Page:About people (IA aboutpeople00well).pdf/181

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
WHO'S WHO?
175

feels that he pays for the liberty of not doing anything which he does not want to do. An "arrival," whose bearing or whose name is not a passport of distinction, may pass unnoticed for days or weeks, while a distinguée girl or man cannot walk the length of the piazza unremarked. Most curious are the sinuous turnings with which people who live in the same city ignore each other when in the same boarding-house, for the inconvenience of acquaintanceship on their return home would be much greater than that of any temporary avoidance. It is wonderful how quickly the desire for rest or meditation vanishes when some one arrives who is supposed to be worth knowing. Then social intercourse receives its full valuation. Those who are eagerly welcomed cannot understand the coolness and coldness of the world. Great men and women have little chance for judging society aright, for they find themselves sought, irrespective of antecedents, while average good people are left to realize

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.