62 MY LIFE 



every individual to be treated with personal respect. With 

 them this principle is taught from childhood, and pervades 

 every class of society, while with us it was only recognized by 

 the higher classes, and by them is rarely extended to inferiors 

 or to children. The feeling that demands this recognition is 

 certainly strong in many children, and those who have 

 suffered under the failure of their elders to respect it, can 

 well appreciate the agony of shame endured by the more 

 civilized Eastern peoples, whose feelings are so often outraged 

 by the total absence of all respect shown them by their 

 European masters or conquerors. In thus recognizing the 

 sanctity of this deepest of human feelings these people mani- 

 fest a truer phase of civilization than we have attained to. 

 Even savages often surpass us in this respect. They will often 

 refuse to enter an empty house during the absence of the 

 owner, even though something belonging to themselves may 

 have been left in it ; and when asked to call one of their sleep- 

 ing companions to start on a journey, they will be careful not 

 to touch him, and will positively refuse to shake him rudely, 

 as an Englishman would have no scruple in doing. 



