"Does a bird need to theorise about building its nest, or
boast of it when built? All good work is essentially done
that way--without hesitation, without difficulty, without
boasting.... And now, returning to the broader question, what
these arts and labours of life have to teach us of its
mystery, this is the first of their lessons--that the more
beautiful the art, the more it is essentially the work of
people who ... are striving for the fulfilment of a law, and
the grasp of a loveliness, which they have not yet
attained.... Whenever the arts and labours of life are
fulfilled in this spirit of striving against misrule, and
doing whatever we have to do, honourably and perfectly, they
invariably bring happiness, as much as seems possible to the
nature of man."

--JOHN RUSKIN.




CHAPTER I

_The Chequered History of a City Square_

... I know not whether it is owing to the tenderness of
early association, but this portion of New York appears to
many persons the most delectable. It has a kind of
established repose which is not of frequent occurrence in
other quarters of the long, shrill city; it has a riper,