Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - VI
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has been proofread at least once.
(diff)
(history)
Denna sida har korrekturlästs minst en gång.
(skillnad)
(historik)
and these again to the characteristics of the race, will
always be on the alert to avoid hasty generalizations:
he looks through the skin, hears through the word, and
constantly corrects one impression by the aid of another.
If, for instance, he would give his impressions of a great
capital, like Berlin or Warsaw, then perhaps for months
he would fasten his eyes on lists of hundreds and
hundreds of men and women whom he has known, while he
constantly points out their characteristics to himself,
compares these with each other and with characteristics
of a like number of individuals of other nations, to find
out the most fundamental traits and the common
characteristics. It is thus that the natural scientist finds by
comparison the constituent qualities of the different
kinds of animals.
At every single personality, every single trait, or every
group of traits, which is observed, we must ask ourselves,
“Could not this be found outside of Russia?” After
that which is common to the human race has been
determined, then that which is common to the Slavic races,
then that which the aristocracy or peasants in all
countries have in common, then comes the investigation into
that which is peculiarly national.
In the first conversations, the foreigner will scarcely
find the men who pass for the most clever in Russia
cleverer than those who are regarded as the most gifted
in Warsaw; and he is more likely to find them less
gifted.
The essential trait, to which attention is called
earliest, is, without doubt, that the chief interests of the
Russians are modern. The chief interests in Warsaw
are not of this kind, as there Poland — a historic thing,
the dream about a past which shall be made into a
future — absorbs the thoughts of the best people. In
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
