If men could sound the depths of all knowledge and read with ease the secrets of the universe, they might lose much of their reverence.

When they know the exact worth of the judgment of their fellow-men, they begin to regard it with comparative indifference.

And so, if a dweller in a small village desires to leave the beaten track, he can summon courage to do so with greater readiness than the man of the town.

If he has occasionally that proneness to make a fool of himself which seizes every man now and then, he may indulge in the perilous luxury without great carefulness of the consequences.

Smith's ordinary conduct is the admiration of Jones as a regular thing; but when Smith switches off into some eccentricity for which Jones has no inclination, it is only a matter of course that Jones should indulge in his own little oddities without caring whether Smith smiles upon him or not.
It is, therefore, in such communities that search can most profitably be made for raw human nature that has had room to grow upon every side with little check or hindrance.