Society is commonly too cheap. We meet at very short intervals, not having had time to acquire any new value for each other. We meet at meals three times a day, and give each other a new taste of that old musty cheese that we are. We have had to agree on a certain set of rules, called etiquette and politeness, to make this frequent meeting tolerable and that we need not come to open war. We meet at the post-office, and at the sociable, and about the fireside every night; we live thick and are in each other's way, and stumble over one another, and I think that we thus lose some respect for one another. Certainly less frequency would suffice for all important and hearty communications. Consider the girls in a factory---never alone, hardly in their dreams. It would be better if there were but one inhabitant to a square mile, as where I live. The value of a man is not in his skin, that we should touch him.

與人交往通常都因唾手可得而毫無價(jià)值，在頻繁的相處中，我們無暇從彼此獲取新價(jià)值。我們每日三餐相聚，反復(fù)讓彼此重新審視的也是依舊故我，并無新奇之處。為此我們要循規(guī)蹈矩，稱其為懂禮儀，講禮貌，以便在這些頻繁的接觸中相安無事，無須論戰(zhàn)而有辱斯文。我們相遇在郵局，邂逅在社交場所，圍坐在夜晚的爐火旁，交情甚篤，彼此干擾著，糾纏著；實(shí)際上我認(rèn)為這樣我們都或多或少失去了對彼此的尊重。對于所有重要的傾心交流，相見不必過頻。想想工廠里的女孩，她們雖從不落單，但也少有夢想。像這樣方圓一英里僅一人居住，那情況會更好。人的價(jià)值非在肌膚相親，而在心有靈犀。