CHAPTER XV.

THE POSSIBLE DECAY OF REVERENCE.

THE style of addressing parents in the good old times was very formal. A son called his father "sir." It raises a smile to read the Paston letters, wherein, among others, Margaret Paston addresses her husband as Right wurshipfull husbonde, and a servant begins his letter in the following terms: Right reverent and wurshipfull sir and my especiall good maister. These were common phrases of courtesy in the fifteenth century. Many of them lingered to the beginning of the present century. We are no sticklers for phrases, and on the whole we prefer the simpler and more natural terms which prevail now. At the same time, it would be a thousand pities to lose what was good in the old feeling.

When the first wonder of childhood passes away a strong reaction often sets in. The young man becomes wiser than all his teachers. Life is very

slow till he comes to push the world on with his vigorous arms. Impetuous in his disposition, he cannot brook the delays by which, as he thinks, necessary reforms are hindered. As to wisdom being with the old, he has a strong opinion that the very opposite is the case. The torrent of early feeling, even in generous souls, does not aid the growth of reverence.

Nor do the special circumstances of our own time help us much in the cultivation of this virtue. The foible of the nineteenth century is omniscience. There is wonder and there is poetry in science, but these are not the sides prominently presented in our own day. The know-nothing period has been succeeded by the know-everything one. It is considered "bad form " to be too much surprised at anything. Tell a young man of the period that astronomers have discovered that the sun's light will cease next month, and he will reply that he thought next week was the time fixed. It is the function of criticism to produce in us noble feelings concerning truly noble subjects. Instead of this, it has often debased itself to very vile uses. It is in a large measure responsible for the mocking and cynical spirit which poisons social and intellectual intercourse.

The animal spirits of a young man may easily

There is nothing

Nothing is more

lend new zest to this tendency. which he enjoys more than fun. justifiable and natural, and few things more healthy. But stay; fun at whose expense, and at the expense of what? There are some subjects that even the buffoon must let alone. You are not a pantaloon or a clown. Even if you were, it would be at your own risk to joke on some subjects. Draw the line rigidly and sternly, and learn by a delicate insight to reverence the truly reverential.

The Patriarch Job gives a touching account of the respect which he received in the days of his prosperity; and, amongst other things, tells of the way in which, at his approach, “the young men saw me, and hid themselves."* You may generally tell when a young man is a gentleman by noticing his speech and conduct in reference to the elders. It is an agreeable thing to offer your arm to a charming young lady, but the old lady in her armchair would be cheered by the sight of your healthy face and the sound of your voice. The word “governor,” with which so many dub their father, grates on my ear; and it certainly is not pretty to hear a wife call her husband by his surname. These objections may be fastidious and old* Job xxix. 8.

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fashioned; but though we have no wish to return to the phrases of the Paston letters, it must be confessed that they sound better than the social slang of our own days.

How far this slang governs our thought and vulgarizes it, I am not prepared to discuss. It is a sign at least of changed feeling; a feeling which I am not prepared altogether to condemn, but which I certainly would not praise or recommend. It bodes nothing but mischief when a young man has no deeper feeling for his parents than is expressed by the terms "governor " and "old lady.”

The way in which public men are criticized by the press often aids the irreverence of the times. Free speech is absolutely necessary to the progress and preservation of national life and liberty. But in order to be effectual for these ends, it must be exercised within certain bounds, and it must be dignified. The character of public life will not be improved by prurient pryings into private scandals, by low comedy, by the tittle-tattle of "Society" journals, and by the eaves-droppings and communications of literary scene-shifters.

The French Revolution broke up the mysterious sacredness by which institutions, constitutions, and administrations were surrounded. It has not been found possible to restore the old and exploded

pseudo-veneration, which consisted in scraping and bowing before anything or anybody that happened to possess an ornament of gilt. This destructive process was good as far as it went. But we must supplement it by cultivating the spirit of reverence towards all that deserves the exercise of that emotion. Instead of reverencing things because they exist, we have to do it for the intrinsic worth which they possess. This involves inquiry, thought, and the balance of considerations on our part. We must get at the root of things in order to find whether they are worthy of our admiration and care. Thus we shall find that true Radicalism and true Conservatism mean one and the same thing.

But this is no easy task. Reverence springs up only in a duly enlightened and cultured soul. It has its root in an illuminated judgment. The past throws its light on the present. Books of history will be of essential importance to you in forming your judgment as to institutions and facts. Your own heart may then be left to dictate to you what you shall venerate in persons and in places. If you find real heroes in the past, you will not fail to discern noble and worthy characters mingling in your daily life. May these objects of veneration never be shattered; and if they are, be you careful