Memoirs of Anne C.L. Botta,: written by her friends. With selections from her correspondence and from her writings in prose and poetry.

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A LATE distinguished critic of ourselves and our institutions,
while admitting that the United States have solved the social
and political problem with remarkable success, goes on to examine what is done here toward solving the human problem. He
defines civilization to be the humanization of man in society; he
says that the several elements or powers that go to build up a
complete human life are the power of conduct, of beauty, of
social life and manners, and the power of intellect and knowledge, and that we are perfectly civilized only when all these elements are recognized and satisfied. But the term civilization as
used in the loosest way by most people, narrows down to a demand for the comforts and conveniences of life, and to their being
within reach of persons of limited means. This he does not believe constitutes civilization. What human nature demands in a
high and satisfying civilization is best described by the word interesting. Do not tell me only of the magnitude of your industry and commerce, of the beneficence of your institutions, your
freedom, your equality, of the great and growing number of
your churches, schools, libraries, and newspapers; tell me if
the civilization, which is the grand name you give to all this
development, is interesting. He says: The aspiration toward
a harmony of things which every-day reality denies us, the
rich and cultivated classes attempt to realize by the splendor
and refinement of high life, and the interest which this attempt
awakens in the classes not rich or cultivated, to whom the
life of the great in castles and palaces appears as a pageant
and a fairy tale, bears witness to a like imaginative strain
in them tending after the elevated and the beautiful. The. great
'A paper read before the "Wednesday Afternoon Club."
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