KEEP YOUR DISTANCE!
THE reduction of distance is perhaps the most cone spicuous aim of the work and thought, of to-day. The social philosopher and the man of science alike press eagerly towards it. By reckoning miles in minutes we strive to correct the modern imagination where physical space is concerned. Indeed, so far as journeys are concerned mileage, like horse-power, bids fair to become a piece of history preserved in a phrase ! For the moment, however, pace seems, if we may be allowed to use the expression, to have reached a standstill. The motor 'bus still takes some little while to get to Richmond, and the newest method of getting to Paris gives time for every refinement of mental and physical qualm. We cannot travel, even by air, as quick as thought, though sound can, or nearly so. So far as sound is concerned we have annihilated distance, and the new knowledge has thrilled us all with a sense of exultation. We like even to be told the time—if we can be informed of it from far enough off. This is not silly, it is symptomatic. There has been a modification of what since the world began was con- sidered one of the eternal conditions of life.. The in- credible has been accomplished. Small wonder if a disillusioned, sceptical and somewhat materialized society in face of the miracle becomes intoxicated with the notion of nearness.
In every sense we are coming to hate distance. We will not acknowledge it, even when in our hearts we know that it must always be. Youth and age, for instance, seek to identify themselves. It is no between parents and children which has destroyed deference and authority. It is simply an attempt made upon both sides to annihilate distance. Something of the sort is true where social distinctions are concerned. Not long ago the different classes of society "kept their distance" from one another. The good manners of a well-mannered working-man of to-day (and how good they are !) when talking to his employer would have been thought by our grandfathers to be "familiar." On the other hand, the "real gentility" of a Victorian lady or gentleman who behaved as " niee " people behave now to those whom they employ would by those very employees have been doubted.
No one minded about these "distances." They were thought inevitable. Very short ones were, if possible, exaggerated. To take a ridiculous instance. A little while ago the suburbs were "distant." People of fashion said they could not go so far. They meant they could not unbend so far as to have anything to do with the suburbs. Suburban people, as seen from a distance, had no possible claim to position or education. The notion gave a sort of self-imposed cachet of birth or breeding or Bohemian sophistication to those living near the heart of London. They took great delight in the thought of this distance ! So also did the dwellers in the land of small gardens and new books! They spoke of those who dwelt among central fogs and wore fine fashionable clothes, kept many servants and seemed to be "in society" as a race apart. Now what between trains and 'buses and socialistic leanings, a high Income Tax, and a new interpretation of the word vulgar, the town and its environs are all mixed up together, and even townspeople and real country people have come very near. The Primary Schools are killing dialect in the country, and in the towns the Secondary Schools, opening all careers to talent, have brought together men and women once kept apart by slight differences of voice or speech.
Obviously we have gained a great deal by all these rapprochements. We have lost some little things, however, for instance, excuses. We do not make these for each other any more.
In the days of pedestals, when parents and proud people were raised above the young and humble, distance obscured criticism a little. Severe parents, for instance, often got credit for good motives. Being at a distance it was not easy to see exactly what their motives were, and kind young people gave them the benefit of the doubt. Again, from the top of the pedestal it was very easy to find excuses. Lightness of heart looks so beauti- ful from a distance. "Boys will be boys" was a saying frequently in Victorian mouths—and downright idleness and sloth was actually admired in girls.
Nowadays both boys and girls must work. The majority of young people who have claimed the freedom of their fathers have found that it means freedom to slave. They are early put upon an equality with their parents. Yes Poor children ! Years ago "the well- to-do," the rich people to whom the small forms of peculation and slight offences against financial honour presented no temptation whatever, had the decency to excuse those among whom hereditary want had made such temptations almost insurmountable. They did not "look too close" at " leakages " and "commissions." They regarded such things as the farmers regarded glean- ing. Mercy was shown from a distance, but now there is justice from near. True there is a certain cynicism in the indulgence which expects little, but that indulgence had its good side. So had the " respect " which led those who saw pride from a distance to overlook its insult. Distance gilded envy with admiration, and turned it often into something very much like aspiration. It may be doubted if charity is increased by such close contact as, while showing detail, destroys focus. Both on and off pedes- tals men, women and children played a part, but after all some acting is necessary to civilization. A good bit of self-control was necessary in order to keep one's balance, and a good deal of work and attention was necessary in order successfully to drill those who looked up and respec- ted. Drill may be disagreeable to the drilled, but it is wonderful to what an extent it improves the dignity of the carriage.
The more " superior " among the Victorians, while keep- ing their distance, intellectually, from their opponents, and living in their own "camps," had an idea that very many, perhaps most, differences of conviction were an affair of labels, and thought of a visionary place where people would take their labels off as a kind of earthly paradise. But that really is nonsense. You cannot make two books agree in purport by binding them alike and putting them without titles on the same shelf. You may put port and champagne into identical bottles, but they will still be port.and champagne. So far as opposing theories of life go we doubt if the abolition of distance will make for unity. The most that can be hoped is that it will make those who hold them like one another personally. They will still pull in different directions, and perhaps pull harder.
It is better to look close. It marks a more sincere and truth-loving age. But we must make up our minds to a loss of enchantment, and to the end of the sort of intellec- tual truce which kept things quiet when men could agree to differ.
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