I could stand no longer the spectator of such a scene ; my presence was, I felt, an almost sacrilegious intrusion ; as quietly as possible I went away. But that prayer, or the fragments of it I got, had lifted a load from my mind. Next day I met the worthy old man and gave him a warmer shake of the hand than he had got from me for a long time, he not knowing the secret of it, nor
i CORINTHIANS ix. 22 247
ever will in this world. All coldness and alienation of feeling had been melted in the fervour of that prayer which reached my ear and touched my heart. His position I now understood, and I did not think any the less of him for his lingering regard for the old, with which he had now to part.1
(3) Nor is this true only of beliefs. It applies in like manner to prejudice. Nothing in this world is quite so stubborn as prejudice. Nothing is so hard to overcome. Nothing so persists after every reason for its existence has passed away. Some prejudices are the peculiarities of the race, as if they were ingrained in the very nature of their possessors ; some are characteristic of nations; some are local in their boundary, confined to community or time ; and some are purely individual, growing out of environment, or tradition, or training. But how- ever encountered they are relentless. Woe to the man who ruthlessly runs up against them. Prejudice is a universal trait of mankind, and it behoves us, when we encounter it in others, not to try to neutralize or overcome it by a counter prejudice, but rather to stand in awe before it and pay obeisance to one of the common weaknesses of our poor humanity. This is the one and only solvent. Pride of opinion, the force of individual will, the virulence of hatred are all alike powerless before it. When we come to recognize that prejudice has some ground for existence in the order of the world and in the nature of man we begin the process by which it is ultimately to be undermined and uprooted. Kespect a prejudice and you destroy its power for harm. It is like extracting the fangs of a venomous serpent. No matter how vindictive his feeling or his actions, his power for evil is gone. So though the animosity which prejudice has aroused may long remain, its poison has vanished as soon as those who might other- wise be its victims meet it with serenity and patience.
^| To minds strongly marked by the positive and negative qualities that create severity — strength of will, conscious recti- tude of purpose, narrowness of imagination and intellect, great power of self-control, and a disposition to exert control over others — prejudices come as the natural food of tendencies which can get no sustenance out of that complex, fragmentary, doubt- provoking knowledge which we call truth. Let a prejudice be bequeathed, carried in the air, adopted by hearsay, caught in
1 J. Stark, John Murker, 192.
248 ADAPTABILITY
through the eye — however it may come, these minds will give it a habitation : it is something to assert strongly and bravely, something to fill up the void of spontaneous ideas, something to impose on others with the authority of conscious right : it is at once a staff and a baton. Every prejudice that will answer these purposes is self-evident.1
(4) Even human conventions may be deferred to. These, to be sure, lie on the surface of human life and seem not to be related in any vital way either to the established social order or to the progressive movements of the world. Yet they do have great power. There are no inherent reasons why there should be such a marked difference in the styles of dress between men and women. Yet the most persistent efforts, covering years and even generations, by those who bring forth the powerful argument of convenience and health have made but slight difference in changing the time-honoured practice. So with many of our habits and customs; they are superficial but they are commanding. The custom of uncovering the head in a church or other place of public assembly, the habit of saying "good morning," or "good evening," of wishing good health and prosperity to even the most casual acquaintance, are the invariable marks of good breeding, and good breeding is a fundamental requisite of the gentleman or the gentlewoman. No one can make any headway in an influential career who neglects this quality. St. Paul was a gentleman when he said, " I think myself happy, king Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself this day before thee," and that gentlemanliness secured for him a respectful hearing.
^J Darwin's way of looking at himself as an ignoramus in matters of art, was strengthened by the absence of pretence, which was part of his character. With regard to questions of taste, as well as to more serious things, he always had the courage of his opinions. I remember, however, an instance that sounds like a contradiction to this : when he was looking at the Turners in Mr. Buskin's bedroom, he did not confess, as he did afterwards, that he could make out absolutely nothing of what Mr. Euskin saw in them. But this little pretence was not for his own sake, but for the sake of courtesy to his host. He was pleased and amused when subsequently Mr. Ruskin brought him some