'Wayside Courtships', a novel by Hamlin Garland, begins with two individuals from vastly different social classes being brought together by a shared love of music. Despite the distance that separates them, the man in the gallery watches as the woman in the box searches for him with her opera glass. As they finally make eye contact, their worlds collide, and the bitterness and hate the man has held due to social injustice and inequality melt away.
