Chicago (Ill.) -- Fiction; Didactic fiction; Mistresses -- Fiction; New York (N.Y.) -- Fiction; Young women -- Fiction
There is a more subtle result of such a situation as this, which, though
not always taken into account, produces the tragedies of the world. The
great create an atmosphere which reacts badly upon the small. This
atmosphere is easily and quickly felt. Walk among the magnificent
residences, the splendid equipages, the gilded shops, restaurants,
resorts of all kinds; scent the flowers, the silks, the wines; drink of
the laughter springing from the soul of luxurious content, of the
glances which gleam like light from defiant spears; feel the quality of
the smiles which cut like glistening swords and of strides born of
place, and you shall know of what is the atmosphere of the high and
mighty. Little use to argue that of such is not the kingdom of
greatness, but so long as the world is attracted by this and the human
heart views this as the one desirable realm which it must attain, so
long, to that heart, will this remain the realm of greatness. So long,
also, will the atmosphere of this realm work its desperate results in
the soul of man. It is like a chemical reagent. One day of it, like one
drop of the other, will so affect and discolour the views, the aims, the
desire of the mind, that it will thereafter remain forever dyed. A day
of it to the untried mind is like opium to the untried body. A craving
is set up which, if gratified, shall eternally result in dreams and
death. Aye! dreams unfulfilled--gnawing, luring, idle phantoms which
beckon and lead, beckon and lead, until death and dissolution dissolve
their power and restore us blind to nature's heart.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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