to be unbounded. The young woman who had felt an interest in
Thomson's development, and to whom he had read his rejected verses and
his uncalled-for philosophy, had joined herself to the Philistines, and
yielded to their influence. She had become Wilcox's wife. His friends
regarded Thomson's failure as a joke. He must not take himself too
seriously, they said. A man should be in touch with his times. "Even
Philistia," one said, "has its aesthetic ritual and pageantry." A wise
man will not despise this ritual, because Philistinism, after all, is
the life of the world.

But Thomson held out. "I pledged my word in Germany," he said, "to
teach nothing that I did not believe to be true. I must live up to
this pledge." And so he sought for positions, and he failed to find
them. Finally, he had a message from a friend that a professorship in
a certain institution was vacant. This message said, "Cultivate
Wilcox." So, in despair, Thomson began to cultivate Wilcox. He began
to feel that Wilcox was a type of the world, a bad world, for which he
was not responsible. The world's servant he must be, if he received
its wages. When he secured the coveted appointment, through the
political pull of Wilcox and the mild kindness of Mrs. Wilcox, he was
ready to teach whatever was wanted of him, whether it was truth in
Germany or not. He found that he could change his notions of truth.
The Wilcox idea was that everything in America is all right just as it
is. To this he found it easy to respond. His salary helped him to do
so. And at last, the record says, he became "_laudator temporis
acti_," one who praises the times that are past. As such, he took but
little part in the times that are to be.

So runs the allegory. How shall it be with you? There are many
Thomsons among our scholars. There may be some such among you. When
you pass from the world of thought you will find yourself in the world
of action. The conditions are not changed, but they seem to be
changed. How shall you respond to the seeming difference? Shall you
give up the truth of high thinking for the appearance of speedy
success? If you do this, it will not be because you are worldly-wise,
but because you do not know the world. In your ignorance of men you
may sell yourself cheaply.

One must know life before he can know truth. He who will be a leader
of men must first have the power to lead himself. The world is selfish
and unsympathetic. B