Part 6
She sat regarding her dinner. The meat was coarse and
disagreeably served.
"I suppose some one makes a bit on the food," she said. . . .
"One has such ridiculous ideas of the wicked common people and
the beautiful machinery of order that ropes them in. And here
are these places, full of contagion!
"Of course, this is the real texture of life, this is what we
refined secure people forget. We think the whole thing is
straight and noble at bottom, and it isn't. We think if we just
defy the friends we have and go out into the world everything
will become easy and splendid. One doesn't realize that even the
sort of civilization one has at Morningside Park is held together
with difficulty. By policemen one mustn't shock.
"This isn't a world for an innocent girl to walk about in. It's
a world of dirt and skin diseases and parasites. It's a world in
which the law can be a stupid pig and the police-stations dirty
dens. One wants helpers and protectors--and clean water.
"Am I becoming reasonable or am I being tamed?
"I'm simply discovering that life is many-sided and complex and
puzzling. I thought one had only to take it by the throat.
"It hasn't GOT a throat!"
