acts of life generally in terms of
personal status. The logic, and the logical processes, of her everyday
domestic life are carried over into the realm of the supernatural, and
the woman finds herself at home and content in a range of ideas which to
the man are in great measure alien and imbecile.

Still the men of this class are also not devoid of piety, although it
is commonly not piety of an aggressive or exuberant kind. The men of
the upper middle class commonly take a more complacent attitude towards
devout observances than the men of the artisan class. This may perhaps
be explained in part by saying that what is true of the women of
the class is true to a less extent also of the men. They are to an
appreciable extent a sheltered class; and the patriarchal relation of
status which still persists in their conjugal life and in their habitual
use of servants, may also act to conserve an archaic habit of mind and
may exercise a retarding influence upon the process of secularization
which their habits of thought are undergoing. The relations of the
American middle-class man to the economic community, however, are
usually pretty close and exacting; although it may be remarked, by the
way and in qualification, that their economic activity frequently also
partakes in some degree of the patriarchal or quasi-predatory character.
The occupations which are in good repute among this class and which have
most to do with shaping the class habits of thought, are the pecuniary
occupations which have been spoken of in a similar connection in an
earlier chapter. There is a good deal of the relation of arbitrary
command and submission, and not a little of shrewd practice, remotely
akin to predatory fraud. All this belongs on the plane of life of the
predatory barbarian, to whom a devotional attitude is habitual. And in
addition to this, the devout observances also commend themselves to this
class on the ground of reputability. But this latter incentive to piety
deserves treatment by itself and will be spoken of presently. There
is no hereditary leisure class of any consequence in the American
community, except in the South. This Southern leisure class is somewhat
given to devout observances; more so than any class of corresponding
pecuniary standing in other parts of the country. It is also well known
that the creeds of the South are of a more old-fashioned cast than their
counterparts in the North. Corresponding to this more archaic d