The Folly of Social Distinctions
“ARISTOCRAT” and “plebeian” are only comparative terms. Some years ago Professor Geddes, of Edinburgh, moved his family into a slum district, where they hoped to do friendly work among the poor. One evening he asked a distinguished statesman to dine with two local guests, a chimney-sweep and a scavenger. The statesman accepted with unfeigned pleasure; the scavenger said he would come; but the chimney-sweep refused to sit down with the scavenger. At another time the family on the first floor of the decrepit tenement they inhabited told Professor Geddes that if he continued to speak to the family in the garret, he must drop their acquaintance. “If the angels have any fun in them,” wrote Horace Walpole, “how our distinctions must divert them!” — Bible Echo.