Public Activity 87 significance of the personality in all human relations. She proclaims the rights of the child, of parents, of man and woman, of superiors and inferiors. Aye, no one is forgotten. She speaks to all, and for all, yet most warmly for the oppressed to whatever class he may belong. She knows that the personaHty may ^ be oppressed in the home as in the state, in the narrower sphere of the family as well as in the broader sphere of society. The theory of evolution had found its way to the north, and, in the eighties, there were a number of able young apostles in our country who zealously preached its doctrines. In optimistic carelessness they threw away much that was of value. It is true that much of the old was tainted, and had poisoned the air. Wishing to purif}- the atmosphere, they were not chary when it came to discarding or keep- ing what, in their opinion, was obsolete. Older conceptions of morality, as, for instance the dogmas of the State church, were assailed, and the battle waxed hot. When the young voices would not be silenced, and the reac- tionary representatives found the time ripe for chastising the "daredevils" who, for the