TJie Inspiration 5 



reason of equal importance — the fact that it brought 

 forth a noble phrase that immensely widens our hori- 

 zons. 



The first experience in social upbuilding was fol- 

 lowed in two other communities under the same leader- 

 ship ; then came a period devoted to the intensive culti- 

 vation of the ideal by other means. One day near the 

 close of her mortal life — the Pale Horse and his Rider 

 were even then on the road and rapidly approaching — 

 she walked into my library and laid a slip of paper on 

 the desk with the smiling request : "Some time when you 

 feel just like it, please write something for me with 

 that title." I looked and read the cryptic words : 



"The Dignity of the New Earth" 



It was a revelation, and to me a startling revelation 

 — not only of the depth of her own thought, but of the 

 broad metaphysical basis of our work and our ideals. 



This, then, is her chapter, as nearly as it is possible 

 to approximate her thought and language: 



I was reared in an old New England town. As a 

 child, I loved a certain street which was filled with fine 

 old homes setting well back from the rows of stately 

 elms. These were the homes of our old families. They 

 seemed enviable to me, not because of their luxury, for 

 most of them were not at all palatial, but because of 

 their dignity — a dignity attaching to their age and 

 permanence. 



In these homes children were born and grew up. 

 And in these homes the children's children were born 

 and grew up. So it had been for generations ; and, in 

 a few cases at least, for two centuries. To my childish 



