The richer a man is, the more difficult it is to get at him; the more
footmen there are between him and people not rich, the more impossible
it is for him to receive a poor guest, to let him walk on his carpets
and sit on his satin-covered chairs.
The same thing happens in travelling. A peasant who drives in a cart or
on a carrier's sledge must be very hard-hearted if he refuses to give a
pedestrian a lift; he has enough room, and can do it. But the richer the
carriage is, the more impossible it is to put any one in it besides the
owner. Some of the most elegant carriages are so narrow as to be termed
"_egotists_."
The same thing applies to all the modes of living expressed by the word
"cleanliness." Cleanliness! Who does not know human beings, especially
women, who make a great virtue of cleanliness? Who does not know the
various phrases of this cleanliness, which have no limit whatever when
it is procured by the labour of others? Who among self-made men has not
experienced in his own person the pains with which he carefully
accustomed himself to this cleanliness, which illustrates the saying,
"White hands are fond of another's labour"?
To-day cleanliness consists in changing one's shirt daily; to-morrow it
will be changed twice a day. At first, one has to wash one's hands and
neck every day, then one will have to wash one's feet every day, and
afterwards it will be the whole body, and in peculiar methods. A clean
table-cloth serves for two days, then it is changed every day, and
afterwards two table-cloths a day are used. To-day the footman is
required to have clean hands; to-morrow he must wear gloves, and clean
gloves, and he must hand the letters on a clean tray.
There are no limits to this cleanliness, which is of no other use to
anyone except to separate us, and to make our intercourse with others
impossible while the cleanliness is obtained through the labour of
others.
Not only so, but when I had deeply reflected upon this, I came to the
conclusion that what we term education is a similar thing. Language
cannot deceive: it gives the right name to everything. The common people
call education fashionable dress, smart conversation, white hands, and a
certain degree of cleanliness. Of such a man they say, when
distinguishing him from others, that he is an educated man.
In a little higher circle men denote by education the same things, but
add playing on the piano, the knowledge of French, good Russian
spelling, and still greater cleanliness.
In the still higher circle education consists of all this, with the
addition of English, and a diploma from a high educational
establishment, and a still greater degree of cleanliness. But in all
these shades, education is in substance quite the same.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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