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Bates, Arlo, 1850-1918

"The Puritans"

Petersburg, and of course our
American cities. Now she is happiest in the country, and can hardly be
persuaded to stay in town. She says that she loves the sound of the
wind and the rain better than the noise of the street-cars."
"That I can understand," he answered; "but I am interested in men. I
don't like to be away from them. There is something intoxicating in the
presence of masses of human beings, in the mere sense that so many
people are alive about you."
She looked at him with more interest than he had ever seen in her eyes.
"But I don't understand," she began hesitatingly, "why"--
"Why what?" he asked as she paused.
"I don't know that I ought to say it, but having begun I may as well
finish. I was going to say that I could not understand how one so
interested in men and so sensitive to humanity could be content to
choose a profession which cuts him off from so much of active life."
"It was from interest in men, I suppose, that I chose it. I wanted to
reach them, to do something for them. Although," Maurice concluded,
flushing, "I don't think that I realized at that time the feeling of
being carried away by the mere presence of crowds of living beings.


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