INTRODUCTION 



DESPITE the many and wide differences so 

 obvious in every community of age and sex, 

 of regional origins and historic groupings, of 

 occupations and interests, of experience and 

 intelligence, efficiency and originality, of edu- 

 cation, manners and morals, of wealth and 

 rank, and so on each generation has more in 

 common than its individuals may realize. 

 Layman and cleric, pressman and prime 

 minister, message-boy and millionaire respond 

 not merely to their respective call -bells, nor 

 in common to the peal of general rejoicing, to 

 the tolling of sorrow; but through their minds 

 there vibrates also a certain unison, a response, 

 though it may be more or less unconscious, to 

 the key-notes of their age. How this unison 

 underlies the apparent differences is easily 

 seen on differing intellectual levels. The boy 

 in the train buys Tit-Bits, but the man in 

 the villa takes in the new Britannica ; 

 the specialist concentrates upon the " Pro- 



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