Ethical 241 



she remarked acidulously : " Judge, after what oc- 

 cured last night, I shall for the future call myself 



Mrs. Judge X ." The husband shook his head. 



" Madam," he said, " I regret as much as you do 

 that — er — the unforeseen came to pass last night ; 

 but it has not, I assure you, altered in any sense 

 our relation to each other. I am still judge of the 

 Supreme Court of California, and you, my dear, are 

 only the same old fool you always have been." 



In trying to understand the character of a people, 

 it is necessary to find the master-key. What is w 

 it in the West? A worship of the visible? If | ij.p>^ 

 the answer be in the affirmative, many doors are j| 

 unlocked. 



In England, the women, the very best of them, 

 profess an ethical standard lower than it ought to 

 be, because they wish to please the men. In the 

 West, the men profess a higher standard (and pro- 

 fess it not the least hypocritically) because they 

 wish to please the women — and children. 



This wish to please — a delightful trait — has, 

 when pushed beyond certain limits, a corroding 

 effect upon character; it leads to the shirking of 

 disagreeable duties, to a morbid fear of giving 

 offence, to a tolerance of evil which soon becomes 

 indifference; it ends by making pleasure — that 

 form of pleasure which exacts continuous change 

 and excitement — the supreme good. 



According to Arnold, education is an atmos- 

 phere. If this be so, it is important that the air 

 should be kept fresh and pure. Fresh it is in the 

 West; is it pure? Let the parents answer that 

 question. More, are they soberly of the opinion 



16 



