Page:The Clergyman's Wife.djvu/244

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
242
Original People.

of each other in manners; those living illustrations of propriety, who have been taught to move with the same motion, speak in the same tone, think the same thoughts, crowd down their souls into the same narrow actual, and shut the door against the contemplation of any high possible? Then, too, we must account them very wise in their conclusion that, although an act may be good, may be of importance to mankind, may be a deed which justice or honor dictates, yet, if it would "look singular," if it has not been done by some of their set before, oh, shocking! it is to be shunned and denounced! What pleasant, profitable companions they make, these repetition people! What great actions, and great benefits, and great examples, the world may hope for from them! They have escaped the dreadful imputation of eccentricity; is not that the summum bonum of a man's or woman's existence?

Shall we venture to remind them that as not a tree, not a leaf, not a flower, not a blade of grass, is fashioned by the Divine hand precisely similar to any other, so not a single human being is created without distinctive features and characteristics; and that by the attempt of those servile copyists to conceal or obliterate the wonderful spiritual and physical individuality given to each, they tacitly rebuke the infinite diversity of the Creator's works?

Shall we also dare to hint to them that as the