view, no sulphitic flashes of fancy--the steady glow of bromidic
conversation and action is all one can hope for. He may be wise and
good, he may be loved and respected--but he lives inland; he puts not
forth to sea. He is there when you want him, always the same.

Bromides also enjoy pathological symptoms. They are fond of describing
sickness and death-bed scenes. "His face swelled up to twice its
natural size!" they say, in awed whispers. They attend funerals with
interest and scrutiny.

* * * * *

We are all born with certain bromidic tendencies, and children are the
greatest bromides in the world. What boy of ten will wear a collar
different from what his school-mates are all wearing? He must conform
to the rule and custom of the majority or he suffers fearfully. But, if
he has a sulphitic leaven in his soul, adolescence frees him from the
tyrannical traditions of thought. In costume, perhaps, men still are
more bromidic than women. A man has, for choice, a narrow range in
garments--for everyday wear at most but four coats, three collars and
two pairs of shoes.

Fewer women become Sulphites. The confession is ungallant and painful,
but it must be made. We have only to watch them, to listen--and to
pity.

But stay! If there is anything in heredity, women should be most
sulphitic. For of all Bromides Adam was the progenitor, while Eve was a
Sulphite from the first!