Page:About people (IA aboutpeople00well).pdf/61

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INDIVIDUALITY IN HOME.
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all possibilities of convergence should be accepted, and individuality should surround itself with an atmosphere of deference for every form of thought, and of reverence for every noble deed.

In spheres apart from home or church life is the want of individuality felt in its more humorous aspects, though its lack may be as harmful as elsewhere. One of the chief characteristics of modern society is its sameness. The groups may be different, but the people in each group are outwardly similar; not only, on the whole, do we dress alike, but we eat and live alike. If our neighbor has moved into a Queen Anne house, we must have at least a room furnished in Queen Anne style; men wear black dress-coats; women, soft-toned hues; our embroidery is in olive crewels; and we eat oysters everywhere, because it is so much safer to imitate than to originate. Most of us have no original capacity. We admire or praise gregariously. We are like a flock

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