Page:Democracy in America (Reeve, v. 2).djvu/280

258 In aristocracies men are separated from each other by lofty stationary barriers: in democracies they are divided by a number of small and almost invisible threads, which are constantly broken or moved from place to place. Thus, whatever may be the progress of equality, in democratic nations a great number of small private communities will always be formed within the general pale of political society; but none of them will bear any resemblance in its manners to the highest class in aristocracies.