The circumstances which have most influence on the happiness of mankind,
the changes of manners and morals, the transition of communities from
poverty to wealth, from knowledge to ignorance, from ferocity to
humanity--these are, for the most part, noiseless revolutions. Their
progress is rarely indicated by what historians are pleased to call
important events. They are not achieved by armies, or enacted by
senates. They are sanctioned by no treaties, and recorded in no
archives. They are carried on in every school, in every church, behind
10,000 counters, at 10,000 fire-sides. The upper current of society
presents no certain criterion by which we can judge of the direction in
which the under current flows.--_Edinburgh Review_.
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