WHOLESALE AND RETAIL CHARACTERS.
SOME men only deal in virtue on a large scale. In every- day life they are perhaps rather selfish, rather careless in speech, rather apt to call retail scruple scrupulosity. They do not go out of their way to avoid small sufferings for man or beast, but in the great things of life their friends can prophesy that their action will always be handsome. We are certain that at a pinch, at any of those crises of life which may be called days of judgment, when men write themselves down good or bad, they will do well. In a shipwreck, for instance, they will not save themselves. Their word is their bond, and in any great financial dealing they will be above suspicion. They will show consideration where the wider interests of humanity are concerned, and in the face of death they will do themselves credit whether they die in bed. or in battle. Perhaps in an ordinary way they may make rather a fuss about comfort, but upon great occasions they can cheer- fully live very hard. Perhaps in shillings they are not very generous, but for a cause they will deny themselves without a murmur. They occupy a very high place in the moral world these men and women whose virtue is wholesale. There is always something superior about the wholesale dealer. He has no shop-window, or, if he has one, it is not such as could advertise him—very often it is full of small faults. Oddly enough, they are conscious these good people of their moral position. That is one reason why they make no retail effort. They know that when the big test comes they will do well. Certainty of acting handsomely in big matters is of the nature of a gift. We were all taught as children that if we would do right in little things by habit we should do right in big things by instinct, Good children believe it till they see themselves surpassed in virtue upon sudden occasion by some one who never tried at all. Enough virtue to do for daily life can be acquired, but great fortunes in virtue are a birthright, and men know that they have them. We do not mean that even to themselves they boast—boasting comes as a rule of want of self-confidence—but they are sure that when it is worth while to try they will succeed. In life or in death they will not disgrace themselves. They belong to the aristocracy of virtue, and are fitted for the government of the world.
Now to the mind of the present writer what we may call the retail characters are, generally speaking, the most like- able and the most human, even though it is not possible frankly to say that they are the moat admirable. What they have of virtue is in daily use. We want of them a little kindness, a little geniality, a little pity, a little generosity, and in small quantities they have these qualities ready to hand. We are not sure that they could make good a great demand—nor are they. The truth is that wholesale virtue resolves itself into one quality—courage—and often characters in which courage predominates lack variety; besides, they are not infrequently rather unpleasant to live with. Hand-to- mouth goodness—the sort a man is always working to maintain —is the most attractive when seen near. The element of timidity is present in nearly all retail characters, and timidity, while it is a touching quality closely related to humility, con- stitutes always an element of moral danger. A man may be intensely scrupulous in all email matters and yet not he fit for a great financial temptation. That does not mean that he will necessarily fall into it, but there is no certainty that he will not do so. It has become a convention to assume that all not quite bad people are immaculately honest. So they are in small matters, but where the temptation is large, sudden, and indirect the case is different. Without cynicism, it must be admitted that only picked men can meet it. We have to take the edge off it with large salaries when we want to put men in very high places. This is one of the saddest facts of human nature. The apparently scrupulous man who does a slightly doubtful act for a very great gain is not therefore a hypocrite he is a man who cannot keep his head. He may have endurance; he has not got courage. The man or woman who strives daily, and perhaps successfully, to be unselfish will often read with a Waiver of deeds of 'heroism. She will say and ho will think; "Had I been put to this fearful test how differently I might have acted; how horrible if I had dis- graced myself !" In vain the preacher may tell him or her that at the moment of trial all would be well. It is not a certainty ; it is a hope. Many good people have no head for moral heights. For them "Lead us not into temptation" simply means "Put us to no sudden test." If we come hack to the subject of money, it takes as much generosity, but far less courage, to give piecemeal to individuals as wholesale to causes. To give away a tenth of one's income at once is to face a sacrifice. To give it in driblets is a different thing. "I have parted with a little this month," ways the piecemeal giver. " Next month I shall keep it all for myself." He does not; he gives again. But to give a lump to a cause leaves him with a sinking of the heart, a vision of the workhouse, a sense of having parted with what he cannot afford. Have we not all been amazed, especially lately, at sudden deeds of great self-sacrifice by those who have certainly done few little ones, and have we not also been surprised and dismayed by the refusal of some ordinarily unselfish person to respond. to any unexpected. call upon friendship, affection, or even duty I' 'We cannot expect to find the virtues belong- ing to opposite temperaments in one person. For all that, we do occasionally come across characters as perfect in detail as in outline. They have not been satisfied with the knowledge that they will pass the examinations of life with honours. They have loved goodness as some men love learning, and have worked at it for its own sake. The very best men are both born and made.
When one comes to faults instead of virtues the wholesale character is still the more admirable, or less despicable any- way. One large sin, such a thing as may get a man into prison, is more pitiful and less unforgivable than a thousand little meannesses. On the other hand, it probably does more harm to others, if less to a man's self. Wholesale villainy, like wholesale virtue, means coinage, and courage we never quite despise. But, apart from actual criminality, we all know a few people whom we imagine capable of a crime. A certain interest attaches to them, while nothing but repulsion can be felt for the retail villain. We know that a great writer could make the one interesting, could elicit sympathy for him, but could not do so for the other.
Intelligence is a different thing from character. Wholesale and retail intelligences are clearly differentiated, and if we deal with genius, or even talent, the wholesale intellect is obvimudy the finer. But if we speak of ordinary people it is very doubtful which is better worth having. A second-rate wholesale intelligence is rather useless. All that can be said for it is that it preserves a hazy souse of proportion which the retail intelligence seldom has. It is not a satisfactory possession. It reduces a man's usefulness, and sometimes breaks his heart. He is always an object of ridicule to his more practical friends. "See, you are wrong in that detail and ignorant of this," they say to him. If taunts could kill him, he would die ; and it is a wretched thing to see dimly both sides of every question. Happiness is most often found with wholesale virtue and retail intelligence, and it is wonderful how often these two go together.
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