e are exceptions, of course, to this manner of
life, but those who follow it constitute a distinct type and by their
manner of living exert a disintegrating influence in American society.

224. =The Middle Class.=--The middle class is not so distinct a
stratum of society as are the upper and lower classes. It includes the
bulk of the population in the United States, and from its ranks come
the teachers, ministers, physicians, lawyers, artists, musicians,
authors, and statesmen; the civil, mechanical, and electrical
engineers, the architects, and the scientists of every name; most of
the tradesmen of the towns and the farmers of the country; office
managers and agents, handicraftsmen of the better grade, and not a few
of the factory workers. They are the people who maintain the
Protestant churches and their enterprises, who make up a large part of
the constituency of educational institutions and buy books and
reviews, and who patronize the better class of entertainments and
amusements. These people are too numerous to belong to any one race,
and they include both city and country bred. The educated class of
foreigners finds its place among them, assimilates American culture,
and intermarries in the second generation. Into the middle class of
the cities is absorbed the constant stream of rural immigration,
except the few who rise into the upper class or fall into the lower
class. In the city itself grow up thousands of boys and girls who pass
through the schools and into business and home life in their native
environment, and who constitute the solid stratum of urban society.

These people have not the means to make large display. They are
influenced by the fashions of the upper class, sometimes are induced
to applaud their poses or are hypnotized to do their bidding, but they
have their own class standards, and most of them are contented to
occupy their modest station. Only a minority of them own their homes,
but as a class they can afford to pay a reasonable rent and to furnish
their houses tastefully, to hire one or two household servants, and to
live in comfort. Twenty years ago they owned bicycles and enjoyed
century runs into the country on Sunday: since then some of them have
been promoted to automobiles and enjoy a low-priced car as much as the
wealthy appreciate their high-priced limousines. As in rural villages,
so in the city they form various groups of neighbors or friends based
on a common interest, and find