Theodore Dreiser Should Ought To Write Nicer.

The Mystery Of Life--its Inexplicability, Beauty, Cruelty, Tenderness, Folly . . . Has Occupied The Greater Part Of My Waking Thoughts; And In Reverence Or Rage Or Irony, As The Moment Or Situation Might Dictate, I Have Pondered And Even Demanded Of Cosmic Energy To Know Why.

I Have Seen Youths Bright Eyed And Fair Groping After Bubbles In Rapture, And Conceiving Them Diamonds And The Glitter Of Fine Jewels, Until Their Hand Closed Over A Something That Was Not To Be Felt Nor Longer Seen, Mere Colored Air.

The Thing That Impressed Me Then As Now About New York… Was The Sharp, And At The Same Time Immense, Contrast It Showed Between The Dull And The Shrewd, The Strong And The Weak, The Rich And The Poor, The Wise And The Ignorant… The Strong, Or Those Who Ultimately Dominated, Were So Very Strong, And The Weak So Very, Very Weak - And So Very, Very Many.

It Isn't Myself That's Important In This Transaction Apparently; The Individual Doesn't Count Much In The Situation...all Of Us Are More Or Less Pawns. We're Moved About Like Chessmen By Circumstances Over Which We Have No Control.

A Thought Will Color A World For Us.