ALL 'S RIGHT WITH THE WORLD 



he is seized with the spirit of adventure and plants 

 colonies and kingdoms. Born in another, he rusts 

 out at home. One age is of one complexion, another 

 of another; one is an age of faith, the next an 

 age of skepticism; the enthusiasm of one age is 

 the joke of the next. We are puppets all, and obey 

 unseen masters. The Time-spirit sets its seal upon 

 us. The electric currents or the waves of vibration 

 that cause the steel filings to spring into patterns 

 are like the influences in an age that cause men to 

 form parties and groups of one kind or another, 

 swayed by a common impulse, the origin of which 

 is in the will of none of them. 



What, then, becomes of the freedom of the will 

 of which we are all conscious ? We do as we like. 

 Yes, but what determines our liking ? In this free- 

 dom fate is deftly concealed. Our choice is along 

 the lines of forces or inborn tendencies of which 

 we are unconscious. We are free to do as our in- 

 herited traits, our temperament, our environment, 

 our training, the influence of the climate over us, 

 and the geography and geology about us and be- 

 neath us decide. But these things are vital in us, 

 and therefore we are unconscious of them. Hence 

 our sense of free choice is not obstructed ; we still 

 do as we like, only something beyond our wills 

 determines what we shall like. 



The intellectual nature of man was developed 

 long before his moral nature. His sense of beauty, 

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