HYPOCRISY AS A SOCIAL DEBASER. 477 



suppose that myth is more elevating to a people than sober his- 

 torical fact ? If it were true, we had better find some way of 

 suppressing future Grotes, Bancrofts, and Motleys. 



As to the elevation of women, it might seem at first blush 

 that Mr. McElroy was hardly serious in his theory that the 

 young woman who asked her mother if she should " wash for a 

 high-neck or low-neck dress " might in time, by the practice of 

 such hypocrisy, rise to the virtue of a full-length bath ! But 

 seriously, is there any one who can regard such dirty hypocrisy 

 as " a social elevator " ? " He that is filthy let him be filthy still." 



" Nothing aided the elevation of women so much as the arrant 

 hypocrisy which took the form of mediaeval gallantry. . . . 

 At first hollow and specious to the last degree thinly var- 

 nishing a bestiality so low that it was scarcely above that of a 

 bull seal," etc. Here our apologist makes a point worthy of con- 

 sideration. It can not be denied that gallantry, even exaggerated 

 and underlaid by bestiality, is far better than boorishness ; but 

 to say that it is a social elevator involves a fallacy, very preva- 

 lent, to be sure, but none the less a fallacy viz., the idea that 

 fine manners make fine people. It is generally supposed, and 

 sometimes preached, that manners, culture, education, music, 

 what not, elevate society Here lies the essential fallacy of this 

 whole article and of all similar screeds a confounding of 'post 

 hoc with propter hoc; a putting of the cart before the horse. 

 What is it to " elevate society " ? To impart expertness in play- 

 ing the piano, in making bright repartees, giving and attending 

 dinners elegantly, dancing gracefully, or even being conversant 

 with the latest poetry and science ? These are not the elevators 

 of society, but its ornaments. The flower can not elevate the 

 stalk. Society is elevated just so far as it lifts its face toward 

 Mount Sinai, and no more. The ten commandments are worth 

 more as " elevators " than all the patent contrivances which the 

 unregenerate mind of man can conceive. 



Page after page of history gives the lie to such a theory. 

 "When were manners most elegant, wit most polished, culture 

 most a fine art ? In the palaces of Italy in the middle ages, in 

 the courts of Louis the Grand and Foolish, in the halls of Henry 

 and Charles ; and where and when was society most rotten ! No. 

 it is a great mistake to suppose that fine manners per se elevate 

 either men or women ; nor have they any moral value except so 

 far as they are the outgrowth and sign of a true respect and 

 consideration, the ornaments of a society which loves truth and 

 purity and justice. 



But Mr. McElroy is particularly unhappy in choosing reli- 

 gious hypocrisy as an illustration of his theory. Nowhere have 

 the effects of this most despicable trait of human nature been 



