XIII 

 ETHICAL 



IN a Western town or village the first thing likely 

 to catch the eye of the traveller (indeed it was 

 invented for that purpose alone) is the sham front 

 of his hotel. Upon examination he will mark that 

 nearly all the stores and buildings are built to be- 

 guile the imagination. Even the livery-stables, 

 board-and-batten barns, unpainted, roofed with 

 shakes (not shingles), present a solid and fire-proof 

 appearance when seen from the street; brick has 

 been used possibly, or stone. And yet none is de- 

 ceived : the thing is obviously sham, obviously built 

 for show. 



Is there not something pathetic in this ? It is a 

 sort of mild hypocrisy which, like a Scotch mist, 

 pervades the atmosphere. The men who leave old 

 countries for new must be profoundly conscious of 

 the difference between the old and the new ; they 

 are for ever adjusting, so far as they can, this dif- 

 ference. Lacking the real thing, they try to console 

 themselves with its counterfeit presentment. And 

 the consciousness that despite their efforts the 

 thing is a sham has a curious effect for good and 

 evil. For good, inasmuch as each man recognises 

 the false and wishes to substitute for it the true. 

 Were he content with the adobe huts that satisfied 

 the Hispano-Californians, were he willing to lie in 



