Read it through once

It was a sort of local religion. Their Sunday sermons touched it. Their newspapers were constantly singing it. The school-teachers, the lawyers, the merchants — every class and condition — cherished it. So much so, that at last the thing went into the head of the people as a positive article of faith: they believed that they were honestly better than other folks, that their honor would not let them do a dishonest thing, and they began to hope that the world would recognize and honor them for it.