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Moonbeams from the Larger Lunacy by Stephen Leacock
page 8 of 185 (04%)
"Are there any cities there?"

"Cities!" he said enthusiastically, "ah, yes! let me
try to give you a word-picture of them. Vast cities--with
tall buildings, reaching to the very sky. Why, for
instance, the new Woolworth Building in New York--"

"Yes, yes," she broke in quickly, "how high is it?"

"Seven hundred and fifty feet."

The girl turned and faced him.

"Don't," she said. "I can't bear it. Some other time,
perhaps, but not now."

She had risen and was gathering up her wraps. "And you,"
she said, "why are you going to America?"

"Why?" he answered. "Because I want to see, to know, to
learn. And when I have learned and seen and known, I want
other people to see and to learn and to know. I want to
write it all down, all the vast palpitating picture of
it. Ah! if I only could--I want to see" (and here he
passed his hand through his hair as if trying to remember)
"something of the relations of labour and capital, of
the extraordinary development of industrial machinery,
of the new and intricate organisation of corporation
finance, and in particular I want to try to analyse--no
one has ever done it yet--the men who guide and drive
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