It is agreed by all thinkers that we are entering upon a new period of human history. We are approaching it not without observation; but it is not the things observed that are the real elements of the transformation. The statesmen, the scholars, the reformers, having their eyes on the changes in material or purely intellectual things of life, believe that in the forms of government or economic adjustment or educational qualities they see the goal of these momentous changes. The crux of the revolution, however, lies far deeper and in another realm. The surface changes are in themselves insignificant, having their values only as indications of more pregnant events. These forces, these lines of direction, are never seen by any but the idealists. Only the school of the prophets can study or be acutely aware of these hidden lines.
