Word: social
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Dates: during 1870-1879
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...regard life. Now these changes are so various that it never occurred to us that they could be comprised under a single formula, till we stumbled across a remark in De Bernard's Gerfaut, one of the most worthless of French novels. The clown of the story has a social theory which he is constantly uttering, - that mankind is comprehende din three classes: gentilsh mmes, bourgeois, artistes, and to these he always adds, "et moi, je suis artiste." Gentilhomme, as he uses it, is equivalent to our gentleman, and the meaning of bourgeois must be familiar to every one with...
...little of sociability we see! how few rooms where men are engaged in friendly conversation or debate! Almost every one seems to be pursuing his own business or pleasure in solitude. Of course this is not true of all fellows: some of us cultivate the social element of college life to the detriment of the studious, as we know to our cost; yet, on the other hand, a good many seldom see their classmates except in recitation, at the table, or at society meetings. Harvard men are almost proverbially taciturn. "Deep streams run still," some one may answer. True...
...theories on various social problems are of a nature calculated to provoke discussion. His language is often of a sort which would hardly receive the approbation of an old-fashioned divine. Religious topics and scientific facts are frequently introduced at times when their connection with the subject of discourse is imperceptible. His conversation at its best would never be selected as a model of grammatical purity or refined elegance. The name of every by-way in his neighborhood is to him a household word; but he is a comparative stranger to the highways, and when seen there, is usually observed...
There is one side of our college "polygon" which it seems to me does not receive its due share of attention. The social side, meaning the intercourse of college men in their own rooms, is the one to which I refer. Let us go through the different buildings in the evening. About half the rooms we find locked; their inmates gone for amusement into Boston or elsewhere. We will take a look into some of the others. Here, in Matthews, is a man with one elbow resting on the table, the hand supporting his forehead, while a book is outspread...
Some cynical old bookworm complains that it is not worth while to spend one's time talking with college fellows; it's better to read Macaulay, Carlyle, or Lowell, and so learn something that will be worth remembering, - Mndev ayav. It is true the conversation when fellows meet socially is not usually very profound. It would not be profitable to take careful notes of the remarks made, for future study. Emerson has said more weighty, and Holmes more witty, things than one often hears on such occasions; yet these desultory conversations are very useful as a part of college life...