Page:About people (IA aboutpeople00well).pdf/146

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ABOUT PEOPLE.

"Don't you remember?" At a literary dinner this quotation had grown overpowering to a thoughtful friend of only moderate memory, and when repeatedly addressed with "Don't you know?" she said, apologetically, "Oh, I can only think!" There was silence.

A middle-aged girl generally knows more than her parents; but not always as much as other people whom she has not yet had the discipline of meeting. This dogmatism is not so apt to show itself on special points as in the general way of regarding the universe, for the fact of being a product of this age confers the supposed intellectual power which hovers in the atmosphere. "To him that hath shall be given" is literally believed. "I can," instead of "I'll try," expresses much of modern feeling. The ability to make much out of little is not confined, however, to American women, and is in itself power. It is always more striking to make a point than to see the whole of an idea, and answers better for the short de-

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