206 What We Lose 



thinking of something brilliant wherewith to 

 amuse me ; they polish their work, going over 

 it scores of times, finally presenting it to me 

 nicely printed and illustrated, if necessary. 

 And I may listen as long or as little as I like 

 to what they may have to say. In days when 

 there were no such things as cheap printing and 

 magazines, I suppose that the talk of the town 

 was essential to many people. To-day, the 

 author who has a clever idea sells it. The 

 very dependence upon gossip for ideas betrays 

 lack of reading. When for a few cents we can 

 buy the results of the best thinking of our best 

 writers, why should we run after the writers 

 themselves? Of course I am not talking about 

 what men of high position in the literary world 

 or the social world may be able to get out of the 

 life of cities ; I am speaking of what the poor 

 man, hard driven to earn the few thousand 

 dollars a year needed to keep his children in 

 bread and butter, will probably, judging by 

 my own experience and that of some of my 

 friends, be able to think of as a possible loss 

 in considering the advisability of deserting the 

 city for the country. 



