are really material; to pack up their goods,
so to speak, as if they were biscuits or pork, and palm them off in that
guise on an unsuspecting public. In a world where every one is hustling,
the Churches feel they must hustle too; when all the firms advertise,
they must advertise too; when only one thing is valued, power, they must
pretend they can offer power; they must go into business, because
business is going into religion!

It is a curious spectacle! How long will it last? How real is it, even
now? That withered couple, I half believe, hanging on the wall, descend
at night and wander through the land, whispering to all the sleepers
their disquieting warning; and all day long there hovers at the back of
the minds of these active men a sense of discomfort which, if it became
articulate, might express itself in the ancient words:

"My son, the good you can expect is all forlorn,
Men doe not gather grapes from of a thorn."

VIII

RED-BLOODS AND "MOLLYCODDLES"

I am staying at a pleasant place in New Hampshire. The country is hilly
and wooded, like a larger and wilder Surrey; and through it flows what,
to an Englishman, seems a large river, the Connecticut. Charming villas
are dotted about, well designed and secluded in pretty gardens. I
mention this because, in my experience of America, it is unique. Almost
everywhere the houses stare blankly at one another and at the public
roads, ugly, unsheltered, and unashamed, as much as to say, "Every one
is welcome to see what goes on here. We court publicity. See how we eat,
drink, and sleep. Our private life is the property of the American
people." It was not, however, to describe the country that I began this
letter, but to elaborate a generalisation developed by my host and
myself as a kind of self-protection against the gospel of
"strenuousness."

We have divided men into Red-bloods and Mollycoddles. "A Red-blood man"
is a phrase which explains itself, "Mollycoddle" is its opposite. We
have adopted it from a famous speech of Mr. Roosevelt, and redeemed
it--perverted it, if you will--to other uses. A few examples will make
the notion clear. Shakespeare's Henry V. is a typical Red-blood; so was
Bismarck; so was Palmerston; so is almost any business man. On the other
hand, typical Mollycoddles were Socrates, Voltaire, and Shelley. The
terms, you will observe, are comprehensive, and the types very broad.
Generally speaking, men of action are Red-bloods.