. . . To the young American's naive
American response to any simply felt emotion, he seemed with his
white earnestness and his glowing eyes a veritable prophet. . . .
"This is the root idea of aristocracy," said Benham.
"I have never heard the underlying spirit of democracy, the real
true Thing in democracy, so thoroughly expressed," said the young
American.
5
Benham's notes on race and racial cultures gave White tantalizing
glimpses of a number of picturesque experiences. The adventure in
Kieff had first roused Benham to the reality of racial quality. He
was caught in the wheels of a pogrom.
"Before that time I had been disposed to minimize and deny race. I
still think it need not prevent men from the completest social co-
operation, but I see now better than I did how difficult it is for
any man to purge from his mind the idea that he is not primarily a
Jew, a Teuton, or a Kelt, but a man. You can persuade any one in
five minutes that he or she belongs to some special and blessed and
privileged sort of human being; it takes a lifetime to destroy that
persuasion.
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