The Days of a Man 



D88 7 



Wendell 



ested primarily in the outcome rather than in the 

 method. Apparently, also, he did not wish to advo- 

 cate any particular plan, although to put the theory 

 into operation one or another must certainly be 

 chosen. His own inclination seemed to be to rush 

 it through at once, thus taxing out of existence land 

 values as distinguished from labor values. He was 

 personally very interesting, and a very effective 

 speaker; but I have never yet got from him or 

 from any of his followers a satisfactory answer to the 

 question of how to substitute land taxation for the 

 old system in effect time out of mind. 



One lecture we had from Wendell Phillips, a man 

 o f g rea t earnestness, with a remarkable command 

 of simple and strong language without labored 

 climaxes or any visible effort at oratorical effect. 

 His theme, "The Lost Arts," naturally demanded 

 no display of the moral vehemence for which he 

 was noted in his campaign against slavery. But it 

 was a delight to see and hear a maker of history; 

 it is well, particularly for young people, to know 

 the great of the passing generation. One of my 

 present regrets is that when younger I did not 

 more often venture to intrude myself on the privacy 

 of men I had learned to worship. I never saw 

 Lincoln, Emerson, Darwin, or Huxley, although the 

 last three were fairly within my reach. 



Henry Ward Beecher also spoke once for us. A 

 man of force and of remarkable personal charm, 

 he had relatively little of the critical faculty which 

 might have saved him from certain exhibitions of 

 undue sentimentalism. But beyond question he 

 deserved well of his country. 



A. Bronson Alcott of Concord was another of our 



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