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A PLEA FOR INTELLECTUAL COALESCENCE 149
reason, " the enemy "—time, upon which men are
unavoidably dependent. A Russian labours under the illusion that
he is more or less master of time, that there does not exist a
clock which pitilessly and relentlessly marks the minutes and
hours. He does not want to be reminded of the shortness
of his span of earthly life ; and that each passing moment
brings him nearer to the end ; that if the right moment is
not taken advantage of, it slips into eternity and cannot be
recalled. Realization of time is life, as human existence is
circumscribed by its passing nature. Too soon the moment
comes when it is too late, when the time for volition and
action has lapsed. Englishmen, on the contrary, live, so
to say, with a constant eye on the clock. The Russian is
absolutely unable to enjoy life under the ban of the
consciousness of time. It is beautiful to imagine yourself to be
free from the trammels of time, and to be guided only by the
impulse of the moment, but Russian life would certainly
become more fruitful of good results if the spendthrifts in
time would only realize a little more fully the necessity of
conforming to the duty of each moment.
As liberal and uncompromising as Russians are in respect
of time so the British are as regards space. The difference
in social conditions and the historic past of each nation
exercise an influence in the moulding of their particular
individuality. Great Britain, an essentially seafaring nation,
has established her rule in almost every quarter of the globe.
Owing to the necessity for constant intercourse between the
Mother Country and the distant Dominions of the gigantic
British World-Empire, love of exploration, adventure, change
of surroundings, restlessness, and constant travel have
become characteristic features of the British nation. Space,
an obstacle which had to be overcome, appeared as a
negligible quantity, a factor which, with the help of more and
more perfected means of communication, seemed practically
non-existent. An Englishman travelling in a comfortable
and luxurious liner, or in the saloon carriage of an express
train, can accomplish the correspondence connected with his
business, social entertainments, and so forth without realis-
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