Page:About people (IA aboutpeople00well).pdf/233

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
CASTE IN AMERICAN SOCIETY.
227

much real intelligence will be met with in the retail merchant's house as in that of the wholesale jobber.

The timidity and ever-obtruding self-consciousness of people prevent them from constantly asking the same persons; they are afraid lest it is fancied they like them. A sympathetic spirit in the host and real devotion to intelligent culture are the only means by which American society can approach the merits of the old salon. Subordination of one's self, interest in others' gifts, and willingness to speak of one's own if asked, will conquer caste and render society delightful. A friend's friends are generally the persons who consent neither to be amused nor to amuse others; but they exist in every circle. Introductions are like courses at dinner, — we have hardly found of what one is composed before another dish or stranger is presented.

There will always be worthy unknown people whom one ought to know in all ranks

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.