Life as a Fine Art. 417 



repine, or indulge in useless compunctions and regrets over 

 wasted time : it knows that power only comes by use ; that 

 life grows by what it gives ; that no energy is wasted which 

 adds to the store of energy, and is wisely devoted to worthy 

 ends, however remote the ideal may seem from instant at- 

 tainment. 



The attempt to order human life in accordance with the 

 principles of the Manchester school of political economy 

 must prove a lamentable failure. Living nature will not 

 conform to the small, egoistic parsimonies of an a priori 

 logic. Futile efforts at unwise economies in the vital activi- 

 ties result in confining the energies to a few narrow chan- 

 nels, in the formation of fixed and unyielding habits, in 

 stereotyped modes of thought and action, which are fatal 

 to fullness of life and destructive of its highest utilities. 

 Eunning in ruts, in the end, is the poorest kind of econo- 

 my, for the ruts cut deep into the vital parts of our nature, 

 and curtail life not only in its breadth and intensiveness 

 but also in its duration. 



" The modern doctrine of evolution," says John Adding- 

 ton Symonds, " infuses life into every matter of inquiry." * 

 Especially in its higher implications in philosophy, relig- 

 ion, and social affairs does it come with the benediction of 

 a new light thrown upon the obscure problems of thought 

 and life. Hitherto, in our efforts to solve these problems, 

 we have hardly risen above the empirical plane. A man's 

 religious and philosophical creed, his politics, and his atti- 

 tude toward social problems, have been matters of inherit- 

 ance, of convention, of natural or acquired bias or predi- 

 lection, or, worst of all, of a low self-interest, rather than 

 of thoughtful reflection, study, and vital assimilation. Our 

 professional reformers have indeed occasionally risen above 

 empiricism to the scientific or legal plane in the treatment 

 of these subjects. They have worked unselfishly, desiring 

 the world's advantage; but, failing to grasp the natural 

 laws of growth, their efforts have been largely misdirected. 

 They formulate with mathematical exactness of plan and 

 detail on " scientific principles," as they assert, their schemes 

 for individual salvation and social regeneration anarchis- 

 tic, socialistic, nationalistic, or what not. They measure 

 society and man by their little two-foot rules, and seek to 

 fit the living organism to their Procrustean beds how vain- 



* Essays, Speculative and Suggestive. 



