Modern Society
This is a reproduction of a library book that was digitized by Google as part of an ongoing effort to preserve the information in books and make it universally accessible. https://books.google.com THE LIBRARY {._ MODERN SOCIETY. Q BY JULIA WARD HOWE. I)I/\I / , I! /7ff6, BOSTON: ROBERTS BROTHERS. 1881. WWW ‘2 Lowell City Library. 6, Class ......................... ‘. “ Nulnbe p. ....... ................................... ~ ,oemeramw COPYRIGHT, 1880, , BY ROBER l'S BROTHERS. PRINTED BY ALFRED MUDGB AND SON ,l‘r I , i3 0: I 8 ~ 5‘ " e” .53 in 5 CONTENTS I , o D MODERN SOCIETY . 5 CHANGES IN AMERICAN Socnz'rv . 49 ' ~¢.’ '48 um2I 1199154 MODERN SOCIETY. WHAT means this summons,. oh friends! to the groves of Academe? I heard, in the distance, the measured tread of Philosophy. I mused: “ How grave and deliberate is she! How she matches thought with thought! How patiently she ques tions inference and conclusion! ' No irrelevance, no empty ballooning, is allowed in that Concord school. Nothing frivolous need apply there for admission.” And 10! in the midst of this severe entertainment an interlude is called for in the great theatre. The stage manager says, “Ring up Puck. NVanted, an Ariel.” And no Shake~ speare being at hand, I, of the sex much reproved for never having produced one, am invited to fly hither as well as my age and infirmities will allow, and to represent to you that airy presence whose folly, seen from the clouds, is wisdom; that pres ence which, changing with the changes of the year 6 MODERN SOCIETY. and of the day, may yet sing, equally with the steadfast stars and systematic planets,— “ The hand that made me is divine.” Modern society, concerning which you have bid me discourse to you, is this tricksy spirit, many- ; featured and many-gestured, coming in a question able shape, and bringing with it airs from heaven and blasts from hell.
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