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tion they were much retarded hy wars
with new hands of immigrant. If defeat
ed in these, they were again compelled lo
commence the subj ligation of new terri
tory. If victors, they received a new
stock of their original harharism which
threatened to overwhelm what little im
provement had been made in mind or in
manners. Hut notwithstanding thee dis
advantages where did Cork1, find them?
In u city the architecture of which would
have done credit to a nation of Europe;
surrounded hy palaces, treasure-houses
and arsimals; prolicicntin sculpture, met
allurgy and other arts; computing eclips
es and measuring time by the solar year.
Their women educated in reading, writ
ing, arithmetic, music and astronomy.
This change can he due to nothing but
the nuturc of the country, and the decay
that followed is as clearly due to Europe
an cruelty and the incompatibility of the
alien races. And this decay lias furnished
us striking examples of the change in the
race. The generalship of King Philip,
the oratory of Logan and the diplomacy
of Tecumseh are in everything Syrian ra
ther than Turanian.
The government of America must ever
be essentially democratic. Does democ
racy develop or degrade the intellectual
and moral character of a nation One
would think that to point to democratic
Athens and republican Homo would be
sutllcicnt answer to this question. l)e
mocracy in America, however, is the sub
ject. That the United States has not taken the
lead in literature, science and art is evi
dent. That she has been willing in a
great degree to accept the investigations
and receive the theories of other nations
can not be denied. But lo ascribe this
to the form of government is wrong.
It is due to the fact that hitherto more at
tractive llelds of labor have been open to
the American. Competition for wealth
and for political honor has engaged Amer
ican citizens, since the chance for success
has been greater in these occupation than
in arts and sciences, and because every fa.
cility for following them is found hero; in
these pursuits the first great contest takes
place between men on equal footing. In
the contest for wealth the result has been
that in America we find the richest man
in the world while the laboring classes
arc in better circumstances than in any
other nation. When the opportunities
for eminence in these occupations have
been lessened by the incieasing number
of those who engage in them then will
America turn to literature and the arts
with o'irncst endeavor, and her pre-eminence
in them will bo as marked as it is
now in other occupations.
Hut of our moral character. Opponents
of democracy say that we have lost all
chivalry; that we have no disposition for
great self-sacrifice; that the loving ties
which bound the retainer to his lord arc
gone. Yes they are gone and I am thank
Jul for it. If we are free from all the oth
er pious marks invented for purposes
great indeed must be our defects in other
direction to counterbalance this improve
ment. Our moral excellence in other re
spects is now doubted. Only those who pre
for the chivalry of the middle ages to the
universal reverence of woman shown in
the United States, question it at all.
Those who admit that our inferiority
in literature and the science of the pies
out time is due to the supremacy of the
money -making class, assert that the prom
inence of that class will continue. I have
no doubt commerce will always be a pow
erful factor in our nation but in time
here as in Athens, Home, and Italian
cities of the middle ages, commerce from
being the master will becomo the servant
of the intellect. W. P. S.
THE TIDE OF CIVILIZATION.
If the feudal lord, after the lapse of six
centuries, were to return to the site of his
once happy home, his mind would be
lost in the mystery around him. The walls
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