The materials are ready to hand in
any life; the quality is not the same as priggishness, though it is
closely akin to it; it no doubt exists in the minds of many really
successful people, and if it is not flagrantly betrayed, it is
often an important constituent of their success. But the happy part
of it is that the dramatic sense is often freely bestowed upon the
most inconspicuous and unintelligent persons, and fills their lives
with a consciousness of romance and joy. It concerns itself mostly
with public appearances, upon however minute a scale, and thus it
is a rich source of consolation and self-congratulation. Even if it
falls upon one who has no social gifts whatever, whose circle of
friends tends to diminish as life goes on, whose invitations tend
to decrease, it still frequently survives in a consciousness of
being profoundly interesting, and consoles itself by believing that
under different circumstances and in a more perceptive society the
fact would have received a wider recognition.
But, after all, as with many things, much depends upon the way that
illusions are cherished.
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