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235
The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft
·
George Gissing
79
Speak
in
confidence
with
any
one
you
like,
and
get
him
to
tell
you
how
many
cases
of
coldness,
alienation,
or
downright
enmity,
between
friends
and
kinsfolk,
his
memory
registers;
the
number
will
be
considerable,
and
what
a
vastly
greater
number
of
everyday
"misunderstandings"
may
be
thence
inferred!
Verbal
contention
is,
of
course,
commoner
among
the
poor
and
the
vulgar
than
in
the
class
of
well-
bred
people
living
at
their
ease,
but
I
doubt
whether
the
lower
ranks
of
society
find
personal
association
much
more
difficult
than
the
refined
minority
above
them.
High
cultivation
may
help
to
self-command,
but
it
multiplies
the
chances
of
irritative
contact.
In
mansion,
as
in
hovel,
the
strain
of
life
is
perpetually
felt--between
the
married,
between
parents
and
children,
between
relatives
of
every
degree,
between
employers
and
employed.
They
debate,
they
dispute,
they
wrangle,
they
explode--then
nerves
are
relieved,
and
they
are
ready
to
begin
over
again.
Quit
the
home
and
quarrelling
is
less
obvious,
but
it
goes
on
all
about
one.
What
proportion
of
the
letters
delivered
any
morning
would
be
found
to
be
written
in
displeasure,
in
petulance,
in
wrath?
The
postbag
shrieks
insults
or
bursts
with
suppressed
malice.
Is
it
not
wonderful--nay,
is
it
not
the
marvel
of
marvels--that
human
life
has
reached
such
a
high
point
of
public
and
private
organization?
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