The Commonplace 5 



with the new, the strange, and the eccentric, 

 perhaps we shall find ourselves returning to 

 the old commonplace and the familiar, and 

 perhaps we shall be able to extract new delights 

 from them because of the flights we have taken. 

 Perhaps in their turn the commonplaces will be 

 again the superlatives, and we shall be content 

 with the things that come naturally and in due 

 order. Certain it is that every sensitive soul 

 feels this longing for something that is ele- 

 mental in the midst of the voluminous and 

 intricate, something free and natural that shall 

 lie close to the heart and really satisfy his best 

 desires. 



The return to nature. 



It is not likely that we shall greatly simplify 

 our outward physical and business affairs. 

 Probably it is not desirable that we should do 

 so, for we must maintain our executive effi- 

 ciency. We have seen a marvelous development 

 of affairs, expressed in the renovation of a 

 hundred old occupations and the creation of a 

 thousand new ones. Most of these occupations 



