he benefit of their fellow-
men. All this is to come through civilization, through experience.

Men, after a time, will find the worthlessness of great wealth;
they will find it is not splendid to excite envy in others. So,
too, they will find that the happiness of the human race is so
interdependent and so interwoven, that finally the interest of
humanity will be the interest of the individual.

I know that at present the lives of many millions are practically
without value, but in my judgment, the world is growing a little
better every day. On the average, men have more comforts, better
clothes, better food, more books and more of the luxuries of life
than ever before.

_Question_. It is said that properly to appreciate Rousseau,
Voltaire, Hugo and other French classics, a thorough knowledge of
the French language is necessary. What is your opinion?

_Answer_. No; to say that a knowledge of French is necessary in
order to appreciate Voltaire or Hugo is nonsensical. For a student
anxious to study the works of these masters, to set to work to
learn the language of the writers would be like my building a flight
of stairs to go down to supper. The stairs are already there.
Some other person built them for me and others who choose to use
them.

Men have spent their lives in the study of the French and English,
and have given us Voltaire, Hugo and all other works of French
classics, perfect in sentiment and construction as the originals
are. Macaulay was a great linguist, but he wrote no better than
Shakespeare, and Burns wrote perfect English, though virtually
uneducated. Good writing is a matter of genius and heart; reading
is application and judgment.

I am of the opinion that Wilbur's English translation of "Les
Miserables" is better than Hugo's original, as a literary
masterpiece.

What a grand novel it is! What characters, Jean Valjean and Javert!

_Question_. Which in your opinion is the greatest English novel?

_Answer_. I think the greatest novel ever written in English is
"A Tale of Two Cities," by Dickens. It is full of philosophy; its
incidents are dramatically grouped. Sidney Carton, the hero, is
a marvelous creation and a marvelous character. Lucie Manette is
as delicate as the perfume of wild violets, and cell 105, North
Tower, and scenes enacted there, almost touch the region occupied
by "Lear." There, too, Mme. Defarge is the impersonation of the
French Revolution, and the nobl