' " Stiobbery " is here used without disrespect, as a conTenlant term to denote the element of strain involved in the quest of gentility
the part of persons wbnse accustomed social standing Is less higb or lees autbentlo than their aspiratigna.
NATURAL DECAY OF BUSINESS ENTERPRISE 389
Thia ia true for the following reason. Readers who are less conservative and less patient of affectations, snobbery, and illiberality than the average are in the position of doubters and dissentients. They are less confident in their convictions of what is right and good in all matters, and are also not unwilling to make condescending allowances for those who are lesa " advanced," and who must be humored since they know no better ; whereas those who rest undoubting in the more conservative views and a more intolerant affectation of gentility are readier, because more naive, in their rejection of whatever does not fully conform to their habits of thought.
So it comes about that the periodical literature isj on the whole, somewhat more scrupulously devout in tone, somewhat more given to laud and dilate upon the traffic of the upper leisure class I and to carry on the discussion in the terms and tone imputed to that class, somewhat more prone to speak deprecatingly of the vulgar innovations ] of modem culture, than the average of the readers ' to whom it is addressed. The trend of its teaching, therefore, ia, on the whole, conservative and conciliatory. It is also under the necessity of adapting itself to a moderately low average of intelligence and information ; since on this bead, again, it is those who possess intelligence and information that are readiest to make allowances ; they
are, indeed, mildly flattered to do so, besides beii^ the only ones who can. It ia a prime requisite to^ conciliate a large body of readers.