LITERARY NOTICES. 



701 



ings of science, sesthetics, and ethics." The 

 author is not one of those speculators who 

 disparage the work of Herbert Spencer. In 

 the opening of his third chapter we find the 

 following ; " It has been pointed out by 

 Herbert Spencer who seems to have pointed 

 out pretty nearly everything that ideal men 

 are possible only in an ideal state ; and con- 

 versely that a perfect social state is possi- 

 ble only when every unit has achieved per- 

 fection." He then proceeds to consider the 

 great gain that would result if only all men 

 were " decently honest." He shows how 

 much labor is at present expended in guard- 

 ing against dishonesty, and how seriously 

 the general happiness is interfered with by 

 these protective measures. The necessity of 

 issuing railway tickets, he observes, arises 

 from the fact that, as things now are, hun- 

 dreds and thousands of persons would steal 

 railway rides unless they were required to 

 present tickets. Then the tickets have to 

 be dated, punched, and carefully collected to 

 prevent their being used again. " Taking 

 any church," says our author, "probably 

 nine tenths of the ' respectable worshipers ' 

 who perform their eminently respectable de- 

 votions there every Sunday and thank God 

 that they are children of grace and neither 

 Turks, Jews, Socinians, nor infidels, would 

 have no scruple in cheating a railway com- 

 pany on their way home." There may be, 

 and we trust there is, some exaggeration in 

 this statement, but that there is a large 

 element of truth in it no one who has any 

 extensive knowledge of mankind would be 

 disposed to question. This matter of railway 

 tickets is, however, only one out of many 

 illustrations which the author brings forward 

 of the loss entailed upon society and the dimi- 

 nution of happiness through the defective 

 morality of individuals. Before we can hope 

 to reach or even to sight semi-Utopia there 

 must be a radical change in this respect. 



The author next proceeds to discuss the 

 "Servant Question," quoting John Stuart 

 Mill as sajing that "there is hardly any 

 part of the present constitution of society 

 more essentially vicious and more morally 

 injurious to both parties than the relations 

 between masters and servants." The word 

 " masters " is to be taken here as including 

 mistresses. The condition of things to which 

 the author particularly refers is that exist- 



ing in England. Some of its features have 

 been modified in this country, l)ut whether 

 upon the whole we have made any sensible 

 advance toward semi-Utopia as regards the 

 status of the servant class may be doubted. 

 There is more independence on one side, but 

 what is wanted is more humanity on both 

 sides. It would be impossible in semi- 

 Utopia to have one class of human beings 

 whom another class regarded as the neces- 

 sary instruments of their ease and pleasure, 

 but as cut off from them in every social 

 sense by an impassable barrier. In that 

 happy state, when two human beings come 

 together in any form of association, the 

 thought of each will be how he or she can 

 make the relation fruitful of good in the 

 widest possible sense to the other. People 

 will then no longer hoard their culture and 

 their social advantages, as if to communicate 

 them to others would be to diminish if not 

 destroy their value ; but whatever any one 

 has that is good he or she will try to make 

 common. The author's whole discussion of 

 the servant question is full of useful suggest- 

 iveness. To those who can not rise in imagi- 

 nation above what is sanctioned by social 

 usage, and to those who are dominated by a 

 selfish passion to hold on to such class privi- 

 leges as they possess, many of his ideas will 

 appear absurd ; but few liberal-minded or 

 sympathetic persons will read these chapters 

 without acknowledging the general force and 

 truth of the author's positions. 



Following the chapters on the Servant 

 Question we have a trenchant discussion of 

 Luxury and Waste. Here the author's in- 

 dignation waxes hot, as well it may. He 

 points out how utterly at war with the canons 

 of true taste all useless and ostentatious 

 luxury is, and to what extent the higher in- 

 tellectual and moral interests of society are 

 sacrificed to a mere love of display. Here 

 there is much we should be glad to quote, 

 but our limits forbid. The author again de- 

 fines his position by remarking (page 195): 

 " We can thus clearly perceive the feasibil- 

 ity of an approximation toward semi-Utopia 

 i/ only men would be moderately unselfish, 

 unwasteful, and reasonable. It is mainly 

 human nature that has to be changed." We 

 have only in part indicated the contents of 

 this interesting volume, but we have per- 

 haps said enough to show the main lines of 



