EDITOR'S TABLE. 



269 



then society deserves no such reproach. 

 Finally, if to be vulgar means to possess 

 and cultivate individuality, to study the 

 principles of taste, and to consider these 

 as more entitled to respect than the 

 dictates of fashion, to regard advantages 

 of wealth and position as held in trust 

 for mankind at large, and to make the 

 enjoyment of pleasure secondary to the 

 performance of duty, the accusation of 

 vulgarity is very much beside the mark. 



The word " vulgar," as we all know, 

 means " appertaining to, or character- 

 istic of, the multitude." We have not 

 turned up the word in the dictionary, 

 for we feel sure this definition will suf- 

 fice. An infallible rule, therefore, for 

 being vulgar according to the measure 

 of your ability, is to keep your eye on 

 others, so that whatsoever they do you 

 may do also, irrespective of your own 

 judgment as to the merits of the partic- 

 ular act or course of action. If you be- 

 gin to study the right or wrong of the 

 thing, to consider whether what suits, 

 or seems to suit, others is also suitable 

 to you if, in a word, you bring private 

 judgment and a moral or aesthetic con- 

 science to bear on the matter you at 

 once run the risk of not being vulgar, 

 and that is a risk which a good many 

 persons do not care to run. " As well 

 out of the world as out of the fashion " 

 is the whole law and gospel of vulgarity, 

 seeing that it is the maxim which com- 

 pels people to abnegate and set at nought 

 their private judgment, and act blindly 

 in troops at the bidding of some un- 

 seen and possibly very despicable master 

 of ceremonies. 



We begin to see now, perhaps, what 

 the eminent clergyman meant when he 

 said that "society" was vulgar. He 

 did not mean any of the things first 

 hinted at. He was thinking of the es- 

 sential meaning of the word. He saw, 

 with a clearness of vision which it 

 would be well if all ministers of the 

 gospel possessed, that luxury does not 

 shut out vulgarity, that so-called polite 

 manners are not incompatible with it, 



that even educational acquirements may 

 only, like varnish, bring out its grain 

 more distinctly. He saw that ""society," 

 when all is said and done, lives mainly 

 to eat and drink and nourish the bodily 

 senses ; that far from believing in and 

 cultivating individuality, it represses it 

 to the utmost ; that, instead of discuss- 

 ing, like citizens of a free republic, the 

 codes by which it is governed, it only 

 asks to know that they have been im- 

 posed by some recognized authority ; 

 that, in a word, it is whatever is most 

 commonplace, glorified by the power of 

 gold. So he ventured to say it was 

 vulgar, and, if it is not, then what is it? 

 It is, broadly speaking, a region of tin- 

 sel, of monotonous routine, of rival 

 vanities so alike in their expression that 

 one is hardly to be distinguished from 

 another, and of slavish imitation. The 

 way of escape from this City of De- 

 struction lies through the cultivation 

 of individuality and thoughtfulness for 

 others. As the essence of vulgarity 

 is to be a selfish, unreflecting slave of 

 fashion, so the farthest remove from it 

 is to be a freely thinking, judging, and 

 acting individual, seeking ever higher 

 modes of life, and desiring to communi- 

 cate as much of good as possible to 

 others. The aim of education ought to 

 be to rescue from vulgarity and win 

 over to a broad humanity to plant the 

 law of reason in the mind and the law 

 of love in the heart. 



THE several psychological works of 

 Prof. James Sully are so widely read 

 and frequently cited in America that 

 their author needs no introduction to 

 the readers of the MONTHLY. Accord- 

 ingly, we feel that we are making a very 

 welcome announcement in stating that 

 Prof. Sully has consented to contribute 

 to this magazine a series of articles em- 

 bodying some of the studies of mental 

 development in childhood that he has 

 been making during the past few years. 

 The first of these articles, under the 



