Aug.
EpMunD Burke once said that} the age of chivalry was gone snd that of iron had succeeded it It would, perhaps, be true} to say that in our day the age of enthusiasm had gone and that of dilettantism has success edit We are blase and disillusioned and sceptical of al that promises short cuts to the millennium. The word enthusiasm comes from the Greek en theos, to be inspired ty a god, The enthused person is so dominated by one idea that, while the inspiration lasts, he, more or less, borders on insanity, Sir Oliver Lodge tells us, in his lecture on Sir Isaac Newton, that while the great astronomer was working out his mathematical proof of the theory gravitation, preoccupied that his mind seem-distraught, Most of us have heard the story that he went to boil an egg for himself and was discovered by his cook standing, deep in thought, with the egg ju his hand and his watch in the pot. The story may not be true but it had so much verisimilitude that it was) certainly believed as a thing! vay likely to be true of Newton in the state of mind in which he then was, Enthusiasm, true to its name, manifests. itself chiefly in the sphere of religion. The early Christians were so possessed ty an overmastering conviction of the truth of their faith that] they embraced death as joyfully] asa lover does his bride, And their devotion wore out the iron will of imperial Rome and placed Christianity on the throne of the Cesars. The reformation came with its new! revelation that Christianity wa: not a hierarchy but a democr and men like Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer and hundreds of others: went to the dreadful stake rather than bate one fora of the truth that made them free. Their constancy was matched by men on the other side and many] Catholic priests suffered torture and death rather than obey the laws that forbade them to minister the rites of their] religion to adherents of their Mohammedanism begets votaries a faith as mocking at the door of the Lords and claiming that peeresses in their own right shall bit in the gilded chamber.
The "Die hards" have thrown out the bill, but a bill thrown out by the "die hards" is as good as carried. They belong, to that class whose opposition, is a greater assert than their support. It is long odds that, the enthusiasm of the women will win out against the obstin~ acy of the mere men who oppose them.
'We have stirred up a hornet' mest by our exposure of he appalling state of the Chapel waterworks, We have no ambition for a' place in the noble army of martyrs, but we have an enthusiasm for pure water and we will continue to agitate until this boon is given to the poorest in Chapel as well as to the richest in Shanghai. We hope that our enthusiasm will be contagious. We rejoice that we already see signs that the matter is being taken up by, those who are in a position to remedy the existing deplorable situation, If life becomes even a little more tolerable the coolie and the mill work we shall think ourselves well repaid for the expenditure of energy at a time when the hot wave rendered any exertion irksome. And we shall be encouraged to go on. The welcome manifestation of Chines public opinion which has forced the authorities to take action, now that should have been taken years ago encourages us to call, attention to other abuses. For} instance, there are the railways. Whom do the railways in China belong to? They were built! and paid for by public funds and so are the property of the Chinese people. But the people are only permitted to travel on their own railways by the grace of the soldiers who have usurped possession of this public pro-y pert A merchant can only! Secure a wagon to load his goods on by paying a heavy! bribe to the particular General who, for the moment, holds control of that section' of the railway over—which _his merchandise must travel. This is an encroachment on the sovereign rights of the Chinese people against which we protest, and will continue to protest until the wrong is righted, uncompromising as was ever manifested by the fiercest Christian sectary. Gibbon tells Arab General who fonvineed a deputation seeking advantageous terms from him hat he would take their city in ite of its strong walls by oilering three of his soldiers to mount a turret and cast them-feives to certain death from its summit, An army inspired by uch enthusiasm was, and ever will be, irresistible. "Buddhism, though' reputed tobe a mild religion, has its catalogue of aint and martyrs as well a ther cults. But enthusiasts, though "admirable in their Contempt of obstacles, are un-Heasant people to live with, hey won't let the rest of us, "ho hold to the easy-going creed gi live and let live, alone. They are cranks; en and short-haired women Wh pester us with their the-until we can no longer lie Auietly in our bed o" nights.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.