116 LITEEAEY VALUES 



So with Lincoln, — his greatness was inclusive, not 

 exclusive. 



Ill 



So far as good taste means " good form," and so 

 far as good form is established by social and conven- 

 tional usages of the fashionable world, the poet of 

 democracy has little to do with it. But so far as it 

 is based upon the inherent fitness of things and 

 the health and development of the best there is in 

 a man, so far is he bound to enlist himself in its 

 service. In a world where everybody is educated 

 and reads books, much poor literature will circulate ; 

 but will not the good, the best, circulate also ? Will 

 there not be the few good judges, the saving rem- 

 nant ? Is there not as much good taste and right 

 reason now in England or France as during more 

 rigidly monarchical times ? 



The ideal democracy is not the triumph of bar- 

 barism or the riot of vulgarity, but it is the triumph 

 of right reason and natural equality and inequality. 

 Some things are better than others, better from the 

 point of view of the whole of life. These better 

 things we must cling to and make much of in a demo- 

 cracy, as in an aristocracy. We must aspire to the 

 best that is known and thought in the world. This 

 best a privileged class seeks to appropriate to itself ; 

 a democracy seeks to share it with all. All are not 

 capable of receiving it, but all may try. They will 

 be better able to-morrow if they have the chance 

 to-day. We must not ignore the vulgarity, the bad 

 taste incident to democratic conditions. If we do, 



