A VISION OF THE FUTURE _BY THE SAME AUTHOR._ Crown 8vo, 443 pp., price 8/6. Scientific Meliorism and the Evolution of Happiness. “In the Author we recognize an advanced thinker of a rare and high order.”—_Westminster Review._ “We earnestly advise all to read this admirable book.”—_Weekly Despatch._ KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH & CO., LONDON. Crown 8vo, 207 pp., cheap edition 6_d._ Margaret Dunmore or A Socialist Home. “The story in the life in _La Maison_ is very well told.”—_Literary World._ “In the chapter on _Unselfish Love_ there are some sound and sensible views which might well be adopted without waiting for the advent of The Unitary Home.”—_Times._ “Decidedly entertaining.”—_Manchester Examiner._ SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & CO., LONDON. A VISION OF THE FUTURE BASED ON THE APPLICATION OF ETHICAL PRINCIPLES By JANE HUME CLAPPERTON AUTHOR OF “SCIENTIFIC MELIORISM”, “MARGARET DUNMORE”, ETC. “_HITCH YOUR WAGON TO A STAR_” —_Emerson._ LONDON SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & CO., LIMITED PATERNOSTER SQUARE 1904 TO MY FRIEND GEORGE ARTHUR GASKELL To the Reader Social Problems are the chief interest and study of my life. In 1885 I published in London a work entitled _Scientific Meliorism and the Evolution of Happiness_. The world of thought has acquired new knowledge since then; and many social changes have occurred. The present volume is not a replica of that work, although, as before, my aim has been to gather together the currents of meliorism pursuing diverse courses throughout society and to throw upon these the light of fresh knowledge gained by investigators of economic and social science; and, above all, the light emanating from philosophic thinkers who recognize that the path of improved outward conditions, and the path of inward progress for man, lie parallel to each other. It is my belief that in this dawning epoch of conscious evolution man may, if he so chooses, push forward the actual life of to-day and merge it into the ideal life of to-morrow. There has recently occurred a widespread commemoration of the birth of that pure-souled American, who was pre-eminently a teacher of the ideal life. This volume, I hope, will be read in America, and, to the memory of Emerson I tender homage, while adopting his phrase, “_Hitch Your Wagon to a Star_,” as the motto of my book.