  Having now had with you our several quarrels We advance our lance to the subject of morals. Ethics is a theme from which I can glean Some substantial hopes for a better day; When, with our prejudices all put away, We shall all learn to act and think the things, Which keep in view the good life to us brings. While this subject is as plain as a b c The same for some reason you fail to see. Morals are the manners and customs one adopts For himself in private life, while he hops, Or walks and talks with his fellow men. Good morals are good habits and bad, bad. Habits are easily made, and when once had, They are hard to break for anybody’s sake. The “stream of thought” seems the road to take, Where it once had run anywhere under the sun. Morals are the acts of which life is composed That we have upon ourselves imposed. This definition was made by Immanuel Kant, But as it is self evident, he needn’t want, All the credit to claim if I use the same. Laws cause you do as others compel you; Ethics cause you to do what you like to. There are only two things that push us along. Think about it till you rack your brains, And you’ll find them always pleasures and pains. Some even take pleasure in their sorrow and grief; And you’d not be thanked for offering a relief; Nor for producing a balm to heal their wounds, From which they suffered, regardless of their grounds. Men, of their humility have been so proud; That lugubriously, they’d stand up in any crowd; Or with their heads bowed and on bended knees, With the pride of their humbleness you they’d freeze. The pleasures we desire and the pains we shun, Were our only motives since the world begun. Now keep this in mind as its use you’ll find, As we treat of ethics and its motives behind. “Self-imposed precepts” are not the moral code, Prevalent in places where men their guns load, To meet a fellow man in the public road, To try out the question with bullets of lead, On the field of honor, till one or both are dead; Nor is it the legal code enacted by man, Making rules against things under ban. Morals deal with acts men actually intend, Those motions adapted to some end. “The wild gesticulations of a lunatic,” Or of a crazy man who automatically throws a brick, Bear no relation to the discussion of ethics. The standards of morals take their hue From the aims of life men hold in view. The pessimist says life’s a failure entire, So to meet the demands his views require, A scheme of acts adapted to shortening life To get this set soonest out of the strife, And all the sad and tragic things, The whole of existence to them brings, Would be the highest standard of acts, Which in goodness one for them enacts. The optimist takes a very different view, Life’s a pleasure while he its joys pursue. For him a general life suited to make, Life long, broad and deep for his sake, Would be a good banner at him to shake. So we say, bad morals are bad, and good, good. The reason the subject by you is not understood, Is, that while you must surely know, You constantly misapply to ethics one word as you go. The meaning of this word if you don’t get, Is from stupidity, for you never yet Went into a store anything to buy or even try, But a practical demonstration was before your eye. The first thing you ask about a razor or knife, Is this, “Is it good?” and the clerk doesn’t cry, “What do you mean!” if he wants you to buy. He politely answers, “Both these tools cut good, As they are warranted, one whiskers, and one wood, And both of them do their part very good.” If one of you farmers wished to acquire a cow, You wouldn’t ask whether she could make a bow; You would enquire how much milk she gave, And how much butter, and could she save You some expense in the way she’d behave. If such questions had all been left out, And the seller had known what he was about, He’d said, “She’s good,” and everything’s understood. If a female reader went to buy a new spring hat, And the thing was in style, you would close your chat. If it was in style, it’s good, every fool knows that, The bargain’s made and the hat charged to pap. The same thing is true of skirts and hoops, Of dogs and cats, and chickens in coops; You can’t look about or run around, Without understanding this word always so profound, And mysterious when applied to my theme; With yawning face you almost dream, And look confused when I try to tell what I mean. You never ask about any of the things I’ve spoke, Whether they say their prayers and never joke, To speak of such, you at me your fun poke. Now we’ll see whether you are sensible folk, When you try to shed your customary cloak Of prejudice and mysticism you croak, Every time you try sense to ethics to apply. Common sense teaches us there is no reason why, The definition will not fit conduct every whit, As it did other things about which I’ve writ. Conduct is good if its ends come through, And its natural results are good for me and you. I take the optimist’s view, life’s a blessing, And when to you my words I’m addressing, Say whether I’m right in possessing, The notion that acts are morally right and good, That contribute to life as above understood. In its thickness, breadth and length, all those things, Which happiness achieve, diminishing man’s stings. Before us examples have been set by teachers, By Immanuel Kant better than preachers; That each one of our actions should lofty be, That each would be a model for a code of morality. This form of hedonism I would gladly place Before the eyes of the whole human race. Asceticism is a term derived from the Greek, Applied to monks, signifying the exercises they seek, By which they distinguish themselves in that they do, For favor with the deity in the lines they pursue, Away from their fellow man as much as they can. Virtue is a term originally meaning prowess, |
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