THE STATUES
17
aware, because I was not surprised by what they did to me. But
apart from these considerations and apart from the children, who
can be trusted, I assure you, to take care of themselves, I want to
impress upon your minds this fact above all, namely, that anything
which delights or interests or fascinates the eye and the mind of man
must be very important and very valuable. For it would not delight,
fascinate, or interest us, unless it had some important relationship
to our lives, to what we do, what we want, what we are, what we
have known. This is all that I have to say to you and can be summed
up in one phrase, that all the statues of the snow are sacred, sacred!
and must not be in any way disturbed."
The crowd cheered him vehemently as he dismounted from the
rumble-seat of the motor-car, and I went over to interview him. At
first he was interested only in repeating to me what he had just said,
but then, as we stood by the bar of a nearby cafe, he gave me the
information about himself which I have already set down, repeating
again and again the close connection which he felt between the teeth
upon which he worked, the sports to which he devoted both his atten–
tion and his ardor, and the statues. I suggested to him that he ought
not to permit this new passion to disrupt his life; there were, after all,
other responsibilities; but he ignored my remark and I recognized,
even as I was speaking of it, that if one only became sufficiently
absorbed,
absolutely
involved, in this new passion, then it would be–
come the whole world for one, and all things, including one's duties,
would be translated into these new terms and present the same diffi–
culties as before, for if one becomes completely interested in a thing,
it becomes something else, and not what it seemed to be.
As
a result of Gottschalk's speech and the solidarity of other like–
minded people, the statue was preserved, and the enchantment which
had taken the city of New York continued. At the conclusion of the
tenth day of their presence, a period marked by unblemished weather
and brilliant blue skies, it was felt on all sides that they were perma–
nent features of the city. The gross figure resembling a giant pharaoh
which had descended upon a station of the Elevated was washed
clean-the soot of the city had darkened it-by a group of pains–
taking Elevated passengers, and similar acts of pious ablution were
performed all over the city, as I reported in the newspaper. It seemed
to indicate a kind of
Burggeist,
this unanimity of feeling.
And then, without warning, a tireless and foul rain descended
and much to everyone's surprise and dismay, destroyed the fine statues
utterly. Their disappearance was noted on the first page of the next
morning's newspapers, but not in the headlines, as their arrival had
been. Everyone resumed their usual problems,
and Qld
enmities were
