Colleges and Public Life 67 



a position of mere dilettanteism in our public af- 

 fairs, they will speedily sink in relation to their 

 fellows who really do the work of governing, until 

 they stand toward them as a cultivated, ineffective 

 man with a taste for bric-a-brac stands toward a 

 great artist. When once a body of citizens becomes 

 thoroughly out of touch and out of temper with 

 the national life, its usefulness is gone, and its 

 power of leaving its mark on the times is gone also. 



The first great lesson which the college graduate 

 should learn is the lesson of work rather than of 

 criticism. Criticism is necessary and useful; it is 

 often indispensable; but it can never take the place 

 of action, or be even a poor substitute for it. The 

 function of the mere critic is of very subordinate 

 usefulness. It is the doer of deeds who actually 

 counts in the battle for life, and not the man who 

 looks on and says how the fight ought to be fought, 

 without himself sharing the stress and the danger. 



There is, however, a need for proper critical 

 work. Wrongs should be strenuously and fearlessly 

 denounced; evil principles and evil men should be 

 condemned. The politician who cheats or swindles, 

 or the newspaper man who lies in any form, should 

 be made to feel that he is an object of scorn for 

 all honest men. We need fearless criticism; but 

 we need that it should also be intelligent. At 

 present, the man who is most apt to regard himself 

 as an intelligent critic of our political affairs is 

 often the man who knows nothing whatever about 

 them. Criticism which is ignorant or prejudiced 



