By Agnes Repplier
COUNTER-CURRENTS.
AMERICANS AND OTHERS.
A HAPPY HALF-CENTURY AND OTHERESSAYS.
IN OUR CONVENT DAYS.
COMPROMISES.
THE FIRESIDE SPHINX. With 4 full-pageand 17 text Illustrations by Miss E. Bonsall.
BOOKS AND MEN.
POINTS OF VIEW.
ESSAYS IN IDLENESS.
IN THE DOZY HOURS, AND OTHER PAPERS.
ESSAYS IN MINIATURE.
A BOOK OF FAMOUS VERSE. Selectedby Agnes Repplier. In Riverside Libraryfor Young People.
THE SAME. Holiday Edition.
VARIA.
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
Boston and New York
COUNTER-CURRENTS
BY
AGNES REPPLIER, Litt.D.
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
The Riverside Press Cambridge1916
COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY AGNES REPPLIER
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Published April 1916
THIRD IMPRESSION, AUGUST 1916
Note
These nine essays, in their originalform, were published in the AtlanticMonthly during the past three years.
Contents
| The Cost of Modern Sentiment | 1 |
| Our Loss of Nerve | 33 |
| Christianity and War | 63 |
| Women and War | 98 |
| The Repeal of Reticence | 136 |
| Popular Education | 165 |
| The Modest Immigrant | 197 |
| Waiting | 233 |
| Americanism | 260 |
[Pg 1]
COUNTER-CURRENTS
The Cost of ModernSentiment
We are rising dizzily and fearlesslyon the crest of a greatwave of sentiment. When thewave breaks, we may find ourselves submerged,and in danger of drowning; butfor the present we are full of hope andhigh resolve. Forty years ago we stoodin shallow water, and mocked at the mid-Victoriansentiment, then ebbing slowlywith the tide. We have nothing now incommon with that fine, thin, tenaciousconception of life and its responsibilities.We do not prate about valour formen, and domesticity for women. Avague humanity is our theme. We do notfeel the fastidious distaste for repulsive[Pg 2]details which made our grandparentsculpably negligent. All knowledge, apart