THE ORIGIN OF PROVINCIALISM 287 



squirrel and quail, and shoot murderous balls into 

 their beautiful bodies for food or fun — unless he 

 were a savage. No human being would lounge 

 all day about the margins of a brook, blind to 

 the beauties of the stream and the glories of forest 

 and sky, in order to thrust brutal hooks into the 

 lips of those whom he deceives, and drag them 

 from their waters to suffocate in the sun — unless 

 he were a savage. No human being would have 

 palaces and parks and yachts and equipages, 

 townships of lands, packs of hounds, and studs of 

 horses, troops of lackeys and nothing to do, when 

 all around him are the men and women who made 

 this wealth, half clad and half starved, suffocating 

 in shanties and working like wretches from morn- 

 ing till night — unless he were a savage. All of 

 these deeds are savage deeds, deeds of exceeding 

 thoughtlessness and brutality, and, instead of 

 being enjoyable, are to every emancipated mind 

 positively painful. 



Hunting, fishing, and fighting are the chief 

 occupations of savage life. Back of the activities 

 displayed in these occupations are powerful in- 

 stincts prompting and sustaining them. Civilised 

 peoples are devoted primarily to the arts of in- 

 dustry and peace. But there are enough savages 

 in every civilised society, and enough of the savage 

 spirit in those who pretend to approximate the 

 civilised state, to give to civilised life a decidedly 

 barbaric aspect. War is a more or less regular 

 exercise, and killing and com pet m^- and torturing 

 enter largely into the pastimes of all peoples. 



