National Life and Character 319 



even so much as began to exercise the influence upon 

 the warfare of his generation that Frederick the 

 Great exercised on his. 



It is not true that character of necessity decays 

 with the growth of civilization. It may, of course, 

 be true in some cases. Civilization may tend to de- 

 velop upon the lines of Byzantine, Hindoo, and Inca ; 

 and there are sections of Europe and sections of the 

 United States where we now tend to pay heed ex- 

 clusively to the peaceful virtues and to develop only 

 a race of merchants, lawyers, and professors, who 

 will lack the virile qualities that have made our 

 race great and splendid. This development may 

 come, but it need not come necessarily, and, on 

 the whole, the probabilities are against its coming 

 at all. 



Mr. Pearson is essentially a man of strength and 

 courage. Looking into the future the future seems 

 to him gray and unattractive ; but he does not preach 

 any unmanly gospel of despair. He thinks that in 

 time to come, though life will be freer than in the 

 past from dangers and vicissitudes, yet it will con- 

 tain fewer of the strong pleasures and of the oppor- 

 tunities for doing great deeds that are so dear to 

 mighty souls. Nevertheless, he advises us all to 

 front it bravely whether our hope be great or little ; 

 and he ends his book with these fine sentences : 

 "Even so, there will still remain to us ourselves. 

 Simply to do our work in life, and to abide the issue, 

 if we stand erect before the eternal calm as cheer- 

 fully as our fathers faced the eternal unrest, may be 



