“Enslaved, illogical, elate,
    He greets the embarrassed gods, nor fears
  To shake the iron hand of Fate
    Or match with Destiny for beers.”

A person who would offer to shake hands with Fate is certainly lacking in a fine sense of propriety.  His belief in equality makes him indifferent to the note of distinction.  “He dubs his dreary brethren kings.”  Of course they are not kings, but that makes no difference.  It makes little difference whether anything corresponds to the name he chooses to give to it.  For there is

       “A cynic devil in his blood
  That bids him mock his hurrying soul.”

This impression of a mingling of optimism, cynicism, and hurry is one which is often made upon those who are suddenly plunged into American society.  In any company of Americans who are discussing public affairs the stranger is struck by what seems the lack of logical connection between the statements of facts and the judgments passed upon them.  The facts may be most distressing and yet nobody seems much distressed, still less is any one depressed.  The city government is in the hands of grafters, the police force is corrupt, the prices of the necessaries of life are extortionate, the laws on the statute book are not enforced, and new laws are about to be enacted that are foolish in the extreme.  Vast numbers of undesirable aliens are coming into the country and bringing with them ideas that are opposed to the fundamental principles of the republic.  All this is told with an air of illogical elation.  The conversation is interspersed with anecdotes of the exploits of good-natured rascals.  These are received with smiles or tolerant laughter.  Everyone seems to have perfect confidence that the country is a grand and glorious place to live in, and that all will come out well in the end.

Is this an evidence of a cynic humor in the blood, or is it a manifestation of childish optimism?  Let us frankly answer that it may be one or the other or both.  There are cynics and sentimentalists who are the despair of all who are seriously working for better citizenship.  But the chances are that the men to whom our stranger was listening were neither cynics nor sentimentalists, but idealists who had the American temperament.

Among those who laughed good-naturedly over the temporary success of the clever rascal may have been those who had been giving their energies to the work of prevention of just such misdeeds.  They are reformers with a shrewd twinkle in their eyes.  They take a keen intellectual pleasure in their work, and are ready to give credit to any natural talent in their antagonist.  If they are inclined to take a cheerful view of the whole situation it is because they are in the habit of looking at the situation as a whole.  The predominance of force is actually on their side and they see no reason to doubt the final result.  They have learned the meaning of the text, “Fret not thyself because