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At close of day, your Northerner is pleased
with himself. He has survived; he has even prospered. His family is
adequately housed and clothed. He feels 'presentable,' as he calls it,
in the eyes of those who share his illusions. He fancies he has
attained the aim and object of existence. He is too dazed with the
struggle to perceive how incongruous his efforts have been. What has he
done? He has sacrificed himself on the altar of a false ideal. He has
not touched the fringe of a reasonable life. He has performed certain
social and political duties--he knows nothing of the duties towards
himself. I am speaking of men from whom better things might have been
expected. As for the majority, the crowd, the herd--they do not exist,
neither here nor anywhere else. They leave a purely physiological mark
upon posterity; they propagate the species and protect their offspring.
So do foxes. It is not enough for us. Living in our lands, men would
have leisure to cultivate nobler aspects of their nature. They would be
accessible to purer aspirations, worthier delights.


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