Extreme curiosity will excite some people as much as fear, or
what resembles fear, acts on some other less impressible natures.
I may find myself in the midst of strange facts in this little conjurer's
room. Or, again, there may be nothing in this poor invalid's chamber but
some old furniture, such as they say came over in the Mayflower. All
this is just what I mean to, find out while I am looking at the Little
Gentleman, who has suddenly become my patient. The simplest things turn
out to be unfathomable mysteries; the most mysterious appearances prove
to be the most commonplace objects in disguise.
I wonder whether the boys who live in Roxbury and Dorchester are ever
moved to tears or filled with silent awe as they look upon the rocks and
fragments of "puddingstone" abounding in those localities. I have my
suspicions that those boys "heave a stone" or "fire a brickbat," composed
of the conglomerate just mentioned, without any more tearful or
philosophical contemplations than boys of less favored regions expend on
the same performance.
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