And as soon as
he felt he might safely begin, he hastened away to inspect the long
neglected site for his wonderful building. But here an unexpected check
awaited him. While he himself had been so hard at work, his future
neighbours had not been idle. The town had grown to a city; the river's
banks were crowded with wharves and human habitations; the river itself
cradled a fleet on its bosom, its waters, once so sublimely clear and
still, were turbid and yellow, befouled by the city sewers, and useful
only; and all that remained to remind him of what had once been were a
few acres of weeds enclosed by an iron railing--an eyesore to the
inhabitants of that region, as the Corporation told him, with a polite
hope that he would either build on it soon or leave it alone, which was
their diplomatic way of requesting him to hand the lot over to
themselves. And this he might have done had they said "Please;" but
when he found the young city so ignorant, he thought it his duty to
teach it manners, so he took a year or two more to consider the matter.
Then he perceived that if he built his house on the site as it was now
he should do even more good than he had intended, for the constant
contemplation of such a stately pile would help to elevate the citizens
outside the building, while those within might find comfort in seeing
themselves surrounded by even greater misery than their own.
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