank thicket of  weeds4  
,outlawed freedom has given way to the  
caprice of despots and the  license of  
crime2 outraged common sense has yielded
 to the vagaries of  superstition2 the  
suppression of healthful recreation has 
avenged  itself in the riots of secret  
vice4 ,the history of alcoholism proves 
that every revival of asceticism has    
been followed by an increase of         
intemperance1 as inevitably as the      
obstruction of a natural river-bed      
would be followed by an inundation4     
,when the convent-slaves of the  ,middle
 ,ages had been deprived of every chance

 of devoting a leisure  hour to more    
healthful recreations1 neither the rigor
 of their vows nor  the bigotry of their
 creed could prevent them from drowning 
their  misery in wine4 ,when the        
,puritans of the seventeenth century had
 turned  ,scotland into an ecclesiastic 
penitentiary1 the burghers of the       
,sabbath-stricken towns sought refuge in
 the dreamland of intoxication4  ,the   
experience of many centuries has1       
indeed1 forced the priesthood of        
southern ,europe to tolerate ,sunday    
recreations as a minor evil4 ,in  ,spain
 the bull-rings of the larger cities    
open every ,sunday at #b ,p4,m4  ,in    
,italy the patronage of ,sunday         
excursions and ,sunday theaters is      
limited only by the financial resources 
of their patrons4 ,in ,france  ,sunday  
is by large odds the gayest day in the  
week4 ,in the large cities  of ,islam   
the muftis connive at ,sunday dances and
 ,sunday horse-races2  and as a         
consequence a much less pardonable abuse

 of holidays is far  rarer in southern  
,europe than in the cities of the       
,sabbatarian north1  the consumption of 
,sunday intoxicants being larger in     
,great ,britain  than in ,france1       
,austria1 ,spain1 ,portugal1 and ,italy 
taken together4  ,climatic causes may   
have their share in effecting that      
difference2  another cause was revealed 
when the followers of ,ibn ,hanbal      
attempted  to enforce the asceticism of 
their master upon the citizens of       
,bagdad4  ,ibn ,hanbal1 the ,mohammedan 
,hudibras1 used to travel from village  
to  village1 with a horde of bigots1    
breaking up dance-houses1 upsetting  the
 tables of the confectionery pedlers1   
pelting flower-girls1 and  thrashing    
musicians1 and when the revolt of a     
provincial city resulted  in the death  
of the 8reformer10 his fanatical        
followers assembled their               
fellow-converts from all parts of the   
country1 and raided town after  town1   
till they at last forced their way into 

the capital of the  caliphate4 ,the     
recklessness of their zeal overcame all 
resistance1 but  the completeness of    
their triumph led to a rather unexpected
 result4  ,every play-house of the      
metropolis was not only closed1 but     
utterly  demolished2 musicians were     
jailed2 dance-girls were left to choose 
between instant flight and crucifixion2 
showmen were banished from all  public  
streets2 but the dwellings of private   
citizens were less easy to  control1 and
 those private citizens before long     
evinced a passionate  and               
ever-increasing fondness for            
intoxicating drinks4 ,elders of the     
mosque were seen wallowing in their     
gutters1 howling blasphemies that  would
 have appalled the heart of the toughest
 ,giaour2 dignitaries of  the green     
turban staggered along under the weight 
of a wine-skin1 or  waltzed about in    
imitation of the exiled ballet          
performers4 ,the  ,hanbalites convoked  
tri-weekly1 and at last daily1          

prayer-meetings1 but  things went from  
bad to worse1 till a counter-revolution 
finally  restored the authority of the  
old city government1 and the flight of  
the fanatics was attended with a prompt 
decrease both of spiritual and          
spirituous excesses4                    
,e4--,,reform4    ,the predictions of   
our latter-day augurs would seem to     
indicate that  the civilization of the  
,caucasian race is drifting toward      
,socialism2  but a modern philosopher   
reminds us that 8a reform1 however      
great1 is  apt to come out in a         
different shape from that predicted by  
the  reformers40 ,the citizens of the   
coming republic will probably waive     
their claim to free government          
lunch-houses and similar 8establishments
  for preventing the natural penalties  
of idleness10 but they will most        
decidedly protest against government    
interference with the legitimate        
rewards of industry4 ,even now1 few sane
 persons can realize the degree  of     

ignorance that enabled the clergy of the
 ,middle ,ages to fatten on  the        
proceeds of witchcraft trials and       
heretic hunts1 and the time may  be near
 when our children will find it         
difficult to conceive the degree  of    
infatuation that could induce their     
forefathers to sacrifice their  weekly  
leisure-day at the bidding of brainless 
and heartless bigots4  ,drudgery will   
perhaps continue the hard task-master of
 the  working-week2 but the ,sundays of 
the future will be as free as the  light
 of their sun4                          
,,chapter ,,xviii4    ,,domestic        
,,reform4      ,a4--,,lessons ,,of      
,,instinct4    ,in the nest-building    
propensity of the social insects the    
biologist can  recognize the first germ 
of the instinctive desire for the       
establishment of a permanent home4      
,certain birds1 like the  weaver-thrush 
of the tropics1 imitate the community   
life of the ant and  bee1 but in all    
higher animals the homestead instinct is

 associated  with the desire for        
domestic privacy4 ,the eagle will suffer
 no other  bird to approach the rock    
that shelters his eyrie2 the hawk1 the  
heron1  and the kingfisher rear their   
brood at the greatest possible distance 
from the nesting-place of their next    
relatives4 ,each pair of squirrels  try 
to get a tree all to themselves2 and    
even the social prairie-dog  shares its 
home with strangers 7owls and serpents7 
rather than with  another family of its 
own tribe4 ,the 8homestead instinct0 of 
our  primitive forefathers formed the   
first1 and perhaps the most potent1     
stimulus to the acquisition of personal 
property4 ,there is a period in  life   
when the desire for the possession of a 
private domicile asserts  itself with   
the power almost of a vital passion2 and
 success in the  realization of that    
desire solves in many respects the chief
 problems  of individual existence4 ,the
 love of domestic peace1 the delight in 
the  improvement of a private homestead1

 are the best guarantees of staid       
habits4 ,there was a time when the      
neglect of husbandry was considered a   
conclusive proof of profligate habits2  
and the office of a ,roman censor       
comprised the duty of reproving careless
 housekeepers4 ,the poorest  citizen of 
the ,roman commonwealth had a little    
patrimonium of his own1  a              
dwelling-house1 an orchard1 and a small 
lot of land1 which he did his  best to  
improve1 and where his children learned 
their first lesson of  personal rights  
in defense of their private playgrounds4
    ,the ruins of ,pompeii show that the
 civilization of the ,mediterranean     
coast-lands had anticipated the         
conclusion of our sanitarian reformers1 
who recommend the advantage of          
cottage-suburbs as a remedy for the     
horrors of tenement life4 ,between the  
acropolis and the seaside villas  the   
town forms an aggregation of small      
dwelling-houses1 mostly  one-story1 but 
each with a private yard 7probably a    

little garden7 or a  wide portico1 with 
bath-room and private gymnasiums4 ,and  
though the  ancients were well          
acquainted with the manufacture of      
glass1 their  dwelling-houses were      
lighted by mere lattice-windows1        
excluding rain  and the glare of the    
sun1 but freely admitting every breeze1 
and thus  solving the problem of        
ventilation in the simplest and most    
effective  manner4 ,the dwellings of our
 ,saxon forefathers1 too1 resembled the 
log-cabins of the ,kentucky backwoods1  
and admitted fresh air so freely  that  
the large family-hearth could dispense  
with a chimney1 and vented  its smoke   
through the open eaves of the roof4 ,in 
the palaces of the  ,roman patricians   
there were special winter-rooms1 with a 
smoke-flue  resembling a narrow alcove2 
but even there1 ventilation was insured 
by  numerous lattice doors1             
communicating with as many balconies or 
terrace  roofs4          ,b4--,,rewards 
,,of ,,conformity4    ,the evolution of 

all hereditary instincts has been       
explained by the  8survival of the      
fittest10 and the instinct of           
homestead-love has  doubtlessly been    
developed in the same way4 ,the results 
of its  predominance prevailed against  
the results of its absence4 ,defensive  
love of a private 8hearth and home0 is  
the basis of patriotism1 so             
unmistakably1 indeed1 that the fathers  
of the ,roman republic for  centuries   
refused to employ foreign mercenaries1  
who had no personal  interest in the    
defense of the soil4 ,as a modern       
humorist has cleverly  expressed it3    
8,few men have been patriotic enough to 
shoulder a musket  in defense of a      
boarding-house40 ,and the golden age of 
civic virtues is  almost limited to the 
time when every free citizen of ,greece 
and ,rome  was a landowner4    ,nor     
would it be easy to overrate the        
subjective advantages of  home-life4    
,health1 happiness1 and longevity have  
no more insidious foe  than the         

canker-worm of vexation2 and for the    
unavoidable  disappointments of social  
life there is no more effective specific
 than  the peace of a prosperous private
 homestead1 soothing the mind with      
evidences of success in the growth of a 
promising orchard1 in the  increase and 
improvement of domestic animals1 in the 
happiness of merry  children and        
contented dependents4 ,xenophon1 after  
proving the  excitements of an          
adventurous life by land and sea1 found 
a truer  happiness in the solitude of   
his ,arcadian hunting-lodge4 ,felix     
,sylla1  ,fortune's most constant       
favorite1 abandoned the throne of a     
mighty  empire to enjoy the frugal fare 
of a small hill-farm4 ,voltaire1 worn   
out by the trials of a fifty years'     
life-and-death struggle against the     
rancor of bigots1 recovered his health  
and his peace of mind amidst the        
pear-tree plantations of ,villa ,ferney4
    ,in the resources of medicine and   
scientific surgery the ancients were    

far behind even the half-civilized      
nations of modern times1 but their      
children could enjoy their holidays on  
their own playground1 their  sleepers   
could breathe pure air1 their worn-out  
laborers could retire  to the peace of a
 private home2 and they enjoyed a degree
 of health and  vigor which our most    
progressive nations can hope to         
re-attain only  after centuries of      
sanitary reform4                        
,c4--,,perversion4    ,the germ of the  
ignoble patience which submits to the   
miseries of  modern tenement-life1 and  
learns to prefer the fetor of a crowded 
slum-alley to the free air of the woods 
and fields1 can be traced to  the       
voluntary prison-life of the first      
,christian monasteries4 ,with all  the  
gregariousness of the ,african race1 the
 very slaves of our ,american           
plantations preferred to avoid quarrels 
and constraint by building a  separate  
cabin for the use of each family2 but   
the ethics of the  ,galilean church     

recognized no privilege of personal     
rights2 the  sympathies of family-life  
were crushed out by the enforcement of  
celibacy2 every symptom of              
self-assertion was denounced as a revolt
  against the duty of passive           
subordination2 the very instincts of    
individuality were systematically       
suppressed to make each convert a       
whining1 emasculated1 self-despising1   
and world-renouncing 8member of  the    
church of ,christ40 ,the mortification  
of the body being the chief  object of  
monastic seclusion1 the hygienic        
architecture of convent  buildings was  
considered a matter of such absolute    
unimportance that  many of the cells    
7dormitories7 had no windows at all1 but
 merely a  door communicating with an   
ill-ventilated gallery1 after the plan  
of  our old-style prisons4 ,eight feet  
by ten1 and eight high1 were the  usual 
dimensions of those man-pens2 and that  
utter indifference to the  physical     
health of the inmates was but rarely    

seconded by a view to the  advantages of
 private meditation is proved by the    
circumstance that the  convent-slaves of
 the eastern church 7in the ,byzantine  
empire1 for  instance7 were not often   
permitted to enjoy the privacy of their 
wretched dens2 their dormitories were   
packed like the bunks of a  ,portuguese 
slave-ship1 and the word ,syncellus     
7cell-mate7 is used as a  cognomen of   
numerous ecclesiastics4 ,the abbot1 and 
in less ascetic  centuries perhaps the  
learned clerks 7legend-writers1 etc471  
were the  only members of a monastic    
community who could ever rely on the    
privacy  of a single hour4 ,for the     
admitted purpose of mortifying their    
love of  physical comforts1 the weary   
sleepers1 worn-out with penance and     
hunger1 were summoned to prayer in the  
middle of the night1 or sent out  on    
begging expeditions in the roughest     
weather4 ,every vestige of  furniture or
 clothing apt to mitigate the dreariness
 of discomfort was  banished from their 

cells2 they suffered all the hardships  
without  enjoying the peace and security
 of a hermit's home2 novices 7on        
probation71 and even the pupils of the  
convent-schools1 were submitted  to a   
similar discipline1 and thus monasticism
 became the  training-school of modern  
tenement-life4    ,during the latter    
half of the ,middle ,ages1 feudalism    
found an  additional motive for         
suppressing the love of domestic        
independence4  ,the church usurers and  
aristocrats monopolized real estate1 and
 made it  more and more difficult1 even 
for the most industrious of their       
dependants1 to acquire a share of landed
 property4 ,every feudal lord  secured  
his control over his serfs by crowding  
them together in a small  village       
7literally an abode of villains1 i4e41  
of vile pariahs71 where  his            
slave-drivers could at any time rally   
them for an extra job of  socage duty4  
,the incessant raids of mail-clad       
highway-robbers--robber  knights and    

marauding partisans--obliged all        
peace-loving freemen to  congregate for 
mutual protection and rear their        
children in the stone  prisons of an    
over-crowded burgh4 ,the suppression of 
all natural  sciences1 including the    
science of health1 aggravated the evil  
by a  persistent neglect of such partial
 remedies as disinfectants and          
artificial ventilation4 ,the home of a  
medieval artisan combined all the       
disadvantages of a jail and a           
pest-house4    ,the revolt against      
feudalism has at last broken the        
stone-fetters of  our larger cities2    
city walls have been turned into        
promenades1 and  convents into          
store-houses or lunatic asylums2 but the
 spirit of  monasticism still survives2 
indifference to the blessings of health 
and  domestic independence seems to have
 acquired the strength of a second      
nature1 and thousands of our modern     
factory slaves actually prefer  their   
slum-prisons to the freedom of a cheaper

 suburban home4                         
,d4--,,penalties ,,of ,,neglect4        
,nature rarely fails to avenge the      
violation of her laws1 but it might  be 
doubted if the perversion of any other  
natural instinct has entailed  more     
numerous or direr penalties than our    
habitual outrages against the  instinct 
of home-life4 ,the monstrosities of our 
tenement system1 by a  moderate         
estimate1 cost on the average every year
 the lives of  #a1ejj1jjj children under
 ten years of age 7in ,europe and ,north
  ,america71 and of #a1bjj1jjj          
consumptives1 besides thousands of      
victims  to epidemic disorders1         
aggravated1 if not engendered1 by the   
influence  of vitiated air4 ,habitual   
intemperance1 too1 has undoubtedly been 
increased by the dearth of              
home-comforts4 ,our factory-laborers1   
our  mechanics1 and thousands of        
students and young clerks1 spend their  
evenings in riot1 because the man-trap  
of the lowest grog-shop is1  after all1 

less unattractive than the dungeon of a 
stifling tenement  home4 ,in many of our
 larger cities similar causes have led  
to a  constant increase of a manner of  
existence which a modern reformer  calls
 the 8celibacy of vice40 ,but the       
decreasing demand for independent  homes
 is not the only cause of the decreased 
supply1 and the heartless  selfishness  
of our wealthy land-gluttons has        
provoked a form of  nihilism which      
threatens to shake1 if not to subvert1  
the very  foundations of social life4   
,e4--,,reform4    ,that latter danger   
seems1 at last1 to have awakened our    
political  economists to the necessity  
of redressing a many-sided abuse1 and   
the  failure of earlier reform projects 
has at least helped to emphasize the    
demand for more adequate remedies4 ,the 
traffic in human life in the  floating  
hells of the ,african slave-traders     
hardly called for more  stringent       
repressive measures than the inhumanity 
of our tenement  speculators who fatten 

on the profits of a system propagating  
the  infallible seeds of pulmonary      
consumption1 and sacrificing the lives  
of  more children than the superstition 
of the dark ages ever doomed to the     
altars of ,moloch4 ,even in a country   
where the jealousy of personal  rights  
would hardly countenance legislative    
interference with the  construction of  
private dwelling-houses1 the license of 
tenement-owners  ought to be            
circumscribed by the conditions of ,dr4 
,paul ,boettger's  rule1 providing for  
appropriation of a certain number of    
cubic feet of  breathing space1 and     
square feet of window1 front1 and garden
 7or  play-ground7 room for each tenant 
or family of tenants4 ,the abuse of     
sub-renting could be limited by similar 
provisions1 and the adoption of  the    
separate cottage plan should be promoted
 by the reduction of  municipal         
passenger tariffs and suburban taxes4   
,the plan of equalizing the burden of   
taxation and the opportunities of  land 

tenure by a general confiscation and    
redistribution of real estate  might    
recommend itself as a last resort1      
though hardly in preference to  the     
project of ,fedor ,bakunin1 the         
8,russian ,mirabeau10 who proposed to   
found new communities under a charter1  
reserving the tenth part of all         
building lots for communal purposes1 and
 lease the tenant-right to the  highest 
bidder4 ,the value of those reserve lots
 would increase with the  growth of the 
town1 and by renewing their lease from  
ten to ten years1  the rent could be    
made to cover the budget of all direct  
municipal  expenses1 and leave a fair   
surplus for charitable and educational  
purposes4 ,in comparison with the       
confiscation plan1 that project could   
claim all the advantages which make     
prevention preferable to a drastic      
cure4    ,as a check to the evils of    
land monopoly the least objectionable   
plan  would seem to be ,professor ,de   
,graaf's proposition of a graded system 

of  real estate taxation1 increasing the
 rate of tallage with each multiple  of 
a fair homestead lot1 and thus taxing a 
land-shark for the privilege  of        
acquisition1 as well as for the actual  
possession1 of an immoderate  estate4   
,the art of making home-life pleasant   
will yet prove the most effective       
specific in the list of temperance      
remedies1 and will aid the apostles  of 
,secularism in that work of redemption  
which the gospel of  renunciation has   
failed to achieve4                      
,,chapter ,,xix4    ,,legislative       
,,reform4      ,a4--,,lessons ,,of      
,,instinct4    ,progress is a general   
law of ,nature1 and the comparative     
study of  ,evolution proves that the    
tendency to improvement increases with  
the  advance to higher planes of        
development4 ,among the lowest organisms
 the  rate of progress is hardly        
appreciable4 ,the sea shells of the     
,devonian  period can scarcely be       
distinguished from the shells of our    

present  seas4 ,the balls of amber found
 on the shores of the ,baltic often     
contain the mummies of insects closely  
resembling certain species of           
latter-day flies and beetles1 while the 
horse1 the zebra1 and other  modern     
varieties of the equine genus1 have     
developed from a creature  not much     
larger than a fox4 ,the ,neanderthal    
skull proves that the heads  of our     
early ancestors were almost ape-like in 
their protruding jaws  and flatness of  
cranium4 ,the lower animals adhere to   
inherited habits  with a persistency    
that has often proved their ruin by     
diminishing  their ability of adapting  
themselves to change of circumstances1  
as in  the case of that sea-lizard of   
the ,south sea islands1 where its       
ancestors had for ages managed to escape
 their only enemies by leaving  the     
water and crawling up the beach1 and    
where their modern descendants  persist 
in crawling landward in the hope of     
escaping from dogs and  hunters4    ,the

 higher animals1 on the other hand1     
rarely fail to profit by lessons  of    
experience4 ,trappers know that the     
contrivances for capturing wild  animals
 have to be changed from time to time1  
the older methods being  apt to lose    
their efficacy after the fate of a      
certain number of  victims has warned   
their relatives4 ,old rats have been    
seen driving  their young from a dish of
 arsenic-poisoned gruel4 ,deer1 foxes1  
and  wild turkeys learn to avoid the    
favorite trails of the hunter2 monkeys1 
on their first arrival in a cold        
climate1 impatiently tear off the       
jackets or shawls furnished by the      
kindness of their keeper1 but soon      
learn to appreciate the advantage of    
artificial teguments1 and even try  to  
increase their stock of wardrobe by     
appropriating every stray piece  of     
cloth they can lay their hands on4      
,the instinct of adaptation to the      
conditions of progress has asserted     
itself both among modern and very       

ancient nations1 though during the      
mental bondage of the ,middle ,ages its 
manifestations were  systematically     
suppressed by the conservatism of       
religious bigots4  ,savages show an     
almost apish eagerness in adopting the  
habits1  fashions1 and foibles of       
civilization4 ,the political            
institutions of  primitive nations are  
very elastic4 ,the ,grecian republics   
were not only  willing but anxious to   
improve their laws by abolishing abuses 
and  testing amendments4 ,in ancient    
,rome every general assembly of freemen 
exercised the functions of a legislative
 council2 legislative reforms  were     
proposed by private citizens and were   
often carried by  acclamation1 like the 
edict for the expulsion of the          
,tarquins1 and the  resolution revoking 
the exile of ,cicero4                   
,b4--,,rewards ,,of ,,conformity4       
,legislative reform1 the manful         
renunciation of entangling alliances    
with the ghosts of the past1 is a sword 

that has more than once cut a  ,gordian 
knot of fatal complications4 ,the       
suppression of monasteries  saved four  
of our ,spanish ,american sister        
republics from a brood of  vampires that
 had drained the life-blood of ,spain   
for a series of  centuries4 ,in ,england
 the timely repeal of the corn-laws     
averted an  explosion that might have   
rent the coherence of the entire        
,british  empire4 ,the abolition of     
slavery with one blow destroyed a hydra 
that  had menaced the safety of the     
,american ,union by an endless series of
  political disputes4 ,by the abolition 
of serfdom ,czar ,alexander elevated    
the ,russian empire to the rank of a    
progressive nation4 ,the very           
possibility of national progress        
depends1 indeed1 on the hope of         
legislative reform1 for the rigor of    
unalterable laws prevents social        
development as the clasp of an iron ring
 prevents the growth of a tree4         
,c4--,,perversion4    ,all the          

intelligent nations of antiquity were   
distinguished by a  tendency to         
legislative progress1 till the freedom  
of that progress was  checked by the    
claims of religious infallibility4 ,the 
founder of the  ,zendavesta advanced    
that claim for a pandect of pretended   
revelations  which became the religious 
code of ,central ,asia1 and as a        
consequence  the intellectual and       
industrial development of two valiant   
nations was  stunted by legislative     
conservatism--the proverbially          
8unalterable laws  of the ,medes and    
,persians40 ,the claims of an infallible
 revelation  preclude the necessity of  
reform4 8,should mortals presume to     
improve  the ordinances of a ,god80     
,but the blind hatred of progress which 
has for so many centuries  degraded the 
,christian hierarchy below the          
priesthood of all other  intolerant     
creeds1 is the earth-renouncing         
antinaturalism of their  founder4 ,the  
priests of ,zoroaster1 ,moses1 and      

,mohammed claimed the  sufficiency of   
their dogmas for the purposes of        
national prosperity4  ,the priests of   
the nature-hating ,galilean attempted to
 suppress the  very desire of that      
prosperity4 8,the doctrine of           
renunciation made  patriotism an idle   
dream3 the saints1 whose #8kingdom was  
not of this  world1' had no business    
with vanities of that sort2 no chieftain
 could  trust his neighbor2 cities were 
pitted against cities and castles       
against castles2 patriotic reformers    
would vainly have appealed to the       
sympathies of men who had been taught to
 reserve their interest for the         
politics of the ,new ,jerusalem0        
7,secret of the ,east1 p4 #gf74    ,the 
,rev4 ,spurgeon1 of ,london1 ,england1  
recently provoked the protests  of his  
,liberal colleagues by the confession   
that he 8positively hated  advanced     
thought20 but only five centuries ago   
such protests were  silenced with the   
gag and the fagot4 ,for nearly a        

thousand years every  clergyman who had 
the courage to lift his voice in favor  
of secular  reforms was fiercely        
attacked as a traitor to the sacred     
cause of  other-worldliness4 ,to        
question the authority of the church was
 a crime  which could not in the least  
be palliated by such pleas as the       
temporal  interests of mankind1 and a   
mere hint at the fallibility of         
8revealed  scriptures0 could only be    
expiated in the blood of the offender4  
,nay1  thousands of scientists1         
historians1 and philosophers who had    
never  expressed a direct doubt of that 
sort1 were doomed to a death of  torture
 merely because the logical inference of
 their discoveries was  at variance with
 the dogmas of the ,galilean            
miracle-mongers4 ,from the  reign of    
,charlemagne to the outbreak of the     
,protestant revolt the  intolerance of  
,christian bigots interposed an         
insuperable dam between  the projects   
and the realization of social reforms4  

8,i cannot conceive10 says ,hallam1 8of 
any state of society more adverse  to   
the intellectual improvement of mankind 
than one which admitted no  middle line 
between dissoluteness and fanatical     
mortifications40    ,if it had not been 
for the exotic civilization of ,moorish 
,spain1 it  would be strictly true that 
at the end of the thirteenth century1   
when  the enemies of nature had reached 
the zenith of their power1 8the         
countries of ,europe1 without a single  
exception1 were worse governed1  more   
ignorant1 more superstitious1 poorer1   
and unhappier than the worst  governed  
provinces of pagan ,rome40    ,in ,china
 and ,india1 too1 the resistance of     
religious prejudice has for  ages       
frustrated the hopes of political       
development1 and the  civilization of   
,europe dates only from the time when a 
more or less  complete separation of    
church and state was effected by the    
insurrection of the ,germanic nations1  
and where the work of that  separation  

has been left unfinished the march of   
reform halts at every  step4 ,every     
claim of dogmatic infallibility has     
proved a spoke in the  wheels of        
progress4          ,d4--,,penalties ,,of
 ,,neglect4    ,the pig-headed          
conservatism of orthodox nations has    
never failed to  avenge itself in its   
ultimate results1 but its fatuity has1  
perhaps1  been most strikingly          
illustrated by the practical            
consequences of  legislative            
non-progressiveness4 ,there was a time  
when the small value  of real estate    
made it a trifle for an ,italian prince 
to present a  favorite prelate with a   
few square leagues of neglected         
woodlands2 but  now1 when those woods   
have been turned into vineyards and     
building-lots1 and over-population makes
 the monopoly of land a  grievous       
burden1 hundreds of industrious peasants
 are obliged to starve  to swell the    
revenues of a bloated priest1 who       
nevertheless succeeds in  silencing all 

protests by an appeal to the 8necessity 
of respecting  time-honored             
institutions40 ,at a time when          
agriculture and pastoral  pursuits were 
the chief industries of ,scotland1 it   
was no great  grievance to sequester the
 seventh day for the exclusive service  
of  ecclesiastic purposes2 but now1 when
 thousands of poor factory children     
need outdoor recreations as they need   
sunlight and bread1 it has become  an   
infamous outrage on personal rights to  
enforce a medieval by-law for  the      
suppression of outdoor sports on the day
 when those who need it  most can find  
their only chance for recreation4       
,nevertheless1 the dread  of innovations
 defeats the urged repeal of a law which
 for the last  hundred years has obliged
 millions of city dwellers to sacrifice 
the  sunshine of their lives for the    
benefit of a few clerical vampires4 ,the
  repeal of the witchcraft laws was     
preceded by a transition period of at   
least two hundred years1 when the mere  

dread of an open rupture with  the      
specters of the past cowed intelligent  
jurists into accepting the  charge of an
 impossible crime1 and consigning the   
victims of  superstition to the doom of 
a hideous death4 ,their private         
rationalism  might revolt against the   
absurdity of the proceedings1 but there 
were  the witnesses1 there were the     
legal precedents1 there were the        
explicit  provisions of the penal code1 
and with or without the consent of their
  intellectual conscience they had to   
pronounce the sentence of death4  ,the  
penal statutes of medieval ,england made
 sheep stealing a capital  offense1 and 
the mulish conservatism of ,british     
legislators refused to  abolish that    
relic of the ,dark ,ages till the common
 sense of the lower  classes found means
 to redress the abuse in a way of their 
own4 ,juries  agreed to acquit          
sheep-stealers altogether1 rather than  
vote away their  lives for that of a    
quadruped4 ,it was in vain that the     

prosecuting  attorney established the   
fact of the offense beyond a shadow of  
reasonable doubt4 ,it was in vain that  
the charge of the judge  emphatically   
indorsed the indictment4 ,it was in vain
 that the  defendants themselves        
completed the evidence of their guilt by
 a frank  confession2 they were         
acquitted amidst the wrathful protests  
of the  court and the plaudits of the   
audience1 till sheep-owners themselves  
were obliged to petition for the repeal 
of the time-dishonored law4 ,the  idea  
that the mere antiquity of a legal      
custom is an argument in its  favor is a
 twin sister of the superstitious       
veneration of antiquated  dogmas4       
,e4--,,reform4    ,the superstitious    
dread of innovation1 rather than the    
want of natural  intelligence1 has for  
ages thwarted the hopes of rationalism1 
and the  renunciation of that prejudice 
promises to rival the blessing of       
,secular education in promoting the     
advance of social reforms4 ,orthodox    

restiveness1 rather than any conceivable
 degree of ignorance1 has1 for          
instance1 prevented the repeal of the   
,religious ,disability laws which  still
 disgrace the statutes of so many       
civilized nations4 ,a chemical  inventor
 would be suspected of insanity for     
trying to demonstrate his  theories by  
quoting the ,bible in preference to a   
scientific text-book1  yet on questions 
as open to investigation and proof as   
any problem of  chemistry1 the courts of
 numerous intelligent nations still     
refuse to  accept the testimony of a    
witness who happens to prefer the       
philosophy  of ,humboldt and ,spencer to
 the rant of an oriental spook-monger4  
,the  proposition to oblige a           
water-drinker to defray the expense of  
his  neighbor's passion for intoxicating
 beverages would justly land the        
proposer in the next lunatic asylum1 yet
 millions upon millions of our          
,caucasian fellow-men are still taxed to
 enable their neighbors to enjoy  the   

luxuries of a creed which the conscience
 of the unwilling  tithe-payer rejects  
as a degrading superstition4 ,in ,europe
 countless  ,nonconformists have to     
contribute to the support of a          
parish-priest or  village-rector on pain
 of having a sheriff sell their         
household goods  at public auction4 ,in 
,america farmers and mechanics have to  
pay double  taxes in order to enable an 
association of mythology-mongers to hold
  their property tax-free4 ,because the 
pantheon of the ,ammonites included  a  
god with cannibal propensities1 helpless
 infants were for centuries  roasted on 
the consecrated gridiron of that god2   
and because eighteen  hundred years ago 
the diseased imagination of a           
world-renouncing bigot  conceived the   
idea of a deity delighting in the       
self-affliction of his  creatures1 the  
gloom of death still broods over the day
 devoted to the  special worship of that
 ,god1 and the coercive penalties of the
 law are  weekly visited upon all who   

refuse to sacrifice their health and    
happiness on the altar of superstition4 
,but legislative abuses are not confined
 to religious anachronisms4 ,the        
inconsistencies of our penal code still 
betray the influence of  medieval       
prejudices in the unwise leniency1 as   
well as in the  disproportionate        
severity1 of their dealings with purely 
secular  offenses4 ,the vice of         
intemperance was for centuries          
encouraged by the  example of the       
clergy1 while the control1 or even the  
suppression1 of  the sexual instinct was
 enforced by barbarous penalties4 ,and  
while the  panders of the alcohol vice  
are still countenanced by the sanction  
of  legal license and admitted to       
official positions of honor and         
influence1 the mediators of sexual vice 
are treated as social outcasts1  and    
punished with a severity out of all     
proportion to the actual social         
standards of virtue4 ,the deserted wife1
 who in a moment of despair has  caused 

the death of an unborn child1 is treated
 as the vilest of  criminals1 while the 
crime of a railway shark or             
tenement-speculator  whose selfishness  
and greed have caused a fatal disaster1 
is condoned  in consideration of 8social
 respectability10 i4e41 a mask of       
orthodox  sentiments and unctuous cant4 
,a ,christian jury will thank a banker  
for  shooting a poor wretch whom extreme
 distress may have driven to enter a    
house for predatory purposes1 but if    
that same banker should be  convicted of
 embezzling the hard-earned savings of  
trusting widows and  orphans1 his       
fellow-hypocrites will circulate an     
eloquent petition for  his release from 
a few years of light imprisonment4      
,there is need of other reforms1 which  
recommend themselves by such  cogent    
arguments that their adoption seems only
 a question of time1  such as the       
protection of forests1 the recognition  
of women's rights1  the 8habitual       
criminal0 law1 physical education1 and  

the abolition of  the poison-traffic4   
,it is undoubtedly true that the        
progress from barbarism to culture is   
characterized by the growth of a        
voluntary respect for the authority of  
legal institutions1 but it is equally   
true that the highest goals of          
civilization cannot be reached till the 
degree of that respect shall be         
measured by the utility1 rather than by 
the antiquity1 of special laws4         
,,chapter ,,xx4    ,,the ,,priesthood   
,,of ,,secularism4      ,a4--,,lessons  
,,of ,,instinct4    ,an instinct        
inherited from the habits of many       
generations teaches our  social         
fellow-creatures to entrust the welfare 
of their communities to  the protection 
of an experienced leader4 ,birds that   
become gregarious  only at a certain    
time of the year select a guide for that
 special  occasion4 ,others have a      
permanent leader1 and among the more    
intelligent quadrupeds that leadership  
becomes dual4 ,besides the stout        

champion who comes to the front in      
moments of danger1 wild cattle1  horses1
 antelopes1 deer1 and the social        
quadrumana have a veteran  pioneer who  
guides their migrations and sentinels   
their encampments4    ,among the        
primitive tribes of our fellow-men1 too1
 the authority of  leadership is divided
 between a warrior and a teacher1 a     
chieftain and  a priest4 ,the obstinacy 
of savages1 who refuse to yield to      
reason1  suggested the plan of          
controlling their passions by the fear  
of the  unseen1 but ghost-mongery was   
not the only1 nor even the most         
essential1 function of primitive        
priesthood4 ,the elders of the ,brahmans
  were the guardians of homeless        
children and overseers of public        
charities4 ,the ,celtic ,druids were the
 custodians of national treasures4  ,the
 rune-wardens of the ancient            
,scandinavians preserved the historical 
traditions and law records of their     
nation4 ,the priests of the  ,phnicians 

7like our ,indian medicine men7 were    
trained physicians4 ,the  ,egyptian     
hierophants were priests of knowledge1  
as well as of  mythology4 ,they were the
 historians and biographers of their    
nation4  ,they codified the national    
laws4 ,they taught geometry2 they taught
  grammar2 they taught and practiced    
surgery2 they devoted a large  portion  
of their time to astronomical           
observations4 ,their temple-cities      
were1 in fact1 free universities1 and   
the waste of time devoted to the  rites 
of superstition was more than           
compensated by secular studies1 and  to 
some degree also by the political       
services of learned priests1 who  seem  
to have been occasionally employed in   
diplomatic emergencies4    ,motives of  
political prudence induced the          
law-givers of the  ,mediterranean       
nations to circumscribe the authority of
 their pontiffs1  which at last was1    
indeed1 almost limited to the           
supervision of  religious ceremonies4   

,but in ,rome1 as well as in ,greece and
 the ,grecian  colonies of western      
,asia1 the true functions of priesthood 
were assumed  by the popular exponents  
of philosophy1 especially by the ,stoics
 and  ,pythagoreans4 ,the weekly        
lectures of ,zeno were attended by a    
miscellaneous throng of truth-seekers2  
the disciples of ,pythagoras  almost    
worshiped their master2 ,diagoras and   
,carneades traveled from  town to town1 
preaching to vast audiences of          
spell-bound admirers2  ,apollonius of   
,tyana rose in fame till cities competed
 for the honor of  his visits2 the      
clientle of no ,grecian prince was      
thought complete  without a court       
philosopher2 the tyrant ,dionysius1 in  
all the pride of  his power1 invited the
 moral rigorist ,plato and submitted to 
his daily  repeated reproofs4           
,philosophers were the confessors1 the  
comforters1  and the counselors of their
 patrons1 and philosophic tutors were in
  such request that wealthy ,romans did 

not hesitate to procure them from  the  
traffickers in ,grecian captives and    
indulge them in all privileges  but that
 of liberty4 ,centuries before a bishop 
of ,rome contrived to  avert the wrath  
of ,king ,alaric1 doomed cities had been
 spared at the  intercession of pagan   
philosophers1 and philosophers more than
 once  succeeded in allaying the fury of
 mutineers who would have ridiculed an  
appeal to mythological traditions4      
,b4--,,rewards ,,of ,,conformity4       
,the power of filial love hardly exceeds
 that of the passionate  veneration     
which kindles about the person of a     
sincere teacher of  truth4 ,the homage  
paid to an apostle of light is the      
noblest form of  hero-worship4 ,the     
hosannas of idol-service overflowing    
upon the  idol-priest are marred by the 
discords of hypocrisy and the reproving 
silence of reason2 but the approval of  
wisdom is the highest reward of  its    
ministry4 ,the brightness of that       
prestige shames the gilded halo of  the 

mythology-monger2 the minister of ,truth
 may lack the pomp of  consecrated      
temples1 but his disciples will make a  
hermit's cave a  ,delphic grotto and    
will not willingly let the record of his
 oracles  perish4 ,the chants of the    
,eleusynian festivals1 the shout of the 
,lupercalia1 the mumblings of augurs and
 sibyls1 have been forever  silenced2   
but the words of ,plato still live2     
,socrates still speaks to  thousands of 
truth-seekers2 the wisdom of ,seneca    
still brightens the  gloom of adversity4
    ,religions founded on any basis of  
truth can survive the fall of their     
temples4 ,jerusalem was wrecked in the  
storm of ,roman conquest1 but the       
health-laws of the ,mosaic code defied  
the power of the destroyer1 and  of all 
the creeds born on the teeming soil of  
the ,east1 ,judaism alone  can still be 
preached without an alloy of cant and   
compromise4    ,the enthusiasm of       
progress has nothing to fear from the   
growth of  skepticism4 ,mankind will    

always appreciate their enlightened     
well-wishers4 ,in cities where the creed
 of the ,galilean supernaturalist  has  
become almost as obsolete as the        
witchcraft delusion1 progressive        
clergymen still draw audiences of       
intelligent and sincere admirers1 and   
the apostles of social reform are       
haunted by anxious inquirers1  disciples
 whom the penalties of heresy fail to   
deter1 and who if barred  out all day   
will come by night3 8,master1 what shall
 we do to be saved80    ,in spite of    
sham saviors1 the search after salvation
 has never ceased1  and after eighteen  
centuries of clerical caricatures the   
ideal of true  priesthood still survives
 in the hearts of men4                  
,c4--,,perversion4    ,the puerile      
supernaturalism of the pagan            
myth-mongers could not fail to  injure  
their prestige1 even in an age of       
superstition2 but the  antinaturalism of
 the ,galilean fanatics not only        
neglected but  completely inverted the  

proper functions of priesthood4 ,the    
pretended  ministers of ,truth became   
her remorseless persecutors2 the        
promised  healers depreciated the       
importance of bodily health1 the        
hoped-for  apostles of social reform    
preached the doctrine of renunciation4  
,we  should not judge the ,christian    
clergy by the aberrations engendered by 
the maddening influence of protracted   
persecutions4 ,it would be equally      
unfair to give them the credit of       
latter-day reforms1 reluctantly         
conceded to the demands of rationalism4 
,but we can with perfect  fairness judge
 them by the standard of the moral and  
intellectual types  evolved during the  
period of their plenary power1 the three
 hundred  years from the tenth to the   
end of the thirteenth century1 when the 
control of morals and education had been
 unconditionally surrendered  into the  
hands of their chosen representatives4  
,the comparative scale  of human        
turpitude must not include the creations

 of fiction4 ,we might  find a ne plus  
ultra of infamy in the satires of       
,rabelais1 in the myths  of ,hindostan1 
or the burlesques of the modern ,french 
dramatists4 ,but if  we confine our     
comparison to the records of authentic  
history1 it would  be no exaggeration to
 say that during the period named the   
type of a  ,christian priest represented
 the absolute extreme of all the        
groveling  ignorance1 the meanest       
selfishness1 the rankest sloth1 the     
basest  servility1 the foulest perfidy1 
the grossest superstition1 the most     
bestial sensuality1 to which the majesty
 of human nature has ever been          
degraded4 ,thousands of monasteries     
fattened on the toil of starving        
peasants4 ,villages were beggared by the
 rapacity of the tithe-gatherer2  cities
 were terrorized by witch-hunts and     
autos-da-f4 ,the crimps of  the         
inquisitorial tribunals hired spies and 
suborned perjurers by  promising them a 
share of confiscated estates4 ,the      

evidence of  intellectual pursuits was  
equivalent to a sentence of death4      
,education  was almost limited to the   
memorizing of chants and prayers4 8,a   
cloud of  ignorance10 says ,hallam1     
8overspread the whole face of the       
church1  hardly broken by a few         
glimmering lights who owe almost the    
whole of  their distinction to the      
surrounding darkness4444 ,in #iib1 it   
was  asserted that scarcely a single    
person was to be found1 even in ,rome   
itself1 who knew the first elements of  
letters4 ,not one priest of a  thousand 
in ,spain could address a common letter 
of salutation to  another40 ,every      
deathbed became a harvest-field of      
clerical vampires  who did not hesitate 
to bully the dying into robbing their   
children for  the benefit of a bloated  
convent4 ,herds of howling fanatics     
roamed the  country1 frenzying the      
superstitious rustics with their        
predictions of  impending horrors4      
,parishioners had to submit to the base 

avarice and  the baser lusts of insolent
 parish priests1 who in his turn kissed 
the  dust at the feet of an arrogant    
prelate4 ,the doctrine of               
,antinaturalism  had solved the problem 
of inflicting the greatest possible     
amount of  misery on the greatest       
possible number of victims4             
,d4--,,penalties ,,of ,,neglect4    ,the
 intellectual interregnum of the ,middle
 ,ages1 the era of specters  and        
vampires1 received the first promise of 
dawn about the middle of  the fourteenth
 century1 when the lessons of the       
,crusades and the  influence of ,moorish
 civilization began to react on the     
nations of  ,christian ,europe4 ,yet1 by
 methods of their own1 the vampires     
succeeded  in prolonging the dreadful   
night4 ,they set their owls a-shrieking 
from  a thousand pulpits2 they darkened 
the air with the smoke-clouds of        
autos-da-f4 ,they treated every         
torch-bearer as an incendiary4    ,but  
though the delay of redemption completed

 the ruin of some of their  victims1 the
 ghouls did not escape the deserved     
retribution4 ,their fire  alarms failed 
to avert the brightening dawn4 ,daylight
 found its way  even through the painted
 glass of dome-windows1 and in the open 
air the  blood-suckers had to take wing 
on pain of being shaken off and trampled
  under foot4 ,the slaves of ,hayti     
never rose more fiercely against their  
,french tyrants than the ,german        
peasants against their clerical         
oppressor4 ,from ,antwerp to ,leipzig   
thousands of convents were leveled  with
 the ground2 the villages of ,holland1  
,minden1 and ,brunswick joined  in a    
general priest-hunt1 carried on with all
 the cruelties which the  man-hunters of
 the ,frankish crusade had inflicted on 
the pagan ,saxons4  ,in the             
,mediterranean ,peninsulas the ,jesuits 
were expelled as enemies of  public     
peace1 and their colleagues could       
maintain themselves only by an  alliance
 with despotism against the liberal and 

intellectual elements  of their country4
 ,to patriots of the ,garibaldi type the
 name of a  priest has become a byword  
implying the very quintessence of       
infamy4  ,the explosion of the ,french  
,revolution struck a still deadlier blow
 at  clerical prestige4 ,the            
fagot-arguments of the ,holy            
,inquisition were  answered by a        
8burning1 as in hell-fire1 of priestly  
shams and lies10  and not one out of    
twenty ,french monasteries escaped the  
fury of the  avengers4 ,our ,protestant 
clergymen see their temple walls cracked
 by a  breach of ever-multiplying       
schisms1 and can prop their prestige    
only by  more and more humiliating      
concessions1 and in every intelligent   
community have to purchase popularity by
 rank heresies against the  dogmas of   
their predecessors4 ,here and there the 
orthodox tenets of the  ,new ,testament 
have survived the progress of           
rationalism1 but haunt the  shade1 like 
specters scenting the morning air1 and  

momentarily  expecting the summons that 
shall banish them to the realms of their
  native night4          ,e4--,,reform4 
,when the harbinger of day dispels the  
specters of darkness1  half-awakened    
sleepers often mourn the fading visions 
of dreamland1 as  they would mourn the  
memories of a vanished world1 till they 
find that  the solid earth still        
remains1 with its mountains and forests1
 and that  the enjoyment of real life   
has but just begun4 ,with a similar     
regret  the dupes of ,jesuitism mourn   
the collapse of their creed and lament  
the  decline of morality1 till they find
 that religion still remains1 with  its 
consolations and hopes1 and that the    
true work of redemption has  but just   
begun4    ,the reign of superstition    
begins to yield to a religion of reason 
and  humanity4 ,the first forerunners of
 that religion appeared at the end of   
the sixteenth century1 when the         
philosophers of northern ,europe first  
dared to appeal from dogma to nature1   

and since that revival of  common-sense 
the prison walls of clerical            
obscurantism have been shaken  by shock 
after shock1 till daylight now enters   
through a thousand  fissures4    ,but   
,secularism has a positive as well as a 
negative mission1 and after  removing   
the ruins of exploded idols1 the        
champions of reform will  begin the work
 of reconstruction4 ,temples dedicated  
to the religion of  progress will rise  
from the ruins of superstition4         
,communities of  reformants will intrust
 the work of education to chosen        
teachers1 who  will combine the         
functions of an instructor with those of
 an exhorter4  ,in the languages of     
several ,european nations the word      
8rector0 still  bears that twofold      
significance4 ,the ministers of         
,secularism will not  sacrifice physical
 health to mental culture4 ,they will be
 gymnasiarchs1  like the ,grecian       
pedagogues who superintended the        
athletic exercises of  their pupils and 

accompanied them on foot journeys and   
hunting  excursions4 ,they will be      
teachers of hygiene1 laboring to secure 
the  foundations of mental energy by the
 preservation of physical vigor1 and  to
 banish diseases by the removal of their
 causes4 ,they will seek to             
circumscribe the power of prejudice by  
the extension of knowledge4 ,they  will 
obviate the perils of poverty by lessons
 of industry and prudence4  ,their      
doctrines will dispense with miracles2  
they will make experience  the test of  
truth1 and justice the test of          
integrity2 they will not  suppress1 but 
encourage1 free inquiry2 their war      
against error will  employ no weapons   
but those of logic4    ,the religion of 
reason will limit its proper sphere to  
the secular  welfare of mankind1 but    
will ask1 as well as grant1 the fullest 
freedom  of metaphysical speculation4   
,why should the friends of light darken 
the  sunshine of earth with fanatical   
wars for the suppression of private     

theories about the mystery of the       
unrevealed first cause8 ,why should     
they rage about the riddle of the veiled
 hereafter to please the  ordainer of   
the eternal law that visits such        
inexorable penalties upon  the neglect  
of the present world8 ,should the       
friends of common sense  quarrel about  
guesses at the solution of unknowable   
secrets8 ,we need  not grudge our       
wonder-loving brother the luxury of     
meditating on the  mysteries of the     
unseen or the possibilities of          
resurrection4 ,shall the  soul of the   
dying patriarch live only in his        
children8 ,shall it wing  its way to    
distant stars8 ,shall it linger on      
earth3         8,sigh in the breeze1    
keep silence in the cave1      ,and     
glide with airy foot o'er yonder sea80  
,why should we wrangle about riddles    
which we cannot possibly solve8 ,but  we
 might certainly have honesty enough to 
admit that impossibility4  ,musing on   
the enigmas of the 8land beyond the     

veil0 may entertain us  with the visions
 of a dreamy hour1 but should not       
engross the time  needed for the        
problems of the only world thus far     
revealed4    ,thus1 founded on a basis  
of health-culture1 reason1 and justice1 
the  office of priesthood will regain   
its ancient prestige1 and the best and  
wisest of men will become ministers of  
,secularism by devoting their  lives to 
the science of happiness on earth4      
,,note      #a   ,weibisches ,klagen1   
bngliches ,zagen        ,wendet kein    
,unglck1 macht dich nicht frei3         
,allen ,gewalten zum ,trotz sich        
erhalten1        ,nimmer sich beugen1   
krftig sich zeigen        ,rufet die    
,arme der ,gtter herbei4