30 NATURE IN A CITY YARD 



his ancestors ; that he is not a fruitful par- 

 ent ; that his pleasures, being artificial, are 

 taken in hot, crowded rooms; and that 

 jealousy and rivalry are more common than 

 they were. 



If crowding has the merits that are 

 claimed for it, we ought to see its result 

 A certain glib smartness is more common 

 than it used to be, but illiteracy is not 

 decreasing, and as to the great results of 

 scientific investigation and artistic aspira- 

 tion, how many in the crowd are touched 

 by them? How many of New York's east- 

 side million know about, or are advantaged 

 by, the work of the painters, statuaries, 

 architects, poets, dramatists ? How many 

 of them ever heard of Huxley, Darwin, 

 Emerson, Edison, Pasteur, Rontgen, the 

 men who move the world ; and how many 

 of the world-movers could think or act in 

 the throng ? Fancy Emerson meditating 

 in the clatter of a hotel, Edison perfecting 

 his inventions in a city office, Darwin mak- 

 ing scientific investigations in a "flat" or a 

 boarding-house ! Even the actor, by na- 

 ture and calling the most social of the ar- 



