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。
