Strange evolutions are often witnessed within the life of one individual,
as to what is right and what wrong. For instance, Leo Tolstoy, that great
and good man, once a worldling, has now turned ascetic, a not unusual
evolution in the lives of the saints. Not caring for harmony as expressed
in color, form and sounds, Tolstoy is now quite willing to deprive all
others of these things which minister to their well-being. There is in
most souls a hunger for beauty, just as there is a physical hunger. Beauty
speaks to their spirits through the senses; but Tolstoy would have his
house barren to the verge of hardship, and he advocates that all other
houses should be likewise. My veneration for Count Tolstoy is profound,
but I mention him here simply to show the danger that lies in allowing any
man, even one of the best, to dictate to us what is right.

Most of the frightful cruelties inflicted on mankind during the past have
arisen out of a difference of opinion arising through a difference in
temperament. The question is as live today as it was two thousand years
ago--what expression is best? That is, what shall we do to be saved? And
concrete absurdity consists in saying we must all do the same thing.

Whether the race will ever grow to a point where men will be willing to
leave the matter of life-expression to the individual is a question. Most
men are anxious to do what is best for themselves and least harmful for
others. The average man now has intelligence enough! Utopia is not far
off, if the self-appointed folk who govern us for a consideration would
only be willing to do unto others as they would be done by, and cease
coveting things that belong to other people. War among nations, and strife
among individuals, is a result of the covetous spirit to possess either
power or things, or both. A little more patience, a little more charity
for all, a little more devotion, a little more love; with less bowing down
to the past, a brave looking forward to the future, with more confidence