182 THE LIFE OF SCIENCE 



Could a more terrible indictment be penned? Truly the 

 "douceur de vivre" which some of the paintings and music of that 

 time suggest, was restricted to a very small company. And could 

 the nobler spirits of that age continue to enjoy that "sweetness" 

 as soon as they realized the unlimited miseries and the degrading 

 servitude of the majority of their neighbors? 



In contrast with the rustics of La Bruyere, hopelessly crushed 

 down below the level of humanity, I shall always recall with 

 pleasure the black peasantry of Jamaica, whom I was privileged 

 to observe during my stay in that beautiful country. Though they 

 were still slaves less than a century ago, they have developed re- 

 markably well. It is a joy to meet them along the ways and paths 

 of the island, walking or riding with considerable dignity and 

 greeting the stranger with courtesy. Even small children gave 

 me appropriate salutations in good English. I attended a Nativity 

 Play in Bethlehem College, a Moravian school for colored girls in 

 Malvern, and was deeply touched by their gracious performance. 



To be sure there is still a superabundance of misery, ignorance, 

 and vice, even in our most enlightened communities, and it is bet- 

 ter that we should always bear it in mind, and be very humble 

 and penitent : when I derided the "douceur de vivre" of the eight- 

 eenth century and suggested that our times were better, I did not 

 imply that they were "sweet." No kind person can truly enjoy 

 life while he knows that so many of his fellowmen are wantonly 

 ground under the wheels. The real meaning of that ancient 

 "douceur de vivre" is that we may be excused if we forget the 

 evils of the eighteenth century while we should never forget those 

 which it is in our power to cure. However, the consciousness of 

 our social imperfections should not hide from us another truth: 

 the reality of social progress which any detailed comparison be- 

 tween the conditions of to-day and those of a thousand or a hun- 

 dred years ago would reveal. We are still very far from the goal. 

 This is the more offensive, because that goal is not an invisible 

 one like the goal of science, but on the contrary plainly visible 



