And I suddenly remembered our recent conversation in catechism class about last rites.

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She adroitly shifted the conversation away from an unpleasant topic and put on a master class in media skills.

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In the new conversation, marriage and thrift, the two great engines of the American middle class since the nation's founding, stand best when they stand together.

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And Hancock and his descendants served as a constant source of conversation between my father and me, a vital link between us when, class-wise, and in every other wise, each year placed us farther apart.

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