Adam Bede and Romola impress us
more powerfully and permanently than the best sermons, because the
individual realism in them leads to a vividness of moral judgment of
their acts unequalled. King Lear teaches us the folly of a rash
judgment with overwhelming force. Evangeline awakens our sympathies as
no moralist ever dreamed of doing. Uncle Tom in Mrs. Stowe's story was
a stronger preacher than Wendell Phillips. William Tell in Schiller's
play kindles our love for heroic deeds into an enthusiasm. The best
myths, historical biographies, novels, and dramas, are the richest
sources of moral stimulus because they lead us into the immediate
presence of those men and women whose deeds stir up our moral natures.
In the representations of the masters we are in the presence of moral
ideas clothed in flesh and blood, real and yet idealized. Generosity
is not a name but the act of a person which wins our interest and,
favor. To get the impress of kindness we must see an act of kindness
and feel the glow it produces. When Sir Philip Sidney, wounded on the
battle field and suffering with thirst, reached out his hand for a cup
of water that was brought, his glance fell upon a dying soldier who
viewed the cup with great desire; Sidney handed him the water with the
words, "Thy necessity is greater than mine.
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