Repository: UIHistories Project: Convocation - 1942 Winter-Spring [PAGE 77]

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that, despite its admitted error m\ fail mind< I tribunal w uld pronounce il on the whole su< slid. Bui there is something else in m\ opinion, « t 1 t • |ual valt < . xo be thrown into the scale; namely, the effects ol a dcmo< ratic way o* life upon our personal and social characteristic I li itii spirit fosters informality, neighbor!iness, and friendlin< It n less reserve and suspicion between the old and the j ui li m < teachers who arc less comerned about standing on their dignity and laying down dogmatic laws than about inviting frank and arlinquiru It means cordialit} towards strangers. It meai lendii a helping hand, without condescension, to any fellowman in tim< of n< It makes against th< ling that one kind of o upation far superior to another. Anyone who renders honest and competent sen any sort is to be respected: the hanker is not to feel himself 11 \ superior to his postman, his iceman, his gro< ery-boy, or hi 1 bar! r. But the finest result which Democracy has achieved in the inij ovement of human intercourse has been the radical chan which it h gradually brought about in the attitudes of men and women

tow s each other. T h e r e has arisen among us a more wholesome and

happier relationship between young men and young women, between

older men 1 older women, than a n y w h e r e else in the world. It is b rized by complete equality, happy comradeship, utter sincerity by a minimizing of pretense, slyness, coquetry, and maneuvering; nd yet it is a feeling which does not necessarily exclude mutual admiration or even loyalty unto death. The grandeur of our Constitution and Bill of Rights is imposing; but in my opinion an equally precious result of Democracy is found in the kindlier and more humane ttitudes of men, women, and children t o w a r d s one another. 1 should be untrue to my New England n u r t u r e if I did not mention another effect of a genuinely democratic way of life. When '1 Is' y, said "there is no greatness without sincerity and simplicity." h( truck this chord. A b r a h a m Lincoln was an incarnation of that truth. Sincerity, simplicity, and, \ should add. fruj ility, are integral features of the democratic character. Democracy has no greater nemy that ostentatious luxury. If all our fellow citizens are to have qual opportunity to acquire their fair share of our resources, wasteful extravagan is wanton wickedness. Hence we applaud W o r d s w o r t h ' s prot( \\ that "getting and Spending we lay waste our powers." and his ummons to return "to homefell pleasures and to gentle scenes." The aSS iation of a simple, economical way of life is deeply ingrained in our traditions. ( >ne of the most typical oi Americans, Henry Thorcau, said, "Beware of all enterprises th.it require new c l o t h e s ' " When I

quoted that sentence to the lady who is nn hest and severest critic, she remarked, "Then nobody could get married." It seemed to me a

womanish i tion to a r u g g 1 manl\ thought, hut I could onl\ reply