is instilled into the higher order of
minds by the order of life as revealed
by science, history, and the arts.
And this idealistic tendency is not
only the poetic temper; it is the hope
and safeguard of society. The real
perils of the race are not material; they
are always spiritual; and no peril
could be greater than the loss of faith
and hope in the possibility of attain-
ing the best things. If men are ever
bereft of their instinctive or rational
conviction that they have the power
ultimately to bring institutions of all
kinds into harmony with their higher
conceptions, they will sink into the
lethargy of despair or the slough of
sensualism. The belief in the reality
of the Ideal in personal and social life
is not only the joy and inspiration of
the poet and thinker; it is also the
salvation of the race. It is imperish-

[[265]]

p264 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p265w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p266

v?