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.
与人交往通常都因唾手可得而毫无价值,在频繁的相处中,我们无暇从彼此获取新价值。我们每日三餐相聚,反复让彼此重新审视的也是依旧故我,并无新奇之处。为此我们要循规蹈矩,称其为懂礼仪,讲礼貌,以便在这些频繁的接触中相安无事,无须论战而有辱斯文。我们相遇在邮局,邂逅在社交场所,围坐在夜晚的炉火旁,交情甚笃,彼此干扰着,纠缠着;实际上我认为这样我们都或多或少失去了对彼此的尊重。对于所有重要的倾心交流,相见不必过频。想想工厂里的女孩,她们虽从不落单,但也少有梦想。像这样方圆一英里仅一人居住,那情况会更好。人的价值非在肌肤相亲,而在心有灵犀。