158 SAVAGE SUEVIVALS 



nislied Pennsylvania Avenue that late-summer 

 afternoon didn't purpose to allow even a philoso- 

 pher to be comfortable, if by so doing he violated 

 the sacred usage of the tribe regarding straw 

 hats. 



It is often surprising to persons of progressive 

 tendencies that men are so fixed and helpless that 

 they go along year after year and age after age 

 in the same old paths of prejudice, without ever 

 being able to see other and better ways of looking 

 at things. Reforms always move up-hill. Con- 

 verting people to new ideas is like wearing away 

 stone. 



Mental evolution has not proceeded far as yet. 

 Human reason (what there is of it) has grown out 

 of animal instinct. Originality is so rare that it 

 is almost discreditable. The foundations of hu- 

 man thinking are still largely instinctive. 



Progress is not natural. We are geared to go 

 round and round. The reformer should not ex- 

 pect too much. We are only as far along as we 

 are. It is the nature of granite to be hard. And 

 it is the nature of man to be mechanical. 



No wonder we have such high regard for the 

 past! No wonder we shake our heads at new 

 ideas! No wonder we burn our geniuses at the 

 stake! Considering the kind of beings we have 

 been made out of, it is surprising that we are not 

 worse than we are. 



Imitation will not always be stronger than rea- 

 son, but it is today. 



