314

edn eAddress

things by the way of wrong-loving, he may
descend as it were by steps or degrees from ugly
forms to ugly conduct, and from ugly conduct
to ugly principles, until he finally arrives at the
ultimate principle of all and learns what absolute
ugliness is. And that is vuLcarITY.
Vulgarity—that is our national blemish and
sin. And if I had begun my talk with it I should
not have got very far yet. It is blindness to
Values; it is spiritual death. It pervades all
classes : but the middle classes are the most
deeply infected, and they stand as a dense
barrier between you and the higher education.
It is seen outwardly in their manner of life,
their petty class distinctions, and uneasy pretensions
 to be just a little better off than they
are ; the waste of their money in aping art and
luxury, by which they only make themselves
ridiculous and more uncomfortable; their incapacity
 to see that simplicity, honesty, and
thrift are fair and good, while their pitiful

ambitions and restless affectations are cantemptible.
 I hope that all pretension is as shocking
to you as it must be familiar, May God grant