age which
they pay to spiritual adventures. They are narrow-minded, but their
narrow-mindedness is relieved by intensity of purpose. They are not
seldom aggressive, argumentative, unpleasant, but they refresh the dry
world by being thoroughly alive. It seems, indeed, as if life were only
made tolerable through the ferment of the desire to reform. Even the
most stagnant pools of the human soul are sometimes stirred by the
breeze of change. We all hope, we all look forward, we all grope for a
future which will be better than the present. In some the hope is firmly
rooted to earth and man-made conventions, in others it soars to
other-worldly perfection.

The world teems with causes and movements that rouse the imagination and
press human lives into the service of the future. The genesis and
development of causes show similar features wherever and whenever they
appear. A soul is astir with an idea, a resentment, a call for change.
Others heed the message, respond to the cry for action, feel that this
idea, this one idea, is the most important in the world. Societies and
leagues are formed, opposition is encountered, and the leader becomes
sanctified through abuse and resentment. The idea is embraced by
hundreds and thousands; it becomes a doctrine, a creed, a mental
atmosphere in which men live and have their being. Fierce battles take
place between the adherents of the idea and the opponents. Blind
prejudice and hatred are encountered. Martyrs are made. The crusade is
hallowed by suffering and sacrifice. It becomes an impelling spiritual
necessity, an expression of religion. Gradually the forces of the
opposition are weakened. Concessions and compromises are offered. There
are signs of the contagiousness of the idea even in the house of the
adversaries. The triumph comes with time, and the turbulent waves of
controversy recede into gentle ripples of approval. And for many a cause
for which men have suffered and died, posterity has but a yawn. "Just
think of it--all that fuss and all that turmoil over something so
obvious."

Seen superficially, this is a fairly accurate account of the fate of
movements for the reform of some glaring injustice, some hoary cruelty
of the past. But is it true? Is the world slowly but surely getting
better--are the monsters of ignorance and tyranny slain one by one by
our great reformers and laid to rest for ever in a grave of ignominy? We
accept the axiom that slavery has been abolished. Of