The elevator men and the
newsies came to watch for him. Mr. Neal himself took an interest in
everybody. He formed the habit of watching crowds wherever they were
greatest, partly because thereby his chance of discovering the face was
enhanced, and partly because crowds thrilled him. What a tremendous mass
of emotions--hopes, fears, ambitions, joys, sorrows--were in these
thousand faces swirling about him in ceaseless tide! They were all
individuals; that was the wonder of it! All were individuals with
personalities of their own, with their own lives to live and their own
problems to think out. He would like to help them all.
Mr. Neal at last formed the acquaintance of the members of the family
with whom he had lodged so long. One evening just outside his room he
met a red-cheeked boy whom he supposed to be the son of his landlord,
and it came to him with a shock that he scarcely knew these people under
whose roof he had lived for many years. The boy seemed surprised and a
little frightened when Mr. Neal tried to talk to him, and the clerk
resolved there and then to make amends for past neglect. The very next
evening he made an excuse to visit the father of the household. A fine
hearty fellow he found him, sitting in the kitchen with his stockinged
feet up on a chair, smoking an old clay pipe and reading the evening
paper.
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