'SUNDAY OREGONIAX, POKTLAM), APRIL-' 28, 1912.
SCJVCE mOBS
I HAVE been asked by tome of my
Itlrl readers If I do not throw too
much of m glamour and halo about
love. They believe that poets exag
gerate moat principle and Ideal lov
most the rest. They may at times
Idealize the principle, but the prtnclpl
la there. Ive la the foundation atone
f society and can be destroyed only
whpn civilization Is wiped away.
It la the one force that can hold o
elety together at all ilmn and under
all conditions. Though It la born In
the home and In the family, these many
small tributaries Join Into a great rive
that flowa atradlly onward. It sweet
ena and purifies humanity as much as
It doea the home, and gives men and
women a worthy Ideal, a high purpose.
Soma people think that love falls
short of Its purpoee because It doea not
alwaya result In happiness, but happl
ness Is not the full purpose of love,
This Is fully set forth In Ellen Key's
book on Love and Ethics.
She says: "Some thinkers argue for
love to demand happiness Is downright
rebellion against the welfare of the
state. History, ethnography, and na
ture do not bear out the theory that
happiness Is always to be achieved by
Individualism In love. The basic Idea
of love and marriage Is that society
must bo so adjusted as to make th
happiness of the Individual subserve th
betterment of the species. Men and
women should Join In holy wedlock by
other tests than love. The questions of
their physical and mental compatibility
are of more Importance to the human
race."
Great Aid te the fpertem.
She aaya that such teaching leada
nowhere, not even to the advance of
the race. "I believe that in love, hu
manity has found the form of selection
moat conducive to the ennoblement of
the species. This may be an unproved
hypothesis. All I plead for la a greater
freedom In love, that we may have the
opportunity of studying; Ita effect. I
also -urge that In the study of influ
ences of. heredity more attention be
paid to the effect of love."
Education and cultural efforts cer
tainly have their effect on Individuals,
but this Is small, compared with the
magnificent Influence that love haa on
Individual as well aa on the species.
Tou wonder how this force ran be made
an agent for good In evolution. Tou.
yes. every one of you, csn build a
bridge to lead from the present chaoa
In love toward the one personal love
relation. This Is the only way In which
love can be rid of Its Irrational char
acter. It la not necessary, aa Goethe says,
that In love everything Is a hazard be
rause everything depends on chance.
This la only ao because we do not un
derstand tha undiscovered laws. The
time Is close at hand when we shall
understand the true relation between
the body and the mind, and the true
relation between souls.
Ne To Sala Alike.
No two souls are alike any more
than are any two people. There are
pure souls who. upon discovering a
new soul, can forget their previous
experiences aa If they had never oc
curred; other pure'soula there are who,
because they have erred In their great
lore, have lost their capacity for fur
ther experiences.
Lore Is not something that haa sud
denly appeared In the world by miss
and chance. It Is a rreat force that
had to be born. grow, and develop. It
also haa a growing power In creating:
a beautiful, dignified life. This Is
shown by the fact that there was a
time In most parta of the world when
young people were united without any
thought or consideration being Riven
to tha question whether they loved
each other or not.
Marriage through love la the eafest
kind of marriage, because the forces
that liberty has set free work against
the dangerous consequences of liberty.
Goethe has voiced this truth when he
aays that the aim of life la life Itself.
If this Is so, then lov Is a religion and
not only love, but every aplritual ex
pression of life Is this. There Is no
other principle on which tha body,
mind and aoul can develop.
It meana that lova creates new be
ings and when created this bilng will
enlarge from generation to generation.
For lovo la not only tha Impulse by
wTilelr tha human Taea obtalna new
members. It Is the Impulse by which
the hurasn race will become more
closely welded together and ennobled
la & way In which the children will
Inherit from their parents the great
power to love, a power which In all
human relations will react upon the
soul of mankind. For everything In
IMa la co&oscted with sex iove. It
stands In the most Intimate relation
with work, religion and rrt. Take love
out of life and all these forces would
be lost.
I-eve Most Enlarging.
Borne men and women believe that I
exaggerate what Dante calls the ln
telleto d'amore of the Intelligence of
love. They should remember the Im
portant fact that love in all lta mani
festations Is of all feelings the most
soul enlarging, the jiost unifying,
especially that love which absorbs
what Is the highest In all other loves
because It forms, as no other love does.
the unity of the soul and the senses of
the Individual and of the social life,
because it forma the Innermost car
pels of the great mystical world rose,
around which all other leaves cluster.
I personally do not belfeve that there
is any truth In the charge sometimes
made these days that there are too
manv words wasted on love and too
much Importance attached to It. It
sounds rational to say that happiness
In the love of two young people Is an
essential part of the happiness of the
community, that accordingly their main
duty is their love. It Is their first and
great duty In marriage, and if tney
fulfill this they can fulfill others that
come later.
Charlotte Perkins Oilman believes
that the right kind of love will do aa
much for the Individual and society ss
Ella Key's would have. "But love will
serve as the foundation or aocieiy in
stead of the chains to enslave women,
There was a time when marriage and
11 conjugal relations existed without
love. In her rudimentary position, wo
man waa denied all knowledge, she waa
denied the moral freedom of being
mistress of her own action, and of
learning by the merciful law of conse
quences what was right and what was
wrong, and she has remained, perforce,
undeveloped In the larger Judgment of
ethic.
Growth Develapa tw Vlrtaes.
"There have been two forces at work
that enlarged woman's sphere, the one
waa work and tha other was love. It
la hard to aay how deeply crushed wo
men would have been had they not
played an Important part In the main
tenance of life. Had this need con
tinued and kept pace with this feeling
of love It la Impossible to imagine the
relation that might have existed be-
ween men and women of the present
time.
For the ceaseless growth of human
life, aoclal life has developed In him
new virtues, later, higher, more need'
ful; and the moral nature of woman as
maintained In this rudimentary atage
by her economic dependence Is a con
tinual check to the progress of the
human souL The main feature of her
life the restriction of her range of
duty to the love and service of her own
Immediate family acts upon us as a
retarding influence, hindering tha ex-
nslcn of the spirit of social love and
service on which our Uvea depend."
I believe that love haa a broader
hannel than what Mrs Gllman con
ed e a. but this la certainly true, that
love must be nurtured by common In
terests and sympathy at all times to
get the richest results.
Maeterlinck believes that there Is no
ex In love, and rightly ao. It la a
question of two souls being; drawn to
each other, naturally and spontaneous
ly. When this Is so there can be no
question of mastership or superiority.
It Is as ridiculous to consider love from
tbl.2 point of view as It would be to
talk of the sun being the master of
the flowers and the rain controlling
tho earth and grans. The one la com
plement to the other and necessary to
It. They are two opposite magnetic
forces that are Impelled to each other
by their physical, mental and spiritual
vibrations. "
The kingdom of love is before all
else the great kingdom of certitude, for
It is within Its bounds that the soul is
possessed of the utmost leisure. There
truly they have naught to do but to
recognize each other, offer deepest ad
miration, and ask their questions
tearfully like the maid who has found
the sister she haa lost while far away
from them, arm links In arm and
breathe are mingling.
At last has a moment come when they
can slmle and live their own lives
for a truce has been called in the stern
routine of dally existence and It Is
perhaps from the heights of this smile
and these Ineffable glancea that springs
the mysterious perfume that pervades
love's dreariest moments, that preserves
forever the memory of the time when
the lips first met.
There arc times wfcen Destiny shuts
11 -. u hs.
1- w 'J- 2s -?ri i Jr- J"
s j, I
her eyes, but she know full well that
when evening falls we shall return to
her and the last word roust be hers.
She may shut her eyes, but the time till
she reopen them Is time that is lost.
Love certainly has Its standards, but
what they are lovers cannot say, nor Is
It necessary that they tell. A great
ainger knows when he reaches the
standard of excellence, but how he haa
achieved that end he most often cannot
tell. As soon aa he tries to analyse hla
work too closely It falls short of that
standard.
"Do you think that It Is for a sublime
word I thirst when I feel that a soul
Is gazing Into my soul?" ssys one. "Do
I not know that the most beautiful of
thoughts dare not raise their heads
when tha mysteries confront them? I
Ife fM -JiM
am ever standing- at
the seashore, and
were I Plato. Pascal, or Michael Ange
lo. and the woman I loved merely tell
ing me of her errings, the words I
I would say and the words she would
say would appear but the same
as they floated on the waves of the
fathomless Inner sea that each of us
would be contemplating in the other.
"Let but my loftiest thoughts be
weighed In the scale of life or love. It
will not turn the balance against the
three little words that the maid who
loves me shall have whispered of her
silver bangles, her pearl necklace, or
her trinkets of glass." ,
'Love the Great I pllfter.
Emerson Is another of the modern
philosophers who believe that there Is
no' question of sex nor superloity In
love. It Is the world's great uplifter
and makes gods of common mortals.
He says: "The Introduction to this
felicity Is in a tender and private re
lation of one to one. which Is the en
chantment of human life; which, like a
certain divine rage and enthusiasm,
seizes on men at one period and works
a revolution in his mind and body;
unites him to his race, pledges him to
domestic relation, carries him with new
sympathy Into nature, enhances the
power of the senses, opens the imagina
tion, adds to his character heroic and
sacred attributes, establishes marriages,
and gives permanence to human so
ciety." It is only natural to associate love
with the heyday of youth, though the
purest and noblest kind of love can be 1
0 -
- 'frb-"' . II
experienced late In life. The delicious
fancies of youth are not awakened by
deep philosophy, but they do under
stand the strains of love. But the
human heart to be refreshed and to be
kept youthful must be watered by the
streams of love.
Arrakenlng of the Schoolboy.
"The rude schoolboy teases the girls
about the schoolhouse door, but today
he comes running into the entry and
meets one fair child disposing her
satchel; he holds her books to help
her, and instantly it seems to him as
If she removed herself from him In
finitely and was a sacred precinct.
Among the throng of girls he runs
rudely enough, but one alone distances
him; and those two little neighbors
that were so close Just now have
learned to respect each other's per
sonality. "In the illage they are on a perfect
equality, which love delights in, and
without any coquetry, the happy, af
fectionate nature of woman flows out
in this pretty gossip. The girls may
have little beauty, yet plainly do they
establish between them and the good
boy the most agreeable and most con
fiding relations; what with their fun
and their earnest about Edgar, and
Jonas and Almira, and who was In
vited to the party, and who danced at
the dancing school, and when the sing
ing school would begin, and other no
tions concerning which the parties
cooed.
"By and by that boy wants a wife,
and truly, and heartily, will he know.
'O
s
where to find a sincere and sweet mate,
without any risk such as Milton de
PROBLEMS OF THE BLIND
HE following article is written by
H. E. Robinson, who, handicapped
by total blindness, has succeeded
in making a living by running a news
stand in New York, by selling hosiery
to the trade, and still has found time
to write vaudeville sketches, one of
which has Just been accepted for pro
duction. Herewith he presents a new
aspect of the attitude of the world
toward the sightless.
Most people have met or know some
sightless person, yet they accept too
casually the result or lack of result of
their efforts, having little or no con
ception of the struggle attending even
the smallest effort at self-support.
The experience of the'average sight
less man trying to earn a living is one
long effort to get away trom the char
ity aspect almost always given to any
endeavor on his part. It seems almost
Impossible for anyone buying from him
to feel that it is a straight business
proposition such as they would con
sider from anyone, yet it is a fact that
the sightless almost always offer the
same or better wares as those sold by
the seeing.
I have not always been without
sight; in fact, had very good Bight un
til about 19, at which time I lost the
use of one eye, and until about five or
six years ago had partial sight in the
other, sufficient to get about and work
with, after which time it began rap
Idly to fall, making it impossible for
me to work and leaving me without
even a perception of Kght, about three
and a half years ago.
At the time my sight became im
paired the doctors told me thai I must
not do anything that required any
steady use of my eye. This left an ex
tremely narrow field for endeavor, I
having to give up opportunity after
opportunity because It entailed consid
erable use of my eye or considerable
physical exertion.
Within these limitations for a num
ber of years I attempted to earn a liv
ing and at the same time conserve my
eyesight, with the pleasant result of
seeing myself standing still. I would
have done better had I not always
been filled with the force-sapping fear
of the entire loss of my sight.
I had been engaged in a seljing posi
tion and so naturally turned in that di
rection when making a new start, try
ing several things in succession with
out any success. A friend offered to
make an arrangement lhat would make
It possible for me to get a line of
FOND THEORIES ARE HIT
fV A.N has been led to believe that his
1 I brain and his will were peculiar
endowments which placed him at tho
head of the animal creation. We flat
tered ourselves accordingly.
Now comes along Professor Jacques
Loeb, of the RockeTller institute, with
some disparaging remarks about both
that knock our self-conceit endways.
Brains are superfluous and will power
is only "galvanotropism." What a diz
zy drop for the lord of creation! He
has fallen back to a place beside the
tadpole, though he may still hope, re
membering that Victor Hugo called
him "the tadpole of an archangel."
Dr. Loeb recently lectured at Gene
va on The signincance 01 rropisms
for Psychology." In his lecture he
stated than most animals are biyit
symmetrically, that is, with two ex
actly similar sides. They are chemi
cally as well as structurally symme
trical. Hence, if stimulated on one
side more than another they tend to
turn to the side affected until the
stimulation is the same on both sides.
This is what heads a butterfly to tho
light or a tadpole toward the pole of
an electrical current. ine oesire 01
the moth for the star" Is a purely poe
tic concept. It is not desire or will,
but purely a chemical stimulation.
Small crustaceans placed in an aquar
ium which is darkened on one side and
to which a certain amount of carbonic
acid is added will invariably seek Its
lighted side. The acid acts as a chem
ical stimulant.
Animals which have never met with
an electric current become sensitive
plores as incident to scholars and great
men.
"It is one of the beautiful oases of
life's wilderness. Whatever experiences
the individual has in later life he looks
back to his time of romance and court
ship with delight and charm. The re
membrance of these visions outlasts
all other remembrances, and is a
wreath of flowers on the oldest brow.
It reminds us of the fact that youth Is
a watcher of windows, student of
gloves, veils, ribbons and even the
noises made by carriage wheels. Other
memories are written In water, but the
recollections made by love are enam
eled in fire."
hosiery direct from the Importing mill
agent. I secured a line of samples
and started out, but soon I found my
goods were not giving satisfaction.
Right here I learned the most Im
portant lesson a sightless agent can
learn that he cannot succeed by sel
ling the same goods as any one else,
for less money they must not be
cheaper but better. This more exacting
criticism of goods bought from tho
sightless is of course unconscious, but
is no less real for that reason and puts
the blind in a very difficult position.
After spending considerable time go
ing over samples I found a line which
stood every test that could be given it
in the way of wear. It was, however,
higher In price than the average per
son Is in the habit of paying, but much
cheaper in the long run. With this I
started In to work again, but found it
impossible to resell to my original cus
tomers, as they would not buy my goods
again even had they been at the same
price, and a higher one was -out of the
question. This meant making an en
tirely new market, which was immense,
ly more difficult.
It would be a pleasure to sell this line
if I had enough customers, for there is
practically never a complaint, but it
looks as if I would have to give it up
for lack of enough customers to keep
me busy. One is constantly losing
track of customers. I started out one
morning and the first six places I went
to the people had moved. For this rea
son I started a news stand. I am glad
I did now, as it now seems that I shall
have to rely on it mainly, if not entire
ly, and put all my time in there, for
while I am able to hold practically all
the hosiery trade I have got, except
customers lost by removal, I do not
seem to advance in that line.
It is impossible for any one with
sight to realize the effort required by
the sightless to earn a living. If the
sightless person attempts to earn a
living standing or sitting at some par
ticular place, the nervous strain is ex
hausting; they hear sounds all about
them and they are so continuously at
tempting to figure out their meaning
that the effort at concentration on their
work is immensely greater than to any
one else.
It is, however, to the person who has
had sight Immensely preferable, as he
feels that at least he is doing some
thing; whereas thj sitting in one place,
even when fairly busy, gives an impres
sion of inaction, and dull periods are
unbearable.
to it in a marked degree, thereby dis
proving the theory that animals pos
sess only traits that are due to natural
selection by a long process of the
"survival of the Attest." This sensi
tiveness is called "galvotropism" and
is rather a body blow to Darwin's
theory.
Berlin boasts of a dog both of whose
brain hemispheres were removed and
who was yet trained to walk, swal
low, lap milk and otherwise act like
a normal dog, which goes to show that
brains are not as essential as we used
to think they were.
Then and Now Considered.
Prior to the last 15 years, by the time
people had attained their first quarter
of a century, they considered them
selves pretty much formed as to phy
sical and mental characteristics. If
they were ambitious and energetic, they
perhaps carried on some kind of exer
cise for their physical well-being, and
guarded against mental deterioration as
they advanced In years by occasionally
taking up new studies or reviewing old
ones; as a dear old lady of my acquaint
ance at the age of 89 began to review
her algebra to keep her mind active.
Now everything is changed. We can
not . settle down comfortably in the
thought of anything in the regular rou
tine of life which we may not be called
upon , to alter at a moment's notice.
Most of us have found that few of our
established habits are right, and that
unless we are willing to be left hope
lessly behind our associates we must
learn over again all that we. acquired in
infancy, and that has since become a
matter of automatic action.-' Atlantic,