and set apart in an order of their own.
The age in which we live affords a
concrete illustration of the vital pro-
cesses in society and means of contact
with that society, but it is comprehen-
sible and educative in the exact degree
in which we understand its relation to
other times. The impression which
the day makes upon us needs to be
tested by the impression which we re-
ceive from the year; the judgment of
a decade must be corrected by the
judgment of the century. The pres-
ent hour is subtly illusive; it fills the
whole stage, to the exclusion of the
past and the present; it appears to
stand alone, detached from all that
went before or is to follow; it seems
to be the historic moment, the one
reality amid fleeting shadows. As a
matter of fact, it is a logical product
of the past, bound to it by ties so elu-

[[190]]

p189 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p190w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p191

v?