Page:About people (IA aboutpeople00well).pdf/35

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AVERAGE PEOPLE.
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who gives the good-night kiss at each bedside. It is still the average father who bids his boy place emphasis on honor and use, instead of on popularity or high mark at examinations; and who demands rectitude and purity in the husbands of his girls. It is the average people who keep the churches even half-full, and the country from being only on the verge of ruin. It is their sturdy common-sense, independence through force of character, which makes them, unmindful of homage when offered to themselves, render it wherever it is due; their humble dignity, yet demanding payment of the every-day respect that belongs to each honest soul.

Some persons pass through the ordeal of finding that aspiration can never become achievement without pain. Others hide their suffering in obedience to duty, and know the cramping chills that come from never being more than one is. They see women loved with a passion which they can never inspire,

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