n able to invent no new names in America, but have
taken from the aboriginal inhabitants, and from the immigrants out of
the old world, their names for rivers, mountains, towns, and men; and I
would here like to ask,--has the new world succeeded in adding a new
ethical principle to those already established?"

"Certainly," interposed Sonnenkamp, "the best that there is going."

"The best! What is it?"

"The two significant words,--'Help yourself.'"

Shaking his head, Clodwig said,--

"Strictly speaking, 'Help yourself' is not a human, but an animal
principle; for every beast helps himself with all his powers. This
maxim was only justifiable as a protest against a polished and hollow
conventionalism, or against that utter abandonment of individual effort
in demanding every thing from the State. 'Help yourself' is a good
motto for an immigrant, but as soon as he becomes a settler, he stands
in relations of rights and duties as regards others. In the far west of
America, 'Help yourself' does not apply, for there the neighbors help
each other a great deal. 'Help yourself' is of avail, at farthest, for
individuals by themselves, and not for those assembled in a community:
the serfs could not help themselves, and the slaves have not been able
to help themselves. The moral law of solidarity is,--'Help thy
neighbor, as thy neighbor is to help thee; and when thou helpest
thyself, thou helpest also others.'"

Here they came upon the subject so happily turned aside at table, but
as no one seemed disposed to resume it, Clodwig continued,--

"It would seem that every people must become adopted as a citizen in
the great realm of history, through some idea. I believe that the grand
calling of America is, to annihilate slavery from the face of the
earth. But as I said before, this is the carrying out of an idea that
has been for a long time maturing. I should like to ask if America has
any new moral principle?"

"Perhaps the sewing-machine is a now moral principle," said Pranken, in
his free, joking manner.

They laughed.

"But there _is_ a moral principle involved in 'Help yourself,'"
interposed Eric. "Among us Europeans, a man becomes something through
inheritance, or through royal favor, while the American looks for
nothing from others, and seeks to become what he can be through his own
efforts, and not through any foreign help. And in respect to that
belief which regards man as a pack of merchandise, to be forwarded by