Ethical 243 



The native son talks contemptuously of " rusting 

 out;" he assures you that he proposes to wear 

 out. I have never liked to tell him to his face 

 that it is quite possible to rust out and wear out 

 at one and the same time. I submit that a man 

 is rusting when he avoids, whether of choice or 

 necessity, the good company of books, pictures, 

 and men wiser than himself ; when he is blind to 

 the freshness of fields wet with dew, to the glory 

 of the skies ; when he is deaf to the music of the 

 woods. The mills of work-a-day life in the West 

 grind exceeding slow, and the rust lies thick upon 

 the men between the stones ; but they do not know 

 it, or knowing it, do not care. Juvenal's famous 

 line will occur to some of my readers : Et propter 

 vitam Vivendi perdere causas. What is more pa- 

 thetic than the spectacle of a strong man who 

 has gained his millions and lost his capacity for 

 enjoying life? I can tell you. The spectacle — 

 so often seen in the West — of the man who has 

 atrophied all the diviner qualities in the quest of 

 wealth which he does not find. 



Some of my readers will remember an anecdote 

 of Bethel, afterwards Lord Westbury. He was 

 famous as one of the most able and unscrupulous 

 lawyers of his day. In one of his cases he had 

 instructed his junior to call him promptly if 

 the unforeseen presented itself. Shortly after the 

 junior sent for him, and informed his chief that 

 a certain judgment had been cited by opposing 

 counsel which practically blew them out of the 

 water; further argument, in the junior's opinion, 

 would be wasted. Bethel rose to reply. He ad- 



