The Commonplace 3 



dren dashed on the pavement after the escap- 

 ing dog. Back and forth the children ran. 

 On the far side of the street the people halted 

 and took their hands out of their pockets. 

 The children caught the dog and bundled it 

 lovingly into the house ; the crowd applauded, 

 and dispersed. 



Every person seemed to be surprised that 

 he had stopped. From my height I thought 

 I could discern the reason for such curious 

 phenomenon : in all the blare and blazonry 

 of that tumultuous thoroughfare, this was the 

 only episode of real spontaneous and exuber- 

 ant human nature. All else was a kind of 

 acting, and every person unconsciously recog- 

 nized that it was so. I thought how rare must 

 common naturalness be, and how much has it 

 been driven from our lives ! 



The spontaneous. 



If a person has given any serious thought 

 to public questions, he has his own contribu- 

 tion to make as to the causes of present con- 

 ditions and the means of bettering them ; so 



