"There is a difference of opinion among our historians in regard to those
times. Some believe that the whole world was corrupt, that it was an age
of material development only, and that, if there were any good impulses at
all, they were so smothered with selfishness as to be of no account. But
these writers lived long ago, and were themselves more or less under the
shadow of that epoch. I strongly hold to the views of the great majority
of our scholars, who tell us that, while there was too much evil of all
kinds, there was also much good, and many believers in a final happy issue
out of all the troubles of the time.
"In a society so entirely given up to the pursuit of wealth and worldly
advantage of every sort, those who were trying to hold up the standard of
righteousness and to alleviate the lot of their fellow beings should be
remembered with gratitude. Among the multitude of inventions were many
that were calculated to relieve the laborer of his severest tasks, to
mitigate suffering, to ward off disease, and to lighten the load of
mankind in various ways.
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