Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III THE USES OF SOCIETY What is the use of the thing called Society? What are the objects for which men come together in social meetings of various sorts? " Empty show and vulgar display, the wish to marry their daughters and to advance their own way in the world," cry the cynics. " Vanitas vanitatum " they say of it all, and deny that it has any real use or gives any real pleasure. Yet these very same people who so decry what is technically called society in our great cities, usually have a society of their own, a circle of friends whom they enjoy meeting very much. Indeed, these carpers will often go themselves to balls and parties, when they are invited, and will, to all outward appearance, enjoy themselves as much as anybody. If you speak to them on the subject, however, they will say that it was all very great folly and nonsense, etc.; that they only went because So-and-So was kind enough to ask them. There are comparatively few people who do not really enjoy society of some sort, though they may dislike that which seems to them too showy or too formal. Even the cynic Diogenes himself occasionally attended festive gatherings, and when asked what kind of wine he liked best, replied, " That which is drunk at the expense of others." Man is eminently a gregarious animal. Is not condemning him to pass his life in solitude the most terrible punishment that can be bestowed on him, — a punishment which has often driven its victims into hopeless madness? It is true that Swift has said, " A wise man is never less alone than when he is alone; " but what a terrible commentary on this saying was the lonely, unhappy life of its author, alone in the midst of crowds! Thackeray says of him, "It is awful to think of the great sufferings of this great man. Through life...