Along
certain broad lines the Greeks and Romans attained results never
since equalled. But their neglect of other, even more important,
powers and attainments, especially the moral and religious, doomed
them to a speedy decay. The rude northern races were on the whole
better and nobler, and became heirs to Greek art and letters, and
to Roman law. And this is another illustration of the advantage or
necessity of the fusion of races.
To answer the question, "Which stratum or class in the community or
world at large is heir to the future?" we must seek the one which is
still to a large extent generalized. It must be maintaining, in a
sound body, a steady, even if slow, advance of all the mental
powers. It will not be remarkable for the high development or lack
of any quality or power; it must have a fair amount of all of them
well correlated. It must be well balanced, "good all around," as we
say. And this class is evidently neither the highest nor the lowest
in the community, but the "common people, whom God must have loved,
because he made so many of them."
They have, as a rule, fair-sized or large families. Their bodies are
kept sound and vigorous by manual labor. They are compelled to think
on all sorts of questions and to solve them as best they can. They
have a healthy balance of mental faculties, even if they are not
very learned or artistic.
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