THE SOCIAL REFORMER 21 



consumer of wealth ; the ethical sciences are still more 

 indispensable, for the forces that rule the destiny of society 

 are moral^ But while all these have their contributory 

 uses, none of them deal directly with the nature of society 

 as it stands, or with the problems which confront the social 

 reformer when he takes up his task as a citizen. For want 

 of a philosophy of political or social life we let the poli- 

 tician loose upon the world, the victim, if he counts more 

 than his vote, either of the obstructive prejudices of mere 

 common usage, or of a rash enthusiasm for untried and 

 impossible ways of social life. 



The schools of learning, it is true, cannot make social 

 reformers any more than, they can make poets. But they 

 can foster them. The Universities reveal to the students 

 of literature something of the treasures of classic thought, 

 they make their appreciation of beauty more generous and 

 discipline their taste. Above all, they can send them out 

 into the world prepared to learn, and apprenticed to the 

 lifelong service of a great art. And it seems to me evi- 

 dent, that although the art of life is even more subtle than 

 that of poetry, and our knowledge of its deeper principles 

 is quite inadequate, our Universities could nevertheless win 

 for it the interest of many of their alumni, awaken and en- 

 lighten and discipline their social conscience, train them to 

 observe history-in-the-making, and make them sensitive to 

 the prejudices as well as to the wrongs which burden civili- 

 sation and keep back the happiness of mankind. In one 

 word, they could launch them upon life "prepared to 

 learn " ; neither clinging with the stubborn strength of 

 stupidity and ignorance to ways of life outworn, nor rashly 

 blind to the complexity of modern society, and the delicacy 

 of the equipoise of its many institutions. The youths 



