OPERATION OF VIRILE SENTIMENT 163 



born, or to modify in the least the traits of his race. 

 So long as these very patent facts obtrude themselves 

 upon our notice, it is vain to contend that the un- 

 desirable traits of "street arabs" or of other persons are 

 due to the absence of an environment composed of 

 decent people. That otiose hypothesis fails as 

 completely as that of the " Blue Sky Philan- 

 thropists," the moment we look impartially and dis- 

 passionately at the hard and ugly facts of life. 



The mention of the " Blue Sky Philanthropists " 

 recalls to me the objection which Dr. Cobbett asso- 

 ciated with this, his own term. He says it is not by 

 romantic scenery, nor by sea breezes that human 

 nature is to be fundamentally altered. Dr. Cobbett 

 asserts that social reformers do not believe this 

 sort of environment can improve human character. 

 Well, that again depends upon the person. An intro- 

 spective examination by any one will show how 

 much or how little it influences us. I must confess I 

 have been at times deeply stirred by a glorious sunset, 

 and subdued to an emotion of intense awe by some 

 mighty and silent landscape. More than once when I 

 have been alone on an angry sea in a tempest of wind, 

 I have learned lessons which have so deeply impressed 

 me that they have permanently moulded one line of 

 my thought. The chief of these lessons King Canute 

 is traditionally reputed to have learned. The tide, 

 which neither rises nor recedes until its appointed 

 hour, is but symbolic of the processes of Nature, which 

 are pitiless, inexorable, and unrelenting. Nature 

 cares nothing, neither for our regrets, nor hopes, nor 



