THE TREND OF SENTIMENTMEANING AND GENERAL TREND OF SENTIMENT -- ATTENUATION-- REFINEMENT -- SENSE OF JUSTICE -- TRUTH AS JUSTICE -- AS REALISM --AS EXPEDIENCY -- AS ECONOMY OF ATTENTION -- HOPEFULNESSBY sentiment I mean socialized feeling， feeling which has been raised by thought and intercourse out of its merely instinctive state and become properly human.It implies imagination， and the medium in which it chiefly lives is sympathetic contact with the minds of others.Thus love is a sentiment， while lust is not； resentment is， but not rage； the fear of disgrace or ridicule， but not animal terror， and so on.Sentiment is the chief motive power of life， and as a rule lies deeper in our minds and is less subject to essential change than thought， from which， however， it is not to be too sharply separated.
Two traits in the growth of sentiment are perhaps characteristic of modern life， both of which， as will appear， are closely bound up with the other psychological changes that have already been discussed.
First a trend toward diversification： under the impulse of a growing diversity of suggestion and intercourse many new varieties and shades of sentiment are developed.Like a stream which is distributed for irrigation， the general current of social feeling is drawn off into many small channels.
Second a trend toward humanism， meaning by this a wider reach and application of the sentiments that naturally prevail in the familiar intercourse of primary groups.Following a tendency evident in all phases of the social mind， these expand and organize themselves at the expense of sentiments that go with the more formal or oppressive structures of an earlier epoch.
The diversification of sentiment seems to involve some degree of attenuation， or decline in volume， and also some growth of refinement.
By the former I mean that the constant and varied demands upon feeling which modern life makes梚n contrast to the occasional but often severe demands of a more primitive society梘ive rise， very much as in the case of the irrigating stream， to the need and practice of more economy and regularity in the flow， so that "animated moderation" in feeling succeeds the alternations of apathy and explosion characteristic of a ruder condition.Thus our emotional experience is made up of diverse but for the most part rather mild excitements， so that the man most at home in our civilization， though more nimble in sentiment than the man of an earlier order， is perhaps somewhat inferior in depth.Something of the same difference can be seen between the city man and the farmer； while the latter is inferior in versatility and readiness of feeling， he has a greater store of it laid up， which is apt to give superior depth and momentum to such sentiment as he does cherish.Who has not experienced the long-minded faithfulness and kindness， or perhaps resentment， of country people， and contrasted them with the less stable feelings of those who live a more urbane life ？
In saying that life tends toward refinement it is only a general trend that is asserted.We must admit that many phases of refined sentiment have been more perfectly felt and expressed in the past than they are now； but this is a matter of the maturity of special types of culture， rather than of general progress.Thus the Italian Renaissance produced wonders of refinement in art， as in the painting， let us say， of Botticelli； but it was， on the whole， a bloody， harsh and sensual time compared with ours， a time when assassination， torture and rape were matters of every day.So， also， there is a refinement of the sense of language in Shakespeare and his contemporaries which we can only admire， while their plays depict a rather gross state of feeling.A course of reading in English fiction， beginning with Chaucer and ending with James， Howells and Mrs Ward， would certainly leave the impression that our sensibilities had， on the whole， grown finer.
And this is even more true of the common people than of the well-to-do class with which literature is chiefly occupied： the tendency to the diffusion of refinement being more marked than its increase in a favored order.The sharp contrast in manners and feelings between the "gentleman，" as formerly understood， and the peasant， artisan and trading classes has partly disappeared.
Differences in wealth and occupation no longer necessitate differences in real culture， the opportunities for which are coming to be open to all classes， and in America， at least， the native-bred farmer or handworker is not uncommonly， in essential qualities， a gentleman.
The general fact is that the activities of life， to which feeling responds， have become more various and subtle and less crudely determined by animal conditions.Material variety and comfort is one phase of this： we become habituated to a comparatively delicate existence and so are trained to shun coarseness.Communication， bv giving abundance and choice of social contacts， also acts to diversify and refine sentiment； the growth of order disaccustoms us to violence， and democracy tends to remove the degrading spectacle of personal or class oppression.
This modern refinement has the advantage that， being a general rise in level rather than the achievement of a class or a nation， it is probably secure.It is not， like the refinement of Greece， the somewhat precarious fruit of transient conditions， but a possession of the race， in no more danger of dying out than the steam-engine.
To the trend toward humanism and the sentiments梥uch as justice， truth， kindness and service梩hat go with it， I shall devote the rest of this chapter and the one that follows：
