(141)
See [Foolishness Sometimes is Wisdom]; [Preferred Creditor].
Artifice in Insects—See [Simulation].
Ascent of Man—See [Blessing the Ropes].
ASCETICISM
The black shadow of asceticism spread over the sky of the Puritan Fathers. Given two coats, they chose the ugliest one. Given two colors for the woman’s garb, they chose the saddest and somberest. Given two roads, they chose the one that held the most thorns and cutting rocks. Given two forms of fear and self-denial, they took both. The favorite text of asceticism is “deny yourself.” The favorite color of asceticism is black; its favorite music, a dirge; its favorite hour is midnight; its favorite theme is a tombstone. The mistake of asceticism is in thinking that pain by itself considered has a moral value.—N. D. Hillis.
(142)
Macaulay said that “the Puritans hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators.” I once knew a man of this type who rooted up his wife’s flower-bed on the ground that attention to flowers was a wicked waste of time that ought to be given to the study of the Bible.—W. C. S.
(143)
ASKING AMISS