Page:About people (IA aboutpeople00well).pdf/66

such a generality of knowledge that the mass of people, the non-active reformers, forget to care for one subject more than another, and so become just like everybody else. Half of originality is simply daring to be true, simply saying just what one thinks, but in a pleasant way. "He said just what I thought" is the frequent reflexion made on bright people, who were no brighter than the listener, but who were truer and less self-conscious. Obituaries, resolutions of societies on valuable deceased members, and eulogies on the living, have all the same flavor, as if every one were a twin.

Although meek acceptance and repetition of opinion can be tolerated in an evening party, it becomes intolerable in committee business and parish meetings. From laziness or cowardice both men and women invent excuses in order to account for their absence whenever matters requiring decisive action or opinion are likely to occur. The plea of a previous engagement or a headache has