Night-Prowls in the Streets 99 



It seems almost pathetic, this variety show, 

 but perhaps we are the ones to be pitied 

 for not being able to like it. Even the 

 drama, most natural and human of the 

 arts in its intention, is the most artificial 

 among them in its form. 



Back to the street again, with its roar 

 and glare, its throng of jostling people. 

 There is a different character in a night 

 crowd from that of the day. Timid and 

 conservative folk are afraid of the dark, as 

 if they were likely to tread on the tails of 

 cobras or dinosaurs on their door-steps ; so 

 the people of the street have something of 

 the gay, the reckless, the vicious. The 

 self-sufficient man always comes out with 

 the stars to caress his whiskers and watch 

 for admiration. A man is self-satisfied 

 when his personality is so insignificant that 

 his mind takes in the whole of it. Yet, 

 this self-complacency gives a certain au- 

 thority that is acknowledged by people who 

 have other things to think about, and who 

 step aside to let pomp have its stately 

 way, their instinct being to avoid rubbing 

 elbows with it. The vulgar and refined 



