§ 27

Theoretical politics and party conventions are ruled out by strenuous practical occupations. Instead of being the last subject for action, useful citizenship is the first. Politics used to be abstractions put into phrases by doctrinaires. The text completed, its result was pigeon-holed, under the fallacy that the object was attained when, indeed, it had only been talked about. People are now united, hence can govern themselves. There is no need for sermons upon thrift and economy; they are practised. Politicians have been taught that their words formed easy back-doors for the exit of action. The people are interested now from top to bottom in deeds. Theories which do not lead to action represent waste of energy; energy displayed in every section of the community is in demand.

Some return to more primitive social conditions is evidently an invigorating process. An easy way of getting through life by facilities which militated against effort was unstiffening the back of the English character. Instead of saying to himself, “How much can I do myself?” the majority was saying, “How much can I delegate?” “We were on the look-out for a very beneficent fairy who would perform miracles, and so, instead of effort, we were trusting to ease. Now, we are sweeping our own floors instead of wasting our little savings upon paying for the doing of it. We were thinking that sweeping our houses clean was a tax upon time, an exhausting expenditure of physical energy. Experience is telling us the opposite.” “Mental energies are revived, even stimulated, by automatic industry which is a rest to them. While a man is sweeping his house or garden, he can think, and think well. He can organise his work.” These words I heard from the mouth of a scholar. I heard the same thought expressed by a skilled craftsman, differently, but analogous. “The lack of domestic servants is proving a blessing to us all,” I heard a woman say. “We did not know, under the old self-indulgent system, how long a day was, and what a lot of time we wasted. We had forgotten we had hands, strong muscles and vigorous aptitudes. We paid a high price for the neglect to which we had submitted our physical energies. We suffered from ‘boredom’ and other evils consequent upon indolence. Now, we do not ask ourselves how we shall dispose of the day. That question is answered before it is asked. We have our duties to perform to the Commune, as members of it, to our homes as sacred trusts as our palaces of pleasure as well as duty. We know what are our responsibilities. We accept and use them, in the city and home.” As my spirit grew in experience and closer observation, I noticed that in matters of dress or costume there was little difference between the classes. Constant changes of fashion created to supply the tradesmen when novelties were so constantly demanded from them, are out of date. The garments of the rich may be more elaborately adorned, be more sumptuous, more composed of silk than wool, but in their simple cut they are not differentiated from those of the poorer classes.

“We do not make them all at home,” I heard an elegantly attired lady of high rank say. “That would be unfair; because we can afford to give employment, expensive though it is. At the same time, quite half is made at home. Even in houses of the rich the peaceful sound of the loom prevails. Our daughters are all taught to use it, for who knows when they may be compelled to do so. It is wise to instruct the young in occupation which they may be called upon to use in darker times. Besides,” the lady added, “girls need quiescent employment to establish character. It is not that the arts are ceasing to flourish or the elegancies of mental cultivation are curtailed; it is only,” as the lady went on to say, “now that we are more busy we have more time. A girl can study a language while she works her loom, or another can read to her.” This led me to wonder if peripatetic teaching was usual? It is, for, in schools young people are encouraged while learning by heart, reciting or reading aloud, to personate, by action the drama or tale they are telling. This habit, no doubt, has arisen from the high position the drama and all that belongs to histrionic training takes in the new life. Artists and such who are called by their genius to create are not a set apart, nor are they regarded any longer as harmless lunatics. Being, by the nature of their calling constructors, they are expected to help in the affairs of the Commune, not only as specialities but as intelligences well adapted to other forms of construction than those demanded from their own work. The mind of an artist of any kind, in letters, graphic or plastic arts, or music, is a well tuned instrument. It must be so, or success is out of the question.