2 Outlook to Nature 



tering the street crossers. Men passed with 

 banners and advertising placards. Women 

 paraded with streaming headgear and tem- 

 pestuous gowns. A resplendent trumpeter 

 rolled by in a tallyho. A hundred other 

 devices to attract the eye and distract the ear 

 came out and vanished; and yet no one 

 stopped and no one seemed to care. Now 

 and then a knot of men would form, as some 

 one fell or as wagons collided ; but the knots 

 as quickly dissolved, and I knew that they were 

 made up of the idle, who were amused for the 

 moment and then floated on hoping for fresh 

 entertainment. A hurdy-gurdy attracted only 

 a bevy of scurrying children. A little girl 

 with armful of newspapers moved in and out 

 unnoticed. 



Suddenly a dog leaped down a flight of steps 

 and was followed by two little children laugh- 

 ing and screaming. The dog felt his freedom 

 and the children were in pursuit. The crowd 

 stopped ; the stern-faced men with high hats 

 stopped ; the well-dressed women stopped. 

 Even a cabby pulled up his horse as the chil- 



