ords.
"We'll do, Myra," he cried, "we'll do. Do you know what I see this
morning?"
"What?"
"A new city! My old city, but all new."
"It's you that is new, Joe."
"And that's why I see the new city--a vision I shall see until some
larger vision replaces it. Shall I tell you about it?"
"Tell me."
"It is the city of five million comrades. They toil all day with one
another; they create all of beauty and use that men may need; they
exchange these things with each other; they go home at night to gardens
and simple houses, they find happy women there and sunburnt, laughing
children. Their evenings are given over to the best play--play with
others, play with masses, or play at home. They have time for study,
time for art, yet time for one another. Each loosens in himself and
gives to the world his sublime possibilities. A city of toiling
comrades, of sparkling homes, of wondrous art, and joyous festival. That
is the city I see before me!" He paused. "And to the coming of that city
I dedicate my life."
She sighed.
"It's too bright, too good for human nature."
"Not for human nature," he whispered. "If only we are patient. If only
we are content to add our one stone to its rising walls."
She pressed his hand again.
"Joe," she murmured, "what do you think you'll be doing a year from
now?"
"I don't know," he smiled. "Perhaps editing--perhaps working with a
strike--perhaps something else. But whatever it is, it will be some new
adventure--some new adventure!"
So they entered that city hand in hand, the future all before them. And
they found neither that City of the Future nor a City of Degradation,
but a very human city full of very human people.
THE END
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