Page:Free Opinions, Freely Expressed on Certain Phases of Modern Social Life and Conduct.djvu/223

 THE DECAY OF HOME LIFE IN ENGLAND

When people tell the truth they are generally disliked. From Socrates, to the latest of his modern philosophic imitators, the bowl of death-dealing hemlock has always been mixed by the world and held to the lips of those who dare to say uncomfortably plain things. When the late W. E. H. Lecky set down the truth of Cecil Rhodes, in his book entitled The Map of Life, and I, the present writer, ventured to quote the passage in "The Vulgarity of Wealth," when that article was first published, a number of uninformed individuals rashly accused me of "abusing Cecil Rhodes." They were naturally afraid to attack the greater writer. Inasmuch, said they: "If Mr. Lecky had really suggested that Cecil Rhodes was not, like Brutus, 'an honourable man,' he, Mr. Lecky, would never have received the King's new 'Order of Merit,' nor would Mr. Rhodes have been the subject of so much eulogy. For, of course, the King has read The Map of Life, and is aware of the assertions contained in it." Now I wish, dear gossips all, you would read The Map of Life for yourselves! You will find, if you do, not only plain facts concerning Rhodes, and the vulgarity, i.e. the ostentation of wealth, but much useful information on sundry other matters closely