EUROPE AND AMERICA COMPARED. 433 



to study, opening thus a wider horizon for 

 the human mind, while at his side thousands 

 barely vegetate in degradation or at least in 

 destitution ; or this new world, where the in- 

 stitutions tend to keep all on one level as part 

 of the general mass, but a mass, be it said ? 

 which has no noxious elements. Yes, the 

 mass here is decidedly good. All the world 

 lives well, is decently clad, learns something, 

 is awake and interested. Instruction does not, 

 as in some parts of Germany for instance, 

 furnish a man with an intellectual tool and 

 then deny him the free use of it. The 

 strength of America lies in the prodigious 

 number of individuals who think and work at 

 the same time. It is a severe test of preten- 

 tious mediocrity, but I fear it may also efface 

 originality. . . . You are right in believing 

 that one works, or at least that one can work, 

 better in Paris than elsewhere, and I should 

 esteem myself happy if I had my nest there, 

 but who will make it for me ? I am myself 

 incapable of making efforts for anything but 

 my work. . . . 



28 



