The critics who disapprove
of my book seem to me to think that all men are cast in the same
mould, and that the principles which hold good for some necessarily
hold good for all. What I like best about their criticisms is that
they are made in a spirit of moral earnestness and ethical
seriousness. I am a serious man myself, and I rejoice to see others
serious. The point of view which they seem to recommend is the
point of view of a certain kind of practical strenuousness, the
gospel of push, if I may so call it. They seem to hold that people
ought to be discontented with what they are, that they ought to try
to better themselves, that they ought to be active, and what they
call normal; that when they have done their work as energetically
as possible, they should amuse themselves energetically too, take
hard exercise, shout and play,
"Pleased as the Indian boy to run
And shoot his arrows in the sun,"
and that then they should recreate themselves like Homeric heroes,
eating and drinking, listening comfortably to the minstrel, and
take their fill of love in a full-blooded way.
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