the associations between
causes and effects, means and ends, but tend altogether to
weaken those which are, to speak familiarly, a _mere_ matter of feeling.
They are, therefore, I thought, favorable to prudence and clear-sightedness,
but a perpetual worm at the root both of the passions
and of the virtues; and above all fearfully undermine all desires and
... all except the purely physical and organic; of the entire insufficiency
of which to make life desirable, no one had a stronger conviction
than I had.... All those to whom I looked up were of the opinion
that the pleasure of sympathy with human beings, and the
feelings which made the good of others, and especially of mankind
on a large scale, the object of existence, were the greatest and surest
sources of happiness. Of the truth of this I was convinced, but to
know that a feeling would make me happy if I had it, did not give
me the feeling.[1]

[Footnote 1: Mill: _Autobiography_ (Holt edition), p. 138.]

A generous degree of susceptibility to the emotions of
others makes a man what is variously called "mellow," "humane,"
"large-hearted," "generous-souled." The possession
of such susceptibility is an asset, first, in that it enriches life
for its possessor. It gives him a warm insight into the feelings,
emotions, desires, habits of mind and action of other
people, and gives to his experiences with them a vivid and
personal significance not attainable by any hollow intellectual
analysis. It is an asset, moreover, in the purely utilitarian
business of dealing with men. The statesman or executive
who deals with men as so many animate machines, may
achieve certain mechanical and arbitrary successes. But he
will be missing half the data on which his decisions must be
based if he does not have a live and sensitive appreciation of
how men feel when placed in given situations. The placing of
women in positions of labor management where women chiefly
are to be dealt with is an illustration of the recognition of the
importance of sympathy, fellow-feeling in the management
of human affairs. One of the reasons why many university
scholars make poor teachers is because they cannot place
themselves back at the point where a subject was as live and
fresh and virgin to them as it is to their students.

An extraordinary degree or a decided hypertrophy of emotional
susceptibility is as dangerous a trait as its possession in
a reasonable degree is a utility and an enrichment of