20 LITERARY ASSOCIATION. 
ation, is no exaggeration. The practice extends regard- 
less of all distinctions. No rank in life is so high, no 
riches are so abundant that their possessors are, on that 
account, free from connection with voluntary associ- 
ations ; and if we look among those whose lives are spent 
in the lowest degradation and poverty, we shall find, in 
some order or other, organization. All sorts and con- 
ditions of men, and associations distinctly belonging to 
each sort and condition. Richman, poorman, beggar- 
man, thief, each and all find the club door open to them. 
When we look at the objects which are sought in 
organization, manifestly these divide into two classes, 
the unselfish and the selfish. The first include the genu- 
inely religious and charitable organizations and the sec- 
ond, all others. In these others are sought the advan- 
tage of the members themselves. ‘The business associ 
ations strive by consultation and united action to im- 
prove methods, develop capabilities and remove ob- 
stacles, that increased profits may accrue ; the artist and 
professional men expect to find in association both incen- 
tive to study and advice and assistance in the prosecu- 
tion of their work, and the others, one and all, have 
associated themselves together because they saw or 
thought they saw, that they themselves should reap 
benefits therefrom. Of course the benefit may not be, 
perhaps rarely is, pecuniary. It may lie wholly in the 
satisfaction which either the pleasure of meeting to- 
gether, or the improvement which is the result of such 
meeting, yields them. Even if the increased efficiency, 
which is sought, is to be afterwards used for the good of 
others, none the less is it true that, in the first place, a 
personal advantage is desired. 
Associations among writers were not common in past 
times. Ata period when guilds were organized in many 
callings for mutual aid and defense, writers dwelt and 
worked apart. And this has been changed, even in our 
