pleased, we no longer beat each other,
but we use the subtler forces of sarcasm, irony, slander, neglect. We
regard directness a rudeness, when in reality it is the greatest
kindness imaginable. Instead of being positive and direct in our
dealings with each other, we constantly exercise a passive cruelty, in
other words, the cruelty of refinement. We are evasive, delusive,
subdued, falsified. But we deceive with dignity, tell falsehoods
fluently, use words and cold behavior as daggers.

To-day we do not turn away an unwelcome visitor, but we announce that we
are not at home; or we slander him behind his back. When we love we
pretend to be modest and indifferent, while, in an indirect way, we
attempt to build walls around the person we love. There is nothing free
in the expression of our emotions, for we are subdued, crushed; we are
civilized!

Everything is sham and hypocrisy, and hidden daggers are everywhere, in
one form or another. These daggers are concealed under kindness,
charity, benevolence, morality, law, and are, therefore, difficult to
deal with. The blades are thrust into the back; you can feel them, but
you cannot grapple with them.

Our inherent cruelty is best illustrated in the treatment we give those
who are absolutely in our power--little children and the dumb animals.
With what authority do we elicit respect and obedience from our little
people! With rod in hand and with venomous tongues we begin the process
of subjugating and civilizing our little free, emotional people. In the
name of "their highest good" do we mould them to be actors, that they
may properly enact the tragedy of life as we had enacted it before them!

The dumb animals receive the cream of our refined cruelty. In order to
appear civilized, we drive in carriages pulled by horses whose spinal
columns have been docked, whose necks are held stiff by tight check
reins, whose eyes are blinded by "fashionable" devices.

There used to be cannibalism and human sacrifices; there used to be
religious prostitution and the murder of weak children and of girls;
there used to be bloody revenge and the slaughter of whole populations,
judicial tortures, quarterings, burnings at the stake, the lash, and
slavery, which have disappeared. But if we have outlived these dreadful
customs and institutions, this does not prove that there do not exist
institutions and customs amongst us which have become as abhorrent to
enlightened reason and conscience a