s of others in his individual acts will be more ready to unite
with others in the promotion of public beneficence. And on the other
hand the man who is accustomed to act with others in large public
movements will be more inclined to act for others in his personal
affairs. The reformer and philanthropist is simply the man of private
generosity and good-will acting out his nature on a larger stage.

THE VIRTUE.

+Public spirit is the life of the community in the heart of the
individual.+--This recognition that we belong to society, and that
society belongs to us, that its interests are our interests, that its
wrongs are ours to redress, its rights are ours to maintain, its losses
are ours to bear, its blessings are ours to enjoy, is public spirit.

A generous regard for the public welfare, a willingness to lend a hand
in any movement for the improvement of social conditions, a readiness
with work and influence and time and money to relieve suffering,
improve sanitary conditions, promote education and morality, remove
temptation from the weak, open reading-rooms and places of harmless
resort for the unoccupied in their evening hours, to bind together
persons of similar tastes and pursuits--these are the marks of public
spirit; these are the manifestations of social virtue.

+Politeness is love in little things.+--Toward individuals whom we meet
in social ways this recognition of our common nature and mutual rights
takes the form of politeness and courtesy. Politeness is proper respect
for human personality. Rudeness results from thinking exclusively about
ourselves, and caring nothing for the feelings of anybody else. The
sincere and generous desire to bring the greatest pleasure and the least
pain to everyone we meet will go a long way toward making our manners
polite and courteous.

Still, society has agreed upon certain more or less arbitrary ways for
facilitating social intercourse; it has established rules for conduct on
social occasions, and to a certain extent prescribed the forms of words
that shall be used, the modes of salutation that shall be employed, the
style of dress that shall be worn, and the like. A due respect for
society, and for the persons whom we meet socially, demands that we
shall acquaint ourselves with these rules of etiquette, and observe them
in our social intercourse. Like all forms, social formalities are easily
carried to excess, and frequently kill the spirit they are intended to
exp