102 SOCIAL HEREDITY AND SOCIAL EVOLUTION 



of one 's own family, as may be recognized from the 

 attitude of the Bushman above mentioned ; but later 

 it broadened out to include other families, and it has 

 finally expanded to include more or less forcefully all 

 mankind. To-day we speak of the common brother- 

 hood of man, and we are sending our shiploads of 

 food to the starving people of Russia or China, 

 recognizing as our brothers those who live on the 

 other side of the globe as well as those on the other 

 side of the street. 



As this sympathy has broadened it has also deep- 

 ened. The pleasure we take in the happiness of 

 others and the sorrow we feel in their sufferings have 

 become more and more keen. This growing sym- 

 pathy has by no means reached perfection even yet. 

 Even to-day it is insufficient to prevent the oppres- 

 sion of the poor by the rich, or to prevent the corre- 

 sponding marks of enmity of the poor against the 

 rich. But it has been growing constantly, and in 

 spite of the glaring evils which appear in society, 

 leading to antagonistic class organizations, to strikes 

 and lockouts, still, on the whole, the wealthy class 

 has to-day a greater sympathy for the laboring 

 classes than at any other time in the history of civ- 

 ilization. This growing sympathy has organized 

 hospitals, which were formerly undreamed of; it has 

 organized numerous institutions of charity; it has 

 improved the condition of woman. It is to-day bring- 

 ing the wealthy to recognize the existence of ''the 

 other half" and to endeavor to improve their condi- 

 tion. It has led to the highest phases of the ethical 

 nature that have been yet developed. It is true per- 

 haps that with this developing sympathy there has 

 hitherto been an unfortunate tendency to substitute 



