What a contrast the dejected
look of those who travel the paths of ease and self-indulgence
affords!
Many there are who meet here not on the common ground of the
brotherhood of man, but of human appetite and desire. Whether
they hail from Japan, Spain, or Turkey, or whether they come
from Maine or California, they all succumb to the same
allurements. The test here is the manner in which people use the
wealth they have acquired. "Almost any man may quarry marble or
stone," but how few can build a Rheims or "create an Apollo."
When one thinks of the gambling, quackery, and other vocations
far less respectable upon which vast fortunes are spent he
thinks how dreadful the results of all of this spending. "What
if all this wealth that is spent foolishly were used to advance
the common interests of mankind? What if all this indulgence
could be used to promote helpful and healthful ideals so that
they could be disseminated to all points from which tourists
come? Surely a reformation would spread to the uttermost parts
of the earth; but as has been in days past, games, feasts, and
the dance have far more force than the highest ideals, the most
sane theories of improvement and helpfulness," and the careful
observer does not need to come to Newport for this discovery.
One evening, on entering the city, Nature seemed to be planning
to run the gaily attired tourists from the place.
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