Swords and Plowshares/New York
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O SPRAWLING, jagged, formless city!City without a face!Vast stomach of a city, with countless hands grasping for more!Huge agglomeration of people, trying to get the better of each other with scarce art and literature and distinction enough to furnish forth a country village!And yet in your seething energy, beneath the fever and delirium, there is something to admire.I like your boundless enterprise, your power to manage and combine, to make light of obstacles, to will bigly and to work your monstrous will.This is the strength of the Cæsars and Napoleons, of the Drakes and Frobishers, tho it still flaunt the pirate flag.There is something here worth saving, something that will spare you from utter destruction, something to differentiate you from the Sodoms and Gomorrahs of old.There are new continents to discover, had you the eyes to see them.There are other worlds to conquer, waiting for the spell of your voice, had you the lips for utterance. Treasures untold lie there beyond the reach of your writing arms, needing only the evolution of your face to bridge the void.Conceive something worthy of expression. Dream something nobler than a full stomach and prehensile hands.Become now at last conscious of the germ of soul that is in you, and stake your overweening energy on that!