entertainment and intellectual stimulus
from such companionship. On the roster of social organizations are
musical societies and bridge clubs, literary and art circles, dramatic
associations, women's clubs, and men's fraternities. The people meet
at dances, teas, and receptions; they mingle with others of their kind
at church or theatre, and co-operate with other workers in settlements
and charity organizations. They educate their children in the public
schools and in increasing numbers give them the benefit of a college
education.

People of the middle class are by no means debarred from passing up to
a higher social grade if they have the ability or good fortune to get
ahead, nor are they guaranteed a permanent place in their own native
group unless they are competent to keep their footing. There is no
surety to keep the independent tradesman from failing in business or
the careless youth from falling into intemperate or vicious habits;
many hazards must be crossed and hindrances overcome before an assured
position is secured in the community, but the opportunities are far
better than for the handicapped strugglers below.

225. =Bonds of Union Between Classes.=--Though the middle class is
distinct from the aristocracy of society in America, it is not shut
off from association with it. The same is true in a less degree of the
lowest class. Party lines are vertical, not horizontal. Religious and
intellectual lines are only less so. The politician cannot afford to
ignore a single vote, and the working man's counts as much as the
plutocrat's. There are few churches that do not have representatives
of all classes, from the gilded pew-holder to the workman with dingy
hands who sits under the gallery. The school is no respecter of class
lines. The store, the street-car, and the railroad are all common
property, where one jostles another without regard to class.
Friendship oversteps all boundaries, even of race and creed.

226. =The Lower Class.=--The lower class consists of those who are
dependent upon others for the opportunity to work or for the charity
that keeps them alive. They commonly lack initiative and ambition; if
they have those qualities they are hindered by their environment from
ever getting ahead. Sometimes they make an attempt in a small way to
carry on trade on their own resources, but they seldom win success.
Their skill as factory operatives is not so great as to gain for them
a good wage, and when bus